Gerald Fralick
CIO, State of North Carolina

Gerald (Jerry) Fralick was named Chief Information Officer by Governor Bev Perdue in September 2009. Jerry retired from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as Chief Information Officer for the Office of Justice Programs. During his 13 years of service at the Justice Department, Jerry held senior executive IT management positions in the Antitrust Division, the FBI and the Justice Management Division. While at DOJ, Jerry served as the first Chairperson for Office of Management and Budget's Grants Executive Board, which oversaw all grant making activities for the 26 federal grant-making agencies. Jerry also was instrumental in developing the Antitrust Caseload and Evaluation System (ACES) for the Antitrust Division, was in charge of payroll and administrative systems for the FBI and was awarded the Attorney General's Special Commendation Award for his work on the Interpol Case Tracking System at the Justice Management Division.

Suzanne Gordon
VP and CIO, SAS

Chief Information Officer Suzanne Gordon oversees the IT infrastructure and support services that form the cornerstone for SAS' successful software development and sales efforts.

Gordon has focused her 300-person staff on the alignment of IT resources with other business units within SAS. By advocating the use of SAS software for internal applications, she has helped the company develop solutions that organizations around the world can implement and support with confidence. She supports sales by frequently talking with other CIOs about how she, herself, uses SAS to manage the company's IT infrastructure, balance resources and ensure high-quality service to internal and external clients alike.

Gordon was elevated to CIO from Vice President of the SAS Information Systems Division (ISD) in 2003, the same year she was named a ComputerWorld Premier 100 IT leader.

Robert Hubbard
Chief Technology Officer, ReverbNation

Robert loves startups. He has spent the last 18 years developing software for various venture-backed startups. His batting average is not too bad either 3 for 3 - Burl Software, Marathon, SmartPath. Robert places a lot of emphasis on Agile/Evolutionary development techniques and using the latest technology. ReverbNation was one of the first production websites built entirely using Ruby on Rails platform.

Joshua R. Jewett
Senior VP & CIO, Family Dollar

Mr. Jewett has strategic and operational responsibility for all aspects of Information Technology for this $8 Billion national discount retailer. He leads a team that designs, develops, deploys, and supports all hardware, software, networking, and telecommunications for all of Family Dollar’s stores, regional offices, distribution centers, corporate campus, several hundred mobile employees, and internet presence. Mr. Jewett is also responsible for assuring the Information Technology department and its investments in technology align with, support, and deliver the company’s vision to be the best small-format convenience and value retailer serving the needs of families in our neighborhoods.

While in this capacity, Mr. Jewett has expanded the capacity of the IT function through multinational, strategic partnerships designed to augment both resources and skills, provide cost and process efficiencies through a global delivery model, and deliver several significant technological achievements for the company and its 6,600 plus retail locations.

Jeff Spalding (Moderator)
Executive Vice President, Market Operations, Peak 10

Jeff has helped lead the growth of Peak 10 since joining the executive management team in June of 2001. He is responsible for sales, marketing, managed services, product management, strategic partnerships, market operations and the P&L for Peak 10. Since joining the company, Jeff has built a solid team with a strong reputation for customer service, expanded the managed services business, and helped expand Peak 10's footprint into seven new markets through strategic M&A activities and strong profitable growth. Jeff brings to his role more than 25 years of sales, operations and leadership experience. He spent much of his career at IBM and rapidly moved up the sales management ranks to assume the position as North America's Business Unit Executive. Prior to joining Peak 10, he was the head of sales for Osprey Systems, a SAP, e-commerce consulting and software firm. He helped grow the company from a small regional player to a national player - advancing its e-commerce business 115% in less than two years.