Mike's a winner!

A few months ago Mike was nominated for a CIO leadership award. The nomination form is quite extensive and detailed. It describes Mike's leadership style and his and his teams' many accomplishments. The conference where the winners would be announced was just this past week. Mike never heard anything back about the award so he figured he didn't win and while he did plan to attend the conference he really wasn't excited about going. The conference was in Phoenix and the highlights of the week he was expecting were seeing his kids Stephen and Katie, who live there, and his good friends Dave and Amy.

Even though spouses of the nominees were invited to the awards dinner he discouraged me from going, and I didn't push it either since he was so sure he wouldn't win. That was too bad, because I really would have liked to be there for him - winner or not. Next time something like this comes up, I will go even if he protests. Look at this happy face! (Or was that because of the wine??) I should have been there to see him beaming in person.

Dave attended as his "significant other." And our good friend Renee attended the lengthy dinner and award ceremony and took these photographs. I cannot thank you enough, Renee!!!

The awards, honoring CIOs whose innovative responses to business needs demonstrated outstanding leadership in global IT management, went to a diverse range of companies this year. Here is a list of the winners (Mike is in good company!!):

Barry Carter, CIO and SVP Shared Services, Alliance Data
Mike Clifford, VP and CIO, Whole Foods Market, Inc.
LaVerne Council, Corporate VP and CIO, Johnson and Johnson
George Davis, SVP and CIO, The Hershey Company
Louie Ehrlich, Chevron CIO and President, ITC
Virginia Guthrie, CIO, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
John Hinshaw, VP and CIO, The Boeing Company
Judy Lemke, EVP and CIO, Schneider National, Inc.
Al Tarasiuk, CIO, Central Intelligence Agency
Kevin Summers, Corporate VP and Global CIO, Whirlpool Corporation

Congrats Mike. I am so proud of you!!!