November meeting–CIO Forum: Technology and Business Challenges from the CIO Point of View

Panelist Information

Deborah Cassidy – CIO, Mondial Assistance:  Deborah Cassidy has been CIO of Mondial Assistance since 2005.  She is responsible for all aspects of Information Technology that support the company’s customers and day-to-day business functions.  She has  29 years of experience in the IT industry, with expertise in strategic planning, process efficiencies, large system implementations, business partnering, and IT best practice.

She has held senior management positions at Tredegar Industries, Vie de France Corporation, Hemingway and Associates, Frank Chervan, and Trinity Corporation. She was also the creator of CASCOM, an independent IT consulting firm that represented clients including the American Red Cross, Marriott Corporation, and numerous non-profit organizations.

David Egbert – CIO Markel: David Egbert has over 30 years of leadership experience leading information technology organizations and business systems. An accomplished business leader, strategist and technology leader with proven ability to deliver results.  His vision and expertise in business systems and technology have lead major business and systems improvement initiatives at insurance, retail services, consumer goods, manufacturing, oil, and steel companies.

He has successfully led or has been a major contributor in 7 major corporation business systems transformations. David is a businessman with deep business operations, business applications and technology skills. His experience includes mergers and acquisition projects, major business and business systems restructuring, complete company business systems replacements, IT organization overalls and turnarounds and major cost management initiatives.

Scott Lemler – CIO, Child Fund International:  Scott Lemler has over 25 years of experience of information technology leadership experience in the non-profit, consulting, health care, and financial services industries.  He has built a record of delivering systems and technology solutions that meet strategic business needs and provide operational efficiency.

In his current and past roles, he has demonstrated an ability to develop technology plans, build relationships within the organization, and create and lead highly effective teams to accomplish results. His expertise includes managing software development, infrastructure implementation, and building organizations within both large and small entrepreneurial businesses.

Murali Rao – IT Director, Virginia Department of Transportation:  Murali Rao has nearly 30 years of experience of information technology leadership experience, the last 14 of which have been at VDOT.  He is responsible for managing development, implementation, and support business applications and traffic technologies that support VDOT’s operation and maintenance of the third largest highway system in country (after North Carolina and Texas) with almost 58,000 centerline miles.

His many achievements at VDOT include development and implementation of VDOT’s award-winning dashboard, the geospatially-enabled Roadway Network System Program, and a SharePoint 2010 infrastructure for content and knowledge management and workflow automation. His focus is on improving VDOT’s responsiveness, effectiveness, and efficiency through innovative research, defined architectures, planning, and optimal use of technology.

Debbie Secor – CIO, Virginia Department of Health:  Debbie Secor directs the Office of Information Management in the Virginia Department of Health. In this role, she is responsible for managing the information and information technology that enable the Virginia Department of Health to execute its programs to support and protect the health of all Virginians.

Prior to joining VDH, Debbie was Director of Customer Account Management at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA).  In this role, Debbie was a key leader in assisting VITA and the VITA/Northrop Grumman partnership to better understand and meet customer needs.