ANN ARBOR – The summer appears to be a slow time at the IT Zone. Events slow to a trickle and you can go for weeks without a meeting here. But don?t let that fool you — our members were actively moving us forward on projects, programs and operations. We owe them many thanks.
We happily made it to the interview phase of the 21st Century Jobs Fund. With our interview set for August 15, we had just three weeks to prepare. Thanks to IT Zone members Ed Farrell and Owen Medd ? I was ready with a great presentation and a strong supporting panel of experts. As co-founders of Career Site, Ed and Owen bring experience and credibility to the IT Zone proposal and they answered interviewer questions with confidence.
Also helping us prepare, were Linda DuChene of BRAINGATE, who prepared the visual materials, and Chuck Salley, Jim Adox, and Kurt Riegger from the IT Zone Board of Directors who reviewed and critiqued our work.
Additionally, serving on our panel during the 21st Century Jobs Fund interview were Allan Techko, director of recruiting, central geography sales and delivery, Compuware Corporation and IT Zone board member Larry Freed, CEO, ForeSee Results.
Other IT Zone members were also working hard for us this summer ? and we owe them our sanity. Ken Pokorny and Jeff Daniels of Great Lakes Network Consultants kept us up and running when gremlins popped up in our computers. They also fixed those annoying glitches that happen when you add new staff and computers to the network.
Chris Kochmanski of DesignHub has been gathering local marketing talent to collaborate on a new program for the IT Zone. Due to be announced for 2007, this marketing program taps into community expertise to assist technology companies. Bill Pinkerton of CEO Advantage is working with several members of our Board of Directors to reach local tech CEOs with important information for high-growth companies. Doug Hockstad, associate director, software and copyright licensing, University of Michigan Office of Technology Transfer is directing a committee working on our program strategy for the coming year.
The list of members I?d like to thank is a long one. If I missed your name, please accept my apologies and our appreciation for all you do for the IT Zone.
