Society for Information Management

Society for Information Management (SIM) is a professional organization of over 5,000[1] senior information technology (IT) executives, Chief Information Officers, prominent academicians, selected consultants, and others.

Society for Information Management

Motto	Where IT Leaders Connect
Formation	1968
Type	Professional association
Headquarters	Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Location	United States, Canada
Membership	5,000
Official language	English
Chief Executive	Jim Knight (Interim)
Board of directors	Caren Shiozaki, Chair Kevin More, Chair Emeritus Joel Schwalbe, Vice Chair Joseph Bruhin, Treasurer Leo Pellerin, Secretary Steve Heilenman, Director Joan Holman, Director Richard Hook, Director Lowell Millard, Director
Affiliations	42 chapters
Website	www.simnet.org

History

Society for Information Management Logo (prior to 2014)

Society for the Management of Information Systems Logo (prior to 1982)

The idea of SIM began during a break session at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conference held in Las Vegas in August 1968.[2] A conversation between Robert Head with the Software Resource Group and Herb Schwartz with the United States Atomic Energy Commission ensued on how current professional societies did not emphasize the managerial aspects of computing enough nor did they serve as a good communication mechanism between data processing managers and executive managers. That conversation was the basis for the formation of The Society for Management Information Systems (SMIS) which in 1982 became the Society for Information Management.[3]

A founding committee was formed and the first meeting was held on November 22, 1968, at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Washington D.C. The founders included Joseph P. Cunningham, Richard E. Dooley,[4][5] Dr. James C. Emory, Robert B. Forest, Robert V. Head, Dr. Alan J. Rowe, James G. Rude, M.H. Schwartz, Robert G. Stevens, W. Robert Widener and Robert K. Wilmouth.

The first (founding) conference titled "Bridging the Gap Between the Management Function and Information Technology" with 250 attendees was held at the University of Minnesota on September 8–9, 1969.

Current and Past Presidents or Chairs

1969 Robert V. Head 1970 Robert V. Head 1971 M.H Schwartz 1972 Dr. James C. Emery 1973 Richard E. Dooley 1974 Gerald M. Hoffman 1975 James G. Rude 1976 Dr. Daniel Teichroew 1977 Herbert Z. Halbrecht 1978 Reed Phillips

1979 Richard E. Mahin 1980 Dr. C.W. Getz 1981 Robert J. Jirout 1982 Frederick S. Haines 1983 Darwin A. John 1984 Dr. Robert A. Rouse 1985 Carl C. Williams 1986 Peter W.C. Mather 1987 Thomas E. Morin 1988 Paul Berger

1989 John M. Hammitt 1990 Larry Burdin 1991 John Owens 1992 Patricia Wallington 1993 Robert Rubin 1994 Warren Harkness 1995 Harvey Shrednick 1996 James Kinney[6] 1998 John Stevenson[7]

1999 June Drewry[8] 2000 June Drewry 2001 Raymond Hoving[9] 2002 Steve Finnerty[10] 2003 Ed Trainor[11] 2004 Nancy Markle[12] 2005 Dave Luce[13] 2006 Stephen Pickett[14] 2007 Jim Noble 2008 Bob Keefe[15]

2009 Peter Whatnell 2010 Patricia Coffey 2011 Patricia Coffey 2012 Jim Knight 2013 Jim Knight 2014 Eric Gorham 2015 Eric Gorham 2016 Kevin More 2017 Kevin More 2018 Caren Shiozaki 2019 Caren Shiozaki 2020 Joel Schwalbe

Membership

Criteria

SIM’s wealth of information and outreach capacity is a direct result of its diverse membership. In addition to being IT leadership-focused, SIM membership spans across industries, concentrations and professions. To continue fostering a valuable membership experience, ensuring a quality exchange, and representative influence, SIM's four member categories are:

Practitioner: A senior-level IT professional in either a public or private sector organization meeting the following criteria: Corporate/divisional head of a corporate or divisional IS organization. Member of an IS management staff supporting corporate/divisional IS heads with key management roles, as certified by the head of the organization.

Academic: A full-time university or college faculty member making a significant contribution to the IS field.

Consultant: Leaders at the partner/principal level who influence the direction of their own company or their clients’ companies, and who directly contribute to the IS profession.

Other leader: A non-IT executive such as vendor, recruiter or leader from another profession who has a major role in matters impacting strategic IT direction.

SIM adheres to a strict policy against marketing or commercial activity [16]

Governance

Organization Leadership

Strategic direction for SIM is provided by the Society’s member-elected Board of Directors.

Programs

Advanced Practices Council

Advanced Practices Council (APC) is a forum for senior IT executives who commission exclusive research and share cross-industry perspectives.[17] APC was founded in 1991 by Warren McFarlan of the Harvard Business School.[18]

SIM's Annual Conference

From 1995 to 2002, the conference was called SIM Interchange Annual Conference.[19]

From 2003 to 2016, the conference was called SIMposium.

From 2017 to present, the conference is called SIM Connect Live.

Host Cities

1969 Minneapolis, MN 1970 Washington, D.C. 1971 Denver, CO 1972 Montreal, Quebec 1973 Chicago, IL 1974 San Francisco, CA 1975 New York, NY 1976 Chicago, IL 1977 Los Angeles, CA 1978 Washington, D.C

1979 Minneapolis, MN 1980 Philadelphia, PA 1981 Denver, CO 1982 Chicago, IL 1983 San Diego, CA 1984 Chicago, IL 1985 Boston, MA 1986 Dallas, TX 1987 Seattle, WA 1988 Minneapolis, MN

1989 Atlanta, GA[20] 1990 New York, NY 1991 Chicago, IL[21] 1992 Los Angeles, CA 1993 Washington, D.C.[22] 1994 Salt Lake City, UT 1995 Boston, MA* 1996 San Francisco, CA 1997 Boston, MA 1998 Seattle, WA

1999 Atlanta, GA 2000 San Diego, CA 2001 Philadelphia, PA 2002 Salt Lake City, UT 2003 New York, NY 2004 Chicago, IL[23] 2005 Boston, MA 2006 Dallas, TX 2007 Memphis, TN 2008 Orlando, FL

2009 Seattle, WA 2010 Atlanta, GA 2011 Orlando, FL 2012 Dallas, TX 2013 Boston, MA 2014 Denver, CO 2015 Charlotte, NC 2016 Mohegan Sun, CT 2018 Dallas, TX 2019 Orlando, FL 2020 Austin, TX

• 1995 Hosted by the Boston Chapter at Disney World, Orlando, FL

SIM Women

SIM Women is a network inside the Society for Information Management to promote communication, mentorship and career development amongst the female members.

In January 2007 SIM Women began with the New Jersey, NY Metro and Fairfield-Westchester chapters. In April 2007 the ladies of Philadelphia were added, and in February 2008 the ladies of Boston joined SIM Women as well. There was great participation from each new chapter. In May 2008 the ladies from Central CT and the DC/Capital area were added. In August 2008 the ladies of the Toronto and Raleigh chapters joined. In September 2008 the ladies of Tennessee, Central and South Florida chapters were asked to participate, and Atlanta and Alabama joined in October. In December 2008 the Wisconsin, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Northeast Ohio chapters were welcomed. In January 2009 ladies of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Indianapolis joined the ranks. Chicago and Detroit ladies joined in the Spring of 2009. SIM women continued to add chapters every month and covered every SIMI chapter by June 2009.[24]

To date, SIM Women has held monthly conference calls and multiple successful networking events. SIM Women’s conference calls are typically the last Wednesday of the month at 3:00 pm EST. Executive coaches, successful CIOs, and networking gurus are brought in to facilitate the calls and meetings. Topics covered included: Personal Branding, Peer Communication, Defining Your Personal Success, Internal Networking, Personal Accountability, Industry Visibility, and Mentoring Defined. SIM Women also rotates face-to-face networking events around the country.

Regional Leadership Forum (RLF)

Regional Leadership Forum (RLF) is an intensive, ten-month leadership development program focused on creating authentic leaders. Since 1992 over 3000 graduates and more than 300 sponsors have found RLF the key to developing leadership effectiveness. RLF offers a curriculum of intense reading,[25] open exchanges on leadership practices, and interactive learning focusing on team-building, creative thinking and listening skills.

Founded by Richard Dooley, the first Regional Leadership Forum was held in Chicago in 1992 and was originally called the "SIM Chapter-Hosted Learning Forum".[26]

Local Chapters and Leadership

The strength of the SIM Organization is built around local its local Chapters.[27] There are currently 42 local chapters throughout the United States and Canada: https://chapter.simnet.org/home

Boston Chapter

The geographic area of Boston Chapter members consists of Eastern and Central Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. The Boston Chapter of SIM was formed through the efforts of Dick Harris, John Dacey and Edgar Canty. In the Fall of 1976 Mr. Harris, who was then ClO at Colonial Gas, was at a meeting in Chicago at which SIM National (then called the Society for the Management of Information Systems - SMIS) was encouraging chapter formation. Harris obtained a listing of SIM members in the Boston area, and called Canty and Dacey to arrange an organizing meeting. The organizing meetings were held at Babson College through the Fall of 1976 and into the Spring of 1977 and, in addition to Harris, Canty and Dacey, involved Don Brown, Les Ball, Chris Bullen and Charles Hewitt.

The first Boston SIM meetings began in the Fall of 1977 with the meeting locations alternated between Babson College and the MIT Faculty Club. Dick Harris was the first Chapter Chairman, and Jerry Kanter was the first speaker. The Articles of Organization were submitted to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office in May 1981, signed by Edgar Canty. The officers were Les Ball, President; Dave Callahan, Clerk; and Arthur Sarazini, Treasurer. Chapter Directors were Bill Synnott, John Dacey, Dick Harris and Dave Callahan. The Charter of Incorporation was received from national SMIS on June 18, 1981.

The Boston Chapter's programs include the MIT Sloan School of Management CIO Symposium, The Leadership Development Roundtable, SIM Silver, Sharpen the Leadership Saw, CIO Roundtables in both the Providence, RI and greater Boston areas, a Practitioner's Roundtable, a Consultants Roundtable, a Help Desk Roundtable and two all-day CIO Summits/Forums. It currently supports the following Outreach programs: Year Up, Teen Voices, Common Impact and Tech Boston.

Past and Current Presidents (Chair) of the Boston Chapter

Year	President	Year	President	Year	President	Year	President	Year	President	Year	President
1977	Dick Harris	1985	Bart Bolton	1993	Rick Swanborg	2001	Bill Grady	2009	Jo Hoppe	2017	James Bowen
1978	Dick Harris	1986	Warren Harkness	1994	Stew Stokes	2002	Bob Barrett	2010	Bill Wellman	2018	Susan Kifer
1979	John Dacey	1987	Brad Sweet	1995	Bill Fallon	2003	Dave Brown	2011	Kevin More	2019	Amanda Moore
1980	Les Ball	1988	Irwin Abrams	1996	Charles Hewitt	2004	Pat Randall	2012	Michael Brooks
1981	Don Brown	1989	Jim Slusser	1997	Kavin Moody	2005	Pat Randall	2013	Tom Catalini
1982	Bill Synnott	1990	Paul Palmisciano	1998	Jim Fitchett	2006	Mike MacKenty	2014	Sara Morgan
1983	Eeve Arkush	1991	David Briggs	1999	Bill Wellman	2007	Mary Meadows	2015	Jim Whalen
1984	Ralph Loftin	1992	Rick Swanborg	2000	Luke Chilone	2008	Jo Hoppe	2016	David Jackson

Portland Chapter

The Portland Chapter of SIM was initially formed as a satellite of the Seattle SIM Chapter in 1996 through the efforts of Bill Harrison, Norm Alexander, Liz Alexander, Bill Henderson and Fred Pond. Independent since 1999, the Portland Chapter primarily draws members from the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington areas but also has many active members from the Salem and Corvallis regions. As of mid-2012, the chapter boasts more than 170 active members. The region is home to 1.3 million people, over 20 colleges and universities, two professional sports teams and is a center for the apparel industry, especially footwear with such names as Nike, Keen, LaCrosse/Danner, and Adidas.

Past and Current Presidents of the Portland Chapter

Year	President
1999	Joe Pratts
2000-01	Leslie Rohrs
2002-03	Jim Battan
2004-05	Andy Wihtol
2006-07	Fred Pond
2008-09	Mark Bryan
2010-11	Lance Harris
2012-14	John Pierce
2014-16	David Kaplin
2016-18	Pradeep Kumar
2018-20	Mark Wehrmeister

St. Louis Chapter

The St. Louis Chapter of SIM was formed in 2004 through the efforts of Bob Rouse, Eric Gorham, Judy Winkler, David Kocs, Terry Werner and many RLF graduates. The first meeting was held at Southwestern Bell (now ATT) in May 2004 with Darwin John as the speaker. Geographically, the chapter includes the metropolitan St. Louis region, including surrounding counties in Missouri and Illinois; the region is home to 2.9 million people, 16 colleges and universities, and 9 Fortune 500 companies.

The St. Louis SIM Charter was received at the New York SIMposium in the fall of 2004. Since then many chapter members have served on national SIM boards and committees.

From its beginning the Chapter concentrated on leadership programs at monthly meetings. In 2006 it established the annual Leadership Workshop, a 2.5-day event featuring CIO leaders and networking opportunities. In 2007 Paul Klover organized the first Charity Golf Tournament; it annually provides scholarships for undergraduate students in greater St. Louis. The Chapter is also the primary organizer of a large annual technology conference, Gateway to Innovation, which includes biotech, healthcare, government, and information technology. Drawing 1,400 participants, high-tech start-ups, 50 vendors and leading speakers, the conference provides a forum for the community to meet and highlight progress and developments. The conference also gives back into the local community, donating more than $825,00 since the first year.

Past and Current Presidents of the St. Louis Chapter

Year	President	Year	President
2003	Bob Rouse	2017-20	David Harrow
2004	Mark Barry
2005	Dave Kocs
2006	Karlos Bledsoe
2007	Eric Gorham
2008	Mark White
2009-10	Jeff Villmer
2011-12	David Berndt
2013-14	Lawrence Casey
2015-16	Jeff Kennedy

See also

Chief Information Officer

Chief Technology Officer

References

1. About SIM Delivering Business Value through IT Leadership www.simnet.org
2. Thomas Hoffman (14 October 2003). "Q&A: Society for Information Management President Ed Trainor". Computerworld. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
3. Dickson, Gary W (August 1989) "A history of the Society for Information Management: the first 20 years". Published by the Society for Information Management
4. "Dick Dooley". YouTube. 31 December 1969. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
5. Eliot, Lance (1993). "A guided tour of the 1993 SIM annual conference, www.decisionsciences.org Archived 2010-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
6. "CIO". google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
7. "CIO". google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
8. "Network World". google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
9. "2001 House Committee on Judiciary: Subcommittee on Civil Law". Oregon State Archives. 2001-04-18.
10. (November 18, 2002). "SIM files response to president's national strategy to secure cyberspace". businesswire.com
11. Letter from SIM to the American Bar Association on UCITA, January 27, 2003 Archived May 31, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
12. "A CIO Conversation: SIM President Nancy Markle". techtarget.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
13. "Portable Document Format (PDF)". misqe.org. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
14. Bob Brown (19 September 2005). "Q&A: Incoming user group president: Don't believe all those nasty outsourcing rumors". Network World. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
15. Jay Rajani. "Bob Keefe On The State Of SIM". ciozone.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
16. https://www.simnet.org/membership/membership-criteria
17. Lacity, Mary (September 1998 "An Empirical Investigation of Information Technology Sourcing Practices: Lessons from Experience", MIS Quarterly Vol. 22 No. 3
18. "Portable Document Format (PDF)". misqe.org. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
19. Luftman and McLean (June 2002). "Key issues for executives" MIS Quarterly Volume 26 Issue 2 Archived 2007-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
20. "CIO". google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
21. "CIO". google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
22. Eliot, Lance (1993) "A guided tour of the 1993 SIM annual conference,". www.decisionsciences.org Archived 2010-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
23. "SIM: IT and Business Advantage Continue to Thrive". eweek.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
24. http://www.simnet.org/?page=SIM_Women
25. Amy Schurr (4 November 2006). "What to read to get ahead". Network World. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
26. Wilson, Linda (June 28, 1993). "Learning to lead". InformationWeek p. 90.
27. Video: An interview with Peter Whatnell, 2009 SIM President