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Breakfast with a CIO Reveals Great Things Happening in the Business IT Field; Horizons Expanding, Fresh Ideas Sought

TAMPA (June 7, 2017) -- The world of information systems is booming right now, with new advances bringing challenging – and plentiful – job opportunities for those entering the field, according to speakers at the annual Breakfast with a CIO, sponsored by the Muma College of Business Information Systems and Decision Sciences department this week.

Anil Cheriyan, chief information officer for SunTrust Banks, was the guest speaker at the Monday morning fundraising event attended by about 75 technology leaders and students at USF's Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in downtown Tampa.

His message: We are in a time of change in the digital age and there is plenty of room for adaptation and new ideas.

"Being a CIO at a financial services institution right now is probably the best job because you have so many things going on," Cheriyan said. "Everything you could really ask for is happening right now in this industry."

Attendance and activity in research study participation, crowd-sourced resources and social-media sign-ups, just to name a few, are experiencing disproportionately rapid growth, he said, in a relatively short period of time.

He talked about how SunTrust was managing the transformation and the different challenges he has faced in this rapidly changing field in the business environment.

"Digital ecosystems," he said, "are being formed as we speak."

A pipeline of new blood and ideas into the industry, the Muma College of Business prepares information technology graduates to meet these challenges, said Dean Moez Limayem, who thanked all the industry partners there for their support.

Other speakers echoed Cheriyan's comments.

Tech Data Director of e-Business David Spindler, who also is a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the ISDS department, spoke highly of USF graduates. He said his firm has hired nearly a dozen recent grads.

"USF has provided us a lot of great employees," he said. "We have what we call graduate clay. It's a graduate that comes into our organization and we 'clay' them; provide them an opportunity to move around the organization and find their career passion."