Dean Jelassi meets with the Chief Information Officer of the United States of America

During his stay at Harvard Business School as guest faculty, Prof. Tawfik Jelassi, Dean of the ENPC School of International Management, met on July 29th 2010 with Mr. Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the United States of America, who was on campus that day to give an address to an executives’ group.
Mr. Kundra was appointed to this Federal Government position by President Barack Obama and works out of the White House.  He oversees 200 CIOs that manage over 100,000 IT staff, with a combined budget of USD76 billion and 10,679 systems to support.  When Mr Kundra took over, he was faced with the legacy of billions of dollars in failed IT projects with most projects going over budget and failing to deliver what they promised with some running for 12 years!  In his address, he quoted President Obama in saying that making strategic changes in the Federal Government are like turning around a giant ocean tanker; “you set the course but it takes some time to swing the ship around but each day is progress and you do eventually get there”.

For Mr. Kundra, a successful CIO should have the following attributes: the ability to execute, the ability to find the innovative path, and the ability to truly know and understand the business.  After his very appreciated address, Dean Jelassi wished Mr Kundra success in his challenging mission and offered him a copy of his latest book “Strategies for e-Business”.