PhillyCIO Board Role

I'm officially taking on the Co-Chair role for the PhillyCIO Advisory Board this year. It's a commitment - monthly meetings, event planning, mentorship responsibilities - but it's also an investment in the community that's given me a lot over the years.

What PhillyCIO Does

For those not familiar, PhillyCIO is a CIO leadership network covering the Philadelphia region. About 300+ technology executives, primarily CIOs and CTOs from mid-market and enterprise companies. The organization runs the ORBIE Awards (regional recognition for technology leadership), executive dinners, educational programming, and peer networking events.

The value is in the connections. When you're a CIO dealing with a thorny vendor negotiation, a difficult board conversation, or a technology decision that could go either way, having a peer network to call is invaluable. The problems we face are often similar even across different industries. Healthcare CIOs and manufacturing CIOs and financial services CIOs all deal with security, cloud migration, talent, and digital transformation.

Why I'm Doing This

Partially selfish: the relationships matter for my career, and being on the board deepens those relationships.

Partially giving back: I've gotten advice, referrals, and support from this community. Contributing leadership time is appropriate.

Partially professional development: running a volunteer organization exercises different muscles than running an IT department. Influence without direct authority. Motivating people who don't report to you. Managing personalities and politics in a different context.

The Work Ahead

The ORBIE Awards are the signature event - recognizing outstanding CIOs in categories from small company to large enterprise, nonprofit, and more. The selection process involves nominations, interviews, and committee deliberation. It's meaningful because the recognition comes from peers, not vendors or publications with advertising agendas.

Beyond ORBIEs, we're expanding programming around emerging topics - AI governance, cybersecurity leadership, board communication, talent development. The goal is content that's genuinely useful to practicing CIOs, not vendor pitches disguised as education.

Balancing the Time

With two kids under three and a major ERP project ramping up, time is precious. The board commitment is manageable - maybe 5-10 hours per month depending on event cycles - but it's still time that comes from somewhere.

The calculation: this investment in community pays dividends in ways that are hard to measure but very real. A broader network. Exposure to how other organizations solve problems. A reputation as someone who contributes, not just consumes. These matter for career trajectory even if they don't show up on quarterly objectives.

First board meeting next week. Looking forward to seeing what we can build this year.