InformationWeek and Stanford University Launch Series of Professional Development Programs for Technology Management Professionals

InformationWeek, the leading IT media brand, and Stanford University's School of Engineering, a cornerstone of Silicon Valley, today announced a joint professional development program for the IT professional entitled IT Executive Boot Camp: Redefining IT Leadership. This program is the result of a partnership between InformationWeek and the Stanford Engineering School's Department of Management Science and Engineering focused on the continual development of IT professionals.

A cross-industry learning experience, IT Executive Boot Camp is an intensive five-day program designed to help mid to senior-level technology executives expand and elevate their management knowledge base and leadership skills. The program aims to bridge the gap between IT and corporate professionals by engaging technology managers in the latest thinking within core management disciplines such as finance, marketing, human resources, globalization, strategy development, supply chain management and leadership.

"At many corporations, there is a communication gap between the IT department and the company's other core constituencies," said Brian Gillooly, Editor-in-Chief, Events, InformationWeek. "This can lead not only to isolation but a fundamental misunderstanding of the critical impact that business technology professionals can have toward the strategic success of an organization. The program's ultimate goal is to help the IT professional bridge this gap by educating them on the key issues that drive these other corporate disciplines so they can more effectively impact the entire organization. The result is a more experienced, knowledgeable and well- rounded executive."

According to Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, Chair of Stanford's Department of Management Science and Engineering, "The partnership with InformationWeek fits well with our department's mission of promoting research and education related to the information-intensive, technology-based economy. With the improved communication of the information age, data, computation and engineering have combined to give a competitive advantage to those organizations that integrate technology into their strategic plans."

Scott Dinsdale, executive vice president and chief technology officer of FirstLook.com and a member of InformationWeek's Editorial Advisory Board, first envisioned the IT Executive Boot Camp last year, while addressing a group of CEO's on the topic of the continuing CEO/CIO communication gap. Scott will serve as Program Director of the Boot Camp, while Sam Savage of the Department of Management Science & Engineering will serve as Academic Director. Courses will be taught by leading educators, practitioners and industry luminaries such as Bob Sutton, Evan Porteus and Tom Kosnik of Stanford University, Jim O'Toole of Booz Allen, and marketing visionary and futurist Jim Taylor. The program is divided into interactive modules that provide progressive analysis of business and technology processes. Course instructors will employ techniques that promote a hands-on, interactive learning experience.

"Specialists in medicine must not only keep their specific skills up to date, they must also develop an understanding of the entire patient. Similarly IT professionals must develop an understanding of the entire organization to maximize their value" said Andy DiPaolo, Senior Associate Dean of Stanford's School of Engineering, responsible for Professional Education. "Through our partnership with InformationWeek, we are bringing together distinguished faculty and management leaders to discuss current thinking and solutions to real-world corporate challenges."

"The Boot Camp gave us a great balance of tools, information and experience that we could use right away or absorb over a period of time," said Chris Askew, director of product systems for Paramount Picture Corporation and an alumnus of the Boot Camp pilot program in 1999. "The program and the knowledge that I derived from it has allowed me a seat at the executive round table where I can now participate in corporate strategy meetings at the highest levels of my organization."

The first two IT Executive Boot Camps will be held on March 25-29, 2001 and June 17-21, 2001 at the Stanford University Campus in Palo Alto, California. The following two will be held October 14-18, 2001 and December 9-13, 2001, also at the Stanford University Campus in Palo Alto, CA.

For more information and a complete course outline about InformationWeek and Stanford's IT Executive Boot Camp programs, please visit http://www.informationweek.com/bootcamp.

About InformationWeek

InformationWeek helps the people who buy, build and manage technology drive business innovation powered by technology. In addition to the weekly magazine, InformationWeek provides a platform of information solutions including http://www.informationweek.com/, InformationWeek Research, InformationWeek Events, which includes the InformationWeek Conference for business and technology executives and InformationWeek Daily, an e-mail news service. In May 2000, InformationWeek was named one of the nation's Top 10 B2B Media Powerhouses by Advertising Age's B2B

About Stanford's Department of Management Science & Engineering

On January 1, 2000 a new department of Management Science & Engineering (MS&E) was formed by Stanford's School of Engineering, bringing together the skills and experience of three departments, prominent in their own right: Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Operations Research, and Engineering Economic Systems. For decades, the faculty and students of these departments have played central roles at the highest levels of academia, industry and government. The mission of the new department is to promote research and education related to the information-intensive, technology-based economy. With its great intellectual breadth and depth, and location in the heart of Silicon Valley, the department is uniquely positioned to enhance system's analysis, computational methods, and the management of technology in the information age, from its theoretical inception to its engineering application.

About Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD)

The Stanford Center for Professional Development works with faculty to deliver Masters degree programs, credit courses, certificate programs, workshops and professional education programs designed to meet the career-long educational needs of engineers, scientists, and technology managers. Using a range of campus, on site and media approaches such as streamed media (Stanford Online) and television (Stanford Instructional Television Network), the SCPD delivers educational programs to thousands of industry professionals and managers worldwide. More information on the SCPD: http://scpd.stanford.edu/

Web site: http://www.informationweek.com/bootcamp

SOURCE: InformationWeek

Contact: Dominick Albanese of PepperCom, 212-931-6128,
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