NJ CIOs Give Back To Community at NJ SIM Annual Golf Outing
Some 100 CIOs, sponsors and guests from around New Jersey gathered to provide charities in N.J. access to technology solutions and resources to meet their needs at the NJ Society for Information Management (SIM) (Mountain Lakes) annual Technology Expo and Charity Golf Outing May 20, 2013. The outing took place at the Neshanic Valley Golf Course, Neshanic Station, New Jersey.
NJTechWeekly learned about this outstanding example of N.J. tech industry generosity via an excellent post on CIOInsight by John Palinkas, vice president of Transformation Programs at the IT Transformation Institute, who is on the New Membership Committee for NJ SIM.
The outing was sponsored by the NJ SIM Foundation, the fundraising arm of the N.J. chapter of SIM. The group has been doing this for a number of years.
The Golf outing and Technology Exchange started back in 1999 as a fund raiser for the SIM NJ Chapter. In 2005, the EC (Executive Committee) started discussion about creating an endowment that would fund scholarships and a community giveback program. Some of the members started work to create a Not for Profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
In September of 2006, the first “NJ SIM CIO Technology Exchange & Charity Golf Outing” was held and with the focus being on funding scholarships and community giveback program. In September of 2008, the NJ SIM Foundation received formal Not for Profit status.
This year the primary beneficiary of the outing was the Giving Hope Network (Whitehouse Station), a charity that provides resources to those in need through partners with local and global reach. In 2012, for example, GHN launched a program, “Giving a Voice to the Voiceless” which provides children with autism access to iPads and specialized software that will allow those individuals to communicate better.
The foundation also presented a $2,500 scholarship award to each of four undergraduate students: John Christer Salvador and Vladimir Ventura, both from Rutgers University, and Bryan Nissen and Skyker Lutz, both from New Jersey Institute of Technology.
“Each of the students gave a short speech, and it was enlightening to hear about their accomplishments, which include publishing iPhone apps and hosting a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy victims,” Palinkas said in his blog post.
A Technology Expo, set up in a tent, raised some $100,000 from some 25 sponsors.
The NJ SIM CIO Leadership Council includes Craig Cuyar, Global CIO, Cushman & Wakefield (New York); Jeff Skulsky, VP information systems and technologies, Regeneron Pharmaceutical (Basking Ridge); Jim Knight, executive VP and Global CIO, Chubb and Son Insurance (Warren); Jessica Caroll, managing director, information technologies and digital media, United States Golf Association (Far Hills); Jon Harding, global CIO, Conair Corp. (East Windsor); and Bob MacTaggart, CIO Leviton Manufacturing (Melville, NY).
The NJ SIM group has more than 300 members, with fewer than 15 percent vendors. More than 85 of its members are C-level individuals, 170 in Director/VP roles at their companies and half are in Fortune 500 industries.
Last year the golf outing supported the Cancer Support Community of Central New Jersey (Bedminster) and the year before, the Susan G. Komen foundation. In addition to the large grants, the Foundation provides funds and technology assistance to other charities during the year via a grant process. Some of these recipients can be found here.
