Richard (Rich) Gius is Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Atmos Energy Corporation. Rich joined Atmos in October of 2007 as a CIO and corporate officer. Prior to joining Atmos, Rich spent more than two decades at Cardinal Health, rising through various positions of increasing responsibility. In 2003, he was named by Computerworld Magazine as a Premier 100 IT Leader, recognizing IT leaders who have applied information technology in effective, creative and innovative ways to advance their organization's strategy. Under Rich's leadership, Cardinal Health's ValueLink business application was recognized in 1997 by CIO Magazine's Application Hall of Fame as one of the 12 most influential business applications of the past decade, and its SAP ERP and CRM implementations were honored as a 1999 national finalist for the Computerworld Smithsonian Business Technology Award. Before joining Cardinal Health, he held positions in both marketing and technology at Boise Cascade Corporation from 1979 to 1982. Rich serves on the University of North Texas' Information Technology & Decision Sciences Advisory Board, Oklahoma University's Center for Management Information Systems Studies Executive Committee, Vice-Chair for the American Gas Association Technology Advisory Council, and AT&T Mobility Customer Guidance Council. Rich is also a former member of the board of directors of the Health Industry Business Communications Council (an ANSI-accredited standards development organization for information technology standards in the healthcare industry), and MediClick, Inc. (financial ASP-based solutions). Less   View all posts

Eric Dirst is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for DeVry Inc. DeVry Inc. is a publicly-held, global provider of educational services and is the parent organization of Advanced Academics, Apollo College, Becker Professional Review, Chamberlain College of Nursing, DeVry University, Fanor, Ross University, and Western Career College. DeVry's institutions offer degree and non-degree programs in business, healthcare and technology. Dirst, who joined DeVry in 2008 as Vice President and CIO, brings 23 years of experience within the information technology field. Eric joined DeVry from SIRVA Inc., a global provider of relocation and moving services for consumers, corporations and governments. SIRVA's brands include Allied International, Allied Van Lines, North American Van Lines, and SIRVA Relocation. While at SIRVA, Eric served most recently as Vice President and Chief Information Officer where he was responsible for streamlining business processes, consolidating operations and maximizing ROI. Under Eric's leadership, SIRVA was named to CIO Magazine's Top 100 Innovative Organizations in 2006 for its effective use of IT to create business value. Prior to SIRVA, Eric held senior positions with firms including IQ4hire Inc., KPMG Peat Marwick, and Covansys, a NASDAQ company which was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in 2007. Eric is a member of the CIO Leadership Network and the Midwest Technology Executives Club. Less   View all posts