Combining our 10 th birthday celebration with the CIO Canada ITX Awards made for a great evening, enjoyable on many levels as old friends and colleagues gathered and mingled at Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall (see page 12). Our thanks to all who came to celebrate with us, and to the many others who have lent their support and sent good wishes from afar.
Many cover personalities from the last ten years were present, and still gainfully employed in their chosen profession – a reassuring discovery since in CIO Canada’s early days the CIO fortunate enough to grace our cover was unlikely to survive in his or her post long enough for the ink to dry on the magazine…or so the story goes.
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s ITX Awards. There’s a brief report in ‘Trendlines’ and the winning initiatives will be featured in upcoming issues of CIO Canada. Congratulations also to the many remarkable business initiatives that were nominated but didn’t win an award. It’s my privilege to be part of the judging panel, and I can assure you that innovation is alive and well in Canadian public and private sector enterprises alike. A very strong showing this year from the Ontario Government is partly the result of that province’s commitment to ‘Go E by 2003’; a commitment that saw several very significant initiatives launched in this year’s ITX Award nomination window.
In these difficult economic times, when companies look to the CIO to deliver more with limited IT budgets, the opportunity to network with peers and old colleagues seems to have gained even greater value. Our ‘Intimate Evening’ certainly provided attendees with the chance to swap war stories, compare scars and to share survival strategies. Providing such opportunities is something we see as part of our mandate in serving the CIO community, so look for more ‘Intimate Evenings’ and ‘Frankly Speaking’ breakfast sessions.
Check out the CIO pages on IT World Canada’s Web site for the schedule of upcoming events. www.itworldcanada.com/cio