
Houston CIO Community
Executive Summit
December 13, 2023 | Hyatt Regency Houston West
December 13, 2023
Hyatt Regency Houston West
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Houston's top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Resiliency in Cyber and Communicating Risk Effectively to the Business
Vetting Application and Infrastructure Technology Strategy
Boosting Efficiencies by Scaling Data and Analytics Access Across the Enterprise
Houston CIO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

David Cain
CVR Energy
VP & CIO

Vagesh Dave
McDermott International
Global VP/ CIO

Paula Smetana Stuart
Crescent Energy
Chief Information Officer

Michael Thompson
Gulfport Energy Corporation
Vice President & Chief Information Officer

John Varkey
WM
VP, Enterprise Digital Services
What to Expect
Agenda
7:45am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
Outcome-Driven Leadership Is About ... Well, Outcomes

De'Onn Griffin
Vice President, Team Manager CIO Executive Development
Gartner
CIO’s opportunities and responsibilities are expanding, with a greater focus on delivering business outcomes. They need to focus and align peers, partners and the IT organization to contribute to achieving business objectives. ODL is about adopting new leadership mindsets, principles and practices to become the outcome-driven leader the organization needs.
- Defining outcomes in terms the enterprise will understand
- Aligning IT to business value
- Developing systems to manage work
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Striving for Human Excellence Regardless of Work Location
Hosted by Zoom Video Communications

Brett Turner
Head of Solutions Engineering
Zoom
Now that the pandemic is behind us, how do we make people better moving forward? Regardless of whether they are working remotely, in office or hybrid, we need to continue to create a culture of collaboration and innovation. Please join Zoom for an in-depth discussion on unleashing human excellence.
Topics of conversation will include:
- How to upskill our employees to be the best that they can be - striving for human excellence
- Trends to shape UCaaS and CCaaS
- Predictions for the future of work
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Breaking Through the Data With Predictive Analytics

Sudhakar Virupakshi
Chief Information Officer
Buckeye Partners

Rajkumar Erode
Senior Director, Enterprise Information Management
Buckeye Partners
When Sudhakar Virupakshi (SV) became the CIO at Buckeye Partners a year and half ago, he saw areas of opportunity to take their data and analytics strategy to the next level. With years of data and legacy systems, SV spearheaded creating a predictive analytics model for the maintenance on their pumps by assessing risk and assigning resources accordingly.
Join this session to learn about:
- Building a strong foundation and resource analysis
- Identifying small areas of opportunity to have the biggest impact
- Creating operational effectiveness and driving positive business outcomes
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Enhancing the Digital Business with Cloud ERP

Paula Smetana Stuart
Chief Information Officer
Crescent Energy

Phillip Pappan
Chief Information Officer
Superior Energy
Starting down the path of an ERP cloud migration can be both exciting and daunting. This change initiative is no longer an IT project, but rather a means to a fully digital enterprise. Join this boardroom as CIOs discuss the journey of moving from an on-prem ERP to a cloud-based ERP.
In this session, CIOs will discuss:
- Setting and communicating a vision for cloud-based ERP journey
- Creating a strategy and execution plan for seamless integration and adoption
- Maximizing business value with data availability and a robust application architecture
Executive boardrooms are intimate and interactive sessions designed to foster dynamic dialogue around a specific, strategic topic. These private, closed-door discussions encourage attendee participation and are limited to 15 attendees (seating priority is given to CIOs).
To reserve your seat, please contact: Stacie Cagney at Stacie.Cagney@evanta.com
10:25am - 11:00am Networking Break
10:30am - 10:55am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Evanta’s Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:00am - 11:45am Breakout Session
Driving IT Initiatives from a Customer-First Lens

Siva Pothi
Chief Information Officer
Teleperformance
Siva Pothi, CIO at Teleperformance, is working to ensure everything his IT department does is centered around the needs of the organization's internal and external customers. He's using his influence to improve the customer journey and product value propositions — leading to business growth and creating further internal alignment between the business and IT.
Join this session to hear about:
- Shifting IT strategy to being customer centric
- Becoming a change agent for customer first initiatives
- Utilizing GenAI in enhancing the customer experience
11:00am - 11:45am Executive Boardroom
Strategic AI Opportunities for IT Operations and Development
Hosted by IBM

Paige Krieger
Program Manager, GTM Product Management - IT Automation
IBM

David Cain
VP & CIO
CVR Energy

Don Reny
VP Information Technology
Gulf States Toyota
Every business wants to get the most out of its resources. Apart from making more profit, companies constantly strive towards reducing overall costs. Surviving in today’s competitive world requires businesses make strategic decisions that lead to better efficiencies. AIOps seeks to do just that – ensure the delivery of highly performant digital applications and services.
Join this session to discuss:
- Gathering and harnessing the data available to provide full stack and enterprise observability
- Automating cloud resource allocation and management to optimize cost
- Using AI in IT operations and management solutions
Executive boardrooms are intimate and interactive sessions designed to foster dynamic dialogue around a specific, strategic topic. These private, closed-door discussions encourage attendee participation and are limited to 15 attendees (seating priority is given to CIOs).
To reserve your seat, please contact: Stacie Cagney at Stacie.Cagney@evanta.com
11:00am - 11:45am Executive Boardroom
Leading with Digital Sustainability — A Strategy Led by Technology
Hosted by ChromeOS

Julio Lago
VP & CIO
Celeros

Boyan Vukichevich
Senior Director Information Technology
Shaw Group
Enterprises are under pressure to address multiple challenges impacting the planet, their people and profitability. This is all happening while a recession is looming, quiet quitting is real and climate change is a top concern. Now is the time to position technology leaders as key partners in tackling these issues maximizes sustainable value across the business.
Join this boardroom to discuss:
- Reducing efforts in the negative impact your company and products have on the planet (environmental sustainability)
- How to best champion and manage the impact on your people (social sustainability)
- Managing the business' fiscal health and future profitability (financial sustainability)
Executive boardrooms are intimate and interactive sessions designed to foster dynamic dialogue around a specific, strategic topic. These private, closed-door discussions encourage attendee participation and are limited to 15 attendees (seating priority is given to CIOs).
To reserve your seat, please contact: Stacie Cagney at Stacie.Cagney@evanta.com
11:45am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
12:00pm - 12:30pm Networking
Rising Together — Empowered Women, Empower Women

Paula Smetana Stuart
Chief Information Officer
Crescent Energy
This will be an intimate, informal space for women in leadership roles and their allies to freely discuss best practices, key challenges, and mission-critical priorities. Come prepared to share ideas and forge new connections that can help empower each other to make an impact in your organizations and communities.
This session is aimed at, but not limited to, women who are head of function at their organizations (CIO or equivalent) and those reporting directly to the CIO/equivalent. Priority access will be reserved for these groups.
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Houston CIO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Hyatt Regency Houston WestParking
Self-parking is complimentary and located on the West side of the building. There is attached covered parking as well as uncovered parking available.
Valet is $21.00 for overnight and $10.00 for day parking.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hyatt Regency Houston West at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 877-803-7534.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $149 USD (plus tax) is November 20, 2023.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.