New Victoria Chapter announced for CIO Association of Canada:

Ian McLeod, Director of IT Services at Camosun College named president of CIOCAN's 6^th Chapter

TORONTO, April 18, 2012 /CNW/ - The Board of Directors of the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) announced today that the application to establish a new chapter in Victoria has been accepted.  Ian McLeod, Director, IT Services at Camosun College, will head up the new chapter board, and will be joined by Andy Canty of the Greater Victoria School District as Director of Programs, Debbie Fritz of the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure as Director of Membership, Pierre Vorster of BC Ferries as Director of Finance, and Darrell Jaggers of Island Savings Credit Union as Director of Marketing

Victoria Chapter will host its first official event on May 22, 11:45am to 1:15pm, at 940 Blanshard Street - Room 3A.  Interested senior IT leaders, as well as senior academics in IT Leadership are welcome to attend and meet their CIO peers.   Topic and speaker to be announced and posted on the CIOCAN website.

McLeod has been a CIO Association member for over five years, originally affiliated with the Vancouver Chapter, and commuting to Vancouver-based events when he could after his relocation to Victoria.  He stayed current via website, telephone, and e-mail, and participated as a member of the 2011 Peer Forum Governance Committee.  "There is lots of interest from Victoria area CIOs when I speak to them about my experiences with CIOCAN - they want a local chapter where they can network with their CIO peers in a vendor-neutral setting.  I've been working with National membership director Jim Williams (Director IT at A&W) to get a board slate in place and seek commitment from prospective members.  Our inaugural or "test" event in February resulted in several immediate registrations, and we felt that we had reached the critical mass necessary to go ahead with a chapter application.  At the February session on "Unlocking the Power of Cloud Computing" we had a mix of public, private and municipal CIOs, and there was very lively discussion.  My favorite comment - one that highlights the demand for CIO peer networking, was "I met people that I would never have met without this event."

National president Gary Davenport, Vice President IT at MTS Allstream, says,  "We're absolutely thrilled to welcome the Victoria Chapter on board.  We now have chapters in five major centers across the country, as well as a national chapter, where CIOs can meet live and on-line to network and share best practices across regions and industries. The addition of Victoria chapter brings our membership to almost three hundred.  This is a great thing for Canada, as CIOs are at the hub of innovation and increased productivity, where business leadership meets technology.  CIOs are getting out of their industry silos, sharing ideas, information and improvement opportunities about executive management issues, business processes, technology products and services. We are in a great position to truly be the voice of CIOs in Canada".

For more information go to www.ciocan.ca/events

Media contact:

National President Gary Davenport via [email protected] or 1 [phone] #1
Victoria Chapter President Ian McLeod at 250-370-3293