Merv Tarde has served as the Chief Information Officer of Interstate Batteries since August 1998. Prior to joining Interstate Batteries, Merv spent more than 20 years in the telecom industry beginning with Bell Laboratories and ending with AT&T Wireless where he held several executive level positions. Merv served eight years on the Board of Directors for the Society of Information Management's Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter, including the position of Chairman of the Board for two years. Current board of director positions include: The Center for Decision & Information Technologies and the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas. In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Council for the Dallas Catholic Foundation, an advisory board member of the Information Technology & Decisions Sciences group at the University of North Texas and a member of the CIO Advisory Council for the Dallas Oracle Users Group. Merv is the 2007 recipient of the Information Technology Executive of the Year award presented by the Dallas-Ft. Worth SIM Chapter.