Thornton May is a futurist, educator and author. He is to IT value creation what Joan Rivers is to celebrity fashion - a brutally frank commentator. Thornton combines a scholar’s patience for empirical research, a stand-up comic’s capacity for pattern recognition and a second-to-none gift for storytelling to address the most important issues facing IT executives. The editors at eWeek honored Thornton, including him on their list of ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in IT.’ The editors at Fast Company labeled him ‘one of the top 50 brains in business.’ Thornton has written a new book, The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics. He serves as Executive Director and Dean at the IT Leadership Academy in Jacksonville, Florida; Futurist — External Technology Advisory Board at the Olin College of Engineering; and Co-founder of the CIO Solutions Gallery at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky. Less   View all posts

Mark McDonald Chief Information Officer, City of Vancouver Mark McDonald is a seasoned technology professional, business executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience working in a wide range of industries including Software Engineering, Bio-Medical, Healthcare, Logistics, Water Management, Retail and Financial Services. As an entrepreneur, he founded MCCS and software consulting firm which he successfully, owned for 8 years. He is currently Chief Information Officer for the City of Vancouver, Co-Chair of the annual Vancouver CIO Summit and advisory board member at Simon Fraser University Beedie School of Business and Technology. He came to the City of Vancouver from an international water resources management company, where he held a Senior Director of Information Technology role that included responsibilities for delivery of innovative technology solutions such as advanced water measurement and predictive analytics while servicing clients from eastern Canada to Alaska in the U.S... Prior to his experience in the water resource management sector, Mark spent several years in the healthcare industry, designing the technology infrastructure for a Public/Private Partnership hospital builds and providing senior level IT leadership for Ontario’s largest hospital association. His professional experience includes several years as a management consultant delivering software solutions, business intelligence and technology solutions to clients in Canada and internationally and he is currently transforming the City of Vancouver through the use of emerging mobile technology, big data and cloud based solutions. Mark holds a Bachelors of Science – Computer Science from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of International Business – Trade and Commerce from the University of Toronto. Less   View all posts

Mark Polansky is a Senior Client Partner and the Managing Director of Korn/Ferry International’s Information Technology Center of Expertise for North America. He is based in the New York office. With more than 25 years of executive search experience, all in technology, Mr. Polansky has extensively recruited chief information officers, chief technology officers and other senior IT leaders across a wide range of vertical industry sectors. He also has expertise in recruiting for both general and technical management for public and private high-tech companies, managed service providers, professional services organizations, venture firms and their portfolio companies. Before entering the search field, Mr. Polansky spent 11 years in computer programming, systems management and business development at two large information technology organizations engaged in the development, support and marketing of information systems in the financial services and higher education sectors. Mr. Polansky previously taught computer science at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn College, and Southern Connecticut State University. He currently serves on the advisory board of Columbia University's executive graduate program in information technology management. He is a member of the Society for Information Management previously serving as chairman and president of the New York Metro Chapter. Mr. Polansky currently serves on the advisory boards of The Information Technology Senior Management Forum, the national organization dedicated to fostering executive talent among African-American IT professionals, and HITEC, the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council. Less   View all posts