Nashville Technology Council

Entrepreneurial Series Roundtable Event:
“Your First Critical Decision: Which Platform? PHP vs. .NET vs. Ruby on Rails“

October 1, 2009
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Cool Springs Life Sciences Center
389 Nichol Mill Ln. | Franklin, TN 37067

Registration is now closed.  You may register at the door.

Does it really matter which platform you use to build your website?  Join us as our three expert panelists discuss the pros and cons, the major differentiators, and the functionality of PHP, .NET, and Ruby on Rails.  With most individual having their mobile devices at their fingertips, these experts will discuss each language, and its  ability to support mobile functions.

Panelists:

“The PHP Expert”

Nicholas Holland
Founder, President, & CEO
{centre}source, Inc.

Click Here for Bio

“The .NET Guru”
Chris McPherson
Partner & Senior Software Engineer
Firefly Logic

Chris McPherson is a native of Middle Tennessee and has been writing software professionally for over 15 years.

Chris has been building solutions with Microsoft’s .NET technologies since it’s release in 2002. Chris is one of the founding partners of Firefly Logic and the organizer of the Geek Social, a local technology networking event.

“The Ruby on Rails Expert”
Yossef Mendelssohn
OG Consulting

Yossef Mendelssohn has no Computer Science degrees, but is a big fan of algorithms and big-O notation. He got into programming at age 10 when his programmer father carelessly left some books lying about. Since then, he has spent countless hours writing code ranging from silly personal experiments to professional modules in large-scale finance and healthcare systems.  Yossef likes dark chocolate, salty bacon, and talking about himself in the third person. Click Here for Company Description

Nicholas L. Holland
Executive Profile
 
Mr. Holland is Founder, President, and CEO of centre{source}, Inc., a Nashville, TN-based Web Interactive Strategy firm. centre{source} is a full-service Interactive firm assisting organizations that view the web as a strategic asset.  They provide clients four essential services: strategy, planning, execution, and on-going management.  Notable areas of expertise include Social Media, Web Applications, Content Management Systems, Flash, Pay-per-click, and Search Engine Optimization.  

Under Mr. Holland’s direction, centre{source} has experienced impressive revenue growth, is a leader in its market and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the Nashville Business Journal’s “Best in Business” award in the Emerging Business category (2006) and Goldline Research’s “10 Most Dependable Web Design Firms in the Central/Southern United States” (2007, 2008).  In 2008, the Nashville Chamber of Commerce selected centre{source} as a “Future 50”, recognizing them as one of the 50 fastest growing companies in the city. 
 
In 2004, Mr. Holland was recognized as one of Tennessee’s “30 under 30” leaders by Business Tennessee, and in 2006 he received the Young Entrepreneur Award from the Nashville Business Journal.  He also received a Tech 20 Award from the Nashville Technology Council for being one of the city’s 20 most influential technology business leaders. In 2007, the Nashville Chamber of Commerce awarded Mr. Holland the prestigious “Nashville Emerging Leader Award” in Technology. 

Mr. Holland is an accomplished speaker and expert commentator on technology trends.  His articles have appeared in a number of publications, including the Nashville Medical News and the Nashville Business Journal.  Active in community and business organizations, Mr. Holland serves on the Boards of the Better Business Bureau, Nashville Technology Council, Stratford IT Academy, and Nashville OIC.  He is an active member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, and the Junior Chamber of Commerce.   Mr. Holland graduated from Tulane University with a double major in Finance and Information Systems. At Tulane, he received the Dean’s Selection for Most Outstanding Student and was the Student Body President of the A.B. Freeman School of Business.

Keynote Presentations

Kent Freeman, CTO, Ingram Digital

Clint Smith, Co-Founder, EMMA

Stimulus Panel Presentation

Richard Taylor, Ciber - Moderator
Miriam Paramore, Emdeon
Jamie Etheridge – State of Tennessee

IT Hiring Trends Report – May 2009

Announcing: The Bumpy Road Series

It’s no surprise that these difficult economic times are forcing businesses of all sizes to make changes – rethinking plans and priorities.  But what may come as a surprise is that for some businesses, an economic “bumpy road” can create numerous opportunities for immediate and sustainable growth.  How each business responds, adapts to, and embraces the necessary changes can make the difference between success and failure.

We can help.  Starting in July, the Nashville Technology Council is joining with IBM to offer our members a special series of informational discussions over the coming months.  The goal of these discussions is to offer business (and IT) decision makers useful ideas for improving the application of technology to their business – all in the context of today’s economy.

Some of our topics will include:
• Collaboration as a tool for business transformation
• Mapping out a winning business strategy
• Affordable approaches to security in a connected world
• Business Intelligence: Finding new value in old information
• Risk & Compliance: Remedies for regulatory woes
• Financing strategies, stimulus packages, and protecting cash flow
• Web 2.0: Ready or not, here it comes
• Exploring the case for Green Technology
• Business Resilience: Survival strategies
• Intro to Cloud Computing
• More…

Look for invitations to each of these free 60 minute webcasts – which you can attend from your office.  After you register, you will receive confirmation and reminder via email.

July 15 – “Working Smarter: The Convergence of Collaboration and Social Networking”

August 19 – “Introduction to Cloud Computing: Insights and Implications for Business Leaders”

September 18 – “Going Green: Why, When, and How”

Click Here for More Information

Nashville Technology Council & Digital Nashville present
Social Media 101

From Facebook to Twitter to Yelp and many more, social tools are dominating the way people communicate about all aspects of life, especially brands they like or dislike. In this session, Kate O’Neill covers the philosophy behind social media, why social marketing is taking over as the quickest way to reach an audience, rules for engaging a social audience and the many tools that are available.

Venue: Cumberland University
Labry Hall – Computer Lab 014
Lebanon , TN 37087

7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. – Breakfast & Networking
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. – Social Media 101

Cost: $25 per person
*cost covers breakfast, refreshments, and the program

Click Here to Register Online

Kate O’Neill has earned a reputation as a passionate advocate for innovative, interactive online experiences in business. Working in online content in Silicon Valley during the 1990s heyday, she introduced the techniques of blogging (before it was called blogging and before there were fantastic tools like Wordpress) to many companies as an employee and later as a consultant. As social networks and social media have sprung up, Kate has been a vocal advocate for their inclusion in savvy business and marketing strategy, as well, both for the SEO boost they often imply and for the way they can strengthen a business’s relationship with its customers and enhance the customer experience.

Kate currently runs [meta]marketer, a web marketing un-agency and freelance consultancy she founded this year. She also maintains four blogs, three Twitter accounts, and dozens of other semi-neglected social media accounts.

Directions:
• Take I-40 East (toward Knoxville) to exit 238 (Lebanon)
• Left at traffic light at top of ramp,
• Travel straight through four traffic lights,
• Left at the next light, Leeville Pike (West) TN Blvd.(East), Ryan’s Steakhouse is on your right.
• Straight at the 4-way stop,
• Right on South Greenwood,
• Left at the 2nd road on left, Martin Ave.
• Park in the parking lot along Martin Ave. Labry Hall is half way up the block adjunct to the gymnasium.

Noel Williams
Senior Vice President and CIO, HCA
President, HCA Information Technology & Services, Inc.

Biography:
Noel Williams is President of HCA Information Technology & Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nashville-based HCA (Hospital Corporation of America). As an executive of one of the country’s largest hospital companies and second largest healthcare IT provider, Ms. Williams leads a staff of over 3,000 employees across the U.S., including five data centers and fourteen division support centers. She is responsible for delivering IT services to HCA as well as over 145 non-HCA hospitals and facilities. She also serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for HCA, responsible for HCA’s IT strategy and the overall operation of the company’s vast IT systems and services.

Ms. Williams has over 30 years of experience in healthcare IT, most with HCA. She spent 16 years in HCA’s Information Services Department in a variety of positions, including serving as Vice President of Information Services from 1993 to 1995. Her leadership helped earn HCA’s Internet Systems and Services over 20 industry awards. In September 1997, Ms. Williams accepted the position as CIO of HCA IT&S after serving as Chief Information Officer for America Service Group in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Ms. Williams has previously served on the board of Franklin Road Academy, the United Way of Middle Tennessee, the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT), and the American Hospital Association Working Group for Health IT Standards. She currently serves on the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering Committee of Visitors, The HCA Foundation, is an adjunct professor in the Owen School of Management of Vanderbilt University and is a member of the Leadership Nashville Class of 2010.

Education:
BS, Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 1977
MS, Management, Concentration in Healthcare Financial Management, University of South Carolina, 1987

Area(s) of Expertise:
Information Technology, IT Leadership & Management in Large Organizations, IT Strategy, Organizational Development

As a student, you are invited to hear, Noel Williams, Chief Information Officer of HCA, reveal how she achieved success through her career in technology.  Ms. Williams is one of Nashville’s technology industry leaders and HCA was recently awarded one of the Top 100 Places to Work in IT by ComputerWorld.

October 8, 2009
4:30 – 6:00 p.m.
HCA
2501 Park Plaza – BLDG 1
Nashville, TN 37203
Click Here to RSVP

Join other students from area colleges and universities at this free event. Refreshments will be provided.

Parking Instructions: We ask all event guests to park in the overflow parking lot which is right off of Charlotte Ave. The lots on either side of the building are designated for HCA employees only. Parking is also allowed on the street (Park Plaza) in front of the building in designated areas. But we do please ask that attendees not park in the handful of marked visitor’s spots.

All attendees will need to enter at the front doors of the building, and will be asked to sign a sign-in sheet  upon arrival and wear a name tag for the duration of their visit.

Click Here to View a Map