ITSMF held its 2nd Quarter Symposium and Leadership Academy Graduation Ceremony in McLean, VA on May 10-12, 2018. Corporate partner and Q2 host, Capital One, opened its doors and welcomed us into their home for the Thursday evening Networking Reception and the Friday/Saturday Symposium.
Friday Symposium session: Building the Workforce of the Future Beyond Ethnicity to Inclusion
Familiar and unfamiliar faces were all greeted alike with warm ITSMF hugs and friendly words of “welcome to the Family”. Attendees were moved by the living walls in Capital One’s facilities, energized by the reunion of old friends and Family members, and excited by what was sure to be a weekend full of rousing industry content and dialogue.
Academy cohorts gathered on Wednesday and Thursday before the main events to prepare for their capstone presentations and the graduation ceremony, culminating the completion of their year-long developmental programs through the ITSMF Global Institute for Professional Development. On Friday evening, May 11th, we graduated 78 professionals from three of our highly sought-after leadership academies—the EMERGE Academy, Management Academy and Executive Academy. We are now at 67.6% of our vision: To graduate 500 professionals by 2020 through a series of rich, developmental, and career-advancing programs.
The Symposium included industry experts and influencers from Capital One, Boeing, MassMutual, GMC, Under Armour, SHRM and Microsoft, to name a few. Capital One CIO, Robert Alexander, delivered the keynote on Friday and our sessions covered topics such as AI and machine learning, blockchain, data analytics, diversity and inclusion, and transformational leadership. The audience was engaged and offered their own perspectives which fostered a meaningful exchange of ideas and best practices.
We encourage each of you to mark your calendars for our 3rd Quarter Symposium which will be held August 16-18, 2018, and hosted by our partner Oracle in Redwood Shores, CA. There, we’ll continue our year-long conversations and further our efforts to change the narrative around diversity and inclusion in technology leadership.
Congratulations, again, to each and every one of the 2018 academy graduates and welcome to the incoming 2019 academy cohorts! We are truly grateful to all of our partners for making this event a huge success: Capital One, Fannie Mae, Leidos, Freddie Mac and Robert D. Scott.
Click here to view photos from the 2nd Quarter 2018 Symposium and Leadership Academy Graduation Ceremony