Naser cops top award for IT leadership

Nestor E. Arellano

14 years ago

Successful implementation of a claims management solution project for a workplace health and safety organization helped Anne Naser, CIO of WorkSafeBC, collect the IT Leader of the Year Award in the enterprise category at the first-ever ComputerWorld Canada IT Leadership Awards, held in Toronto Tuesday night.

Bad weather grounded Naser’s plane in Vancouver, but she accepted the award via a Skype video link.

Naser was recognized for her leadership of WorkSafeBC’s Claims Management Solution project, which involved as many as 400 individuals working for 250 person-years to complete the project.

Other winners were:

* Kevin Pashuk, CIO of Appleby College, IT Leader of the Year — SME Division. Pashuk made the business case for the replacement of the school’s aging network infrastructure, and created an achievable model for other schools.

* Sanjay Madan, senior manager with the Ontario Public Service, IT Manager of the Year – Large Enterprise Division. Madan was recognized for work on an initiative to modernize the Ontario Student Assistance Program application system for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

* Brad Barlow, director of network infrastructure for Tridel Corp., IT Manager of the Year Award – SME Division. He led an initiative to upgrade the company’s network infrastructure, implementing voice over IP and MPLS deployments across the company’s branch offices, leading to cost savings and improved connectivity.

* Jennifer Ng, chair of the IIIE’s Women in Engineering organization, CATA WIT Mentor of the Year Award. She was recorgnized for her dedication in inspiring, engaging, encouraging and empowering women in engineering worldwide.

* Jerome Plantevin, Webmaster for Medias Transcontinental, IT Rookie of the Year Award — Large Enterprise Division. Plantevin introduced a philosophy of Web analytics and search engine optimization that helped attract 20 per cent more visitors to LesAffaires.com.

* Sujoy Ghosh Hajra, systems analyst with the National Research Council’s Institute for Biodiagnostics, IT Rookie of the Year — SME Dvision. Haira was honoured for his role in building the organization’s IT infrastructure capacity

* Greg Wilson, adjunct professor with the Department of Computer Science of the University of Toronto, IT Educator of the Year.Wilson created the Software Carpentry program to teach scientists fundamental software engineering skills to allow them to improve computation in their research.

* Dave Codack, vice-president of employee technology and network services with TD Bank Financial Group, IT Mentor of the Year Award. He was honoured for his activities on behalf of the CIO Association of Canada and the Dave Codack Academic Achievement Award for Ryerson University students.

Though this was the inaugural year for the awards, nearly 50 finalists were featured, and almost 200 people attended the ceremony at the Toronto Board of Trade.