Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: Open 311
Philip Ashlock
Program Manager,
OpenPlans, New York City
Phil is the Open Government Program Manager at OpenPlans, a non-profit organisation that develops technology and media to improve civic services, urban livability and local democracy. Phil's specific focus is to facilitate collaboration between cities on the development of open standards and best practices around open government initiatives. Recently Phil has been helping to direct and mediate the development of the Open311 standard so that cities can leverage web enabled 311 services in an open and interoperable way.
Phil, considered an expert in open 311 has spoken at open 311 launches, such as in San Francisco and numerous government forums throughout the United States. He holds a Bachelor in Art/Design from Western Washington University.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: Citizen Inclusion Strategies
Kate Johnston
Manager, Service Delivery Improvement, Strategic Communications Division, Office of the CAO, Regional Municipality of Halton
Kate Johnston is the Manager of Service Delivery Improvement for the Regional Municipality of Halton where she has led Halton’s ambitious customer service strategy which involved centralizing Halton’s customer service. She also spearheaded the implementation of 311 Halton, the first 311 program in North America that includes two levels of municipal government, the police and two school boards. In addition, Kate headed the implementation of 211 Halton which pioneered the role of municipal government in 211 delivery in Canada.
Today, Kate is also responsible for leading Halton Region’s strategy to be more inclusive to diverse communities. Previously, she was Director of Business Development where she established a proven track record in successful partnership development and in delivering customer centred programs and services. She has 20 years experience in local government, and is a graduate of the University of Waterloo.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: 360 Service Delivery - From Citizen 311 Inquiry to Service Delivery
Joseph J. Pitushka
Director, Engineering and Works Division,
Transportation and Works Department, City of Mississauga
Graduating in 1975 from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto, Joe worked for the province of Saskatchewan and the Town of Milton before coming to the City of Mississauga as Capital Project Manager in 1981. While the City was experiencing unprecedented growth, Joe managed dozens of projects including the expansion of several major arteries including Eglinton Avenue, Winston Churchill Boulevard and Mavis Road to name a few. Joe was also instrumental in piloting and having the City of Mississauga adopt the Ontario Provincial Standards and Specifications for their projects.
In 1988, the same year that Joe completed a Master of Applied Science at the University of Waterloo, he became Manager of Maintenance & Operations and looked after all maintenance, including winter maintenance and sanitation. In his current role as Director, Engineering & Works, Joe with a permanent staff of over 300 people, is responsible for the maintenance of approximately 5,500 km of roadway, 2,000 km of sidewalk, water courses, bridges, traffic signal system, signage, streetlights, capital construction, development construction and the corporate fleet.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: Recognizing & Rewarding Employees in a Municipal Environment
Aidan Prince
Organizational Development Specialist, City of Guelph
Aidan is a typical Gen-X’er whose career has included multiple fields. Working in early childhood education, social services, being a college instructor, newspaper columnist and in the past 8 years working in human resources, there’s always been a focus on developing and motivating others and helping to make sure the “kids are playing well in the sand box”.
Aidan currently works as an Organizational Development Specialist for the City of Guelph. In this role, he develops corporate initiatives to foster employee engagement, improve the overall effectiveness and culture of the organization in support of the City’s Strategic Plan. Examples include employee recognition, wellness programming, corporate values reinforcement and leadership development programs. He also works with leaders and teams to support respectful and effective interactions.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: 360 Service Delivery - From Citizen 311 Inquiry to Service Delivery
Shawn Slack
Director Customer & Business Services Division,
Corporate Services Department, City of Mississauga
Shawn Slack has been with the City of Mississauga since 1998, initially hired as Manager Information Technology for the Community Services Department working on projects such as the Fire Dispatch System Replacement, CLASS Recreation System and the Mississauga Library System. In 2004 Shawn was appointed as Project Director of eCity to lead the City of Mississauga’s vision and plan to provide all services online including the introduction of Mississauga Transits “ClickN’Ride”, Workopolis, eTax Self Serve improvements and ability to pay Parking Tickets and Court Fines online.
In 2004, Shawn also completed his executive MBA at the University of Athabasca in Alberta. Shawn continues his commitment to excellence in public service today as the Director of Customer and Business Services providing both strategic and operational leadership to the Corporate Services IT, Human Resources, Finance and Business Planning teams as well as championing the delivery of customer service through the City’s 311 Call Centre Operations, consolidated Counters and the City’s website, eCity.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: Social Media
Omar Rashid
Director, Municipal Government Strategy, Microsoft Canada Co.
As Director for Municipal Government Strategy, Omar is responsible for leading Microsoft’s engagement with local and regional governments across Canada. He speaks regularly on how Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) can be used to drive positive outcomes from public policy. Omar is also the lead for Microsoft Canada's solutions efforts in Emergency Management and Public Safety.
Previously, Omar held the role of Senior Solution Specialist for Municipal government in Ontario. As Solution Specialist, Omar worked with local and regional governments to transform their service delivery to citizens. He also worked extensively with Canadian police services to develop innovative solutions for enterprise collaboration and content management.
Omar graduated in 1995 from the University of Waterloo with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Science (with specialization in Chemistry) and has been with Microsoft Canada Co. for 15 years. Omar is the President of the Muslim Association of York Region and speaks regularly to community members on the necessity and virtues of civic participation and public service.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Topic: Vancouver 311 & the 2010 Olympic Experience
Darcy Wilson
3-1-1 Contact Centre Manager, City of Vancouver
As Manager of the City of Vancouver 3-1-1 Contact Centre, Darcy was responsible for assembling a brand new team for not only starting the new 3-1-1 service in Vancouver during 2009 but at the same time preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Previously, Darcy held the role of an Operations Manager at E-Comm 9-1-1 for four years and over 20 years with The BC Ambulance Service and a Paramedic, Dispatcher and Supervisor.
Darcy graduated in 2004 from Simon Fraser University with a degree in Justice and Public Safety Leadership. Darcy currently sits on the advisory board for the BCIT.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Topic: Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Roda McInnis Contractor
Program Manager, Institute for Citizen-Centred Service (ICCS)
At the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service (ICCS), a not-for-profit organization created by the three orders of government in 2005, Roda McInnis Contractor’s responsibilities include managing two national councils – the Public Sector Service Delivery Council and the Public Sector Chief Information Officer Council. She has also been involved with coordinating Taking Care of Business, a series of national surveys of Canadian businesses to research expectations and levels of satisfaction with government services.
Previously, Roda held various executive positions with the Province of Ontario as well as the Ontario SuperBuild Corporation. She has also worked at the City of Toronto as Director of Corporate Projects, Director of Management Consulting and Director of the Amalgamation Office. Roda holds an Honours B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Masters degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia. In 2000, she attended the Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Topic: CISCO - Municipal Service Delivery Enabled Through Cloud Computing
Ash Mathur
Vice President, Industry Sales
Cisco Canada
As Vice President Industry Sales for Cisco Canada, Ash Mathur leads a national team focused on industry
transformation, business value, and industry-specific sales. This includes responsibility for cloud computing and
Smart+Connected Communities initiatives, as well as sales, business development, solutions and strategic
alliances for markets including government, education, energy, healthcare, financial services, and
Smart+Connected Real Estate.
Previously, Mathur served as Vice President, Solutions. In this role, he was responsible for advanced
technologies sales, business development, and marketing, leading national sales and engineering teams focused
on unified communications, data center, optical, wireless, and security solutions. He worked closely with all sales,
channels, and services teams as an advisor and collaborator, defining go-to-market strategies, sales, business
development, and marketing programs nationally.
Prior to joining Cisco, Mathur served as director of sales leadership, Worldwide Enterprise and Partner Group for
Microsoft Corp., responsible for global sales leadership strategy and business development. He also served
Microsoft as the Global Lead for industry solutions, enterprise sales, and business development, and as director
of services for the U.S. Central Region. His experience included cross-industry solution go-to-market strategy,
developing strategic alliances, and global enterprise sales strategy.
His previous experience includes senior director of sales for Siebel Systems, and vice president of sales roles
with EDS Canada and TELUS Corporation.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Topic: TBA
Alan Mitchell
Senior Manager, Performance & Technology, Advisory Services, KPMG
Alan Mitchell has over thirty years of experience working for and with government organizations and agencies in a variety of capacities, including developing information technology approaches on the one hand, and business transformation strategies on the other.
Over the last fifteen years, Alan has specialized in the development of program/service models for mapping out the business of local, regional, county and district governments. In this capacity, Mr. Mitchell has worked with approximately 40 government organizations defining profiles of programs, services, resources and activities in support of various transformation initiatives. His knowledge of the breadth of service offerings across government departments has lead to a much more efficient and effective execution and delivery of approaches for administrations.
Alan is one of the leading architects of the Municipal Reference Model (MRM) owned by the Municipal Information Systems Association (MISA) of Canada / Association des systèmes d'information municipale Canada (ASIM), and was a founding member of the Ontario chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA).
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Topic: OMBI’S Benchmarking Opportunities
Ken Nawolsky
Corporate Performance Measurement Coordinator, Office of the CFO, City of Winnipeg
Ken has worked for the City of Winnipeg in various capacities for 20 years and has been involved in major initiatives such as the creation of a 311 Contact Centre and By-Law Enforcement Unit. Ken’s present role is providing direction and leadership for the performance measurement framework for the City of Winnipeg in order to assess, evaluate and improve the effectiveness and quality of Winnipeg’s municipal services as part of the operating budget process.
Ken is the Municipal Champion for Winnipeg as part of the Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI). In 2010, Winnipeg joined OMBI as it fosters a culture of service excellence in municipal governments by creating new ways to measure, share and compare performance statistics and operational practices. Ken is a project manager by profession and also holds a Certificate in Management and Public Administration and Professional Manager Designation.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Topic: OMBI’S Benchmarking Opportunities
Connie Wheeler,
Program Manager, OMBI
Connie Wheeler is the newly appointed Program Manager for the Ontario Municipal CAO’s Benchmarking Initiative, which is better known as OMBI. Prior to taking on this role, she was the Corporate Initiatives and Special Projects Manager in the Office of the City Manager for the City of Hamilton. Areas of responsibility included Corporate Strategic Planning, budget processes with Council and Project Manager for several corporate service delivery and organizational reviews.
Connie also acted as the OMBI Municipal Champion, and during this tenure was one of three co-chairs for the OMBI Management Committee, and the Chair of the Annual Forum Sub-committee and the Performance Reporting Sub-committee, which she continues to Chair today.