Rick Green, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, CHC Helicopter Corporation--Leading International IT Authority and Senior Executive

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Rick Green.

Resident of British Columbia, Canada. Mr. Green has been employed by the Corporation for the past 22 years. He began as the Chief Accountant with a predecessor company, Sealand Helicopters Limited, and moved through increasingly responsible positions within the Corporation. In 1988, he was named the Assistant Corporate Controller. In 1993, he moved into an Internal Audit function until 1995 when he was appointed as Vice-President, Finance in the International division. He remained in this position until 2000 when he was appointed as Vice-President, Planning and Control. In May 2003, he assumed the role of Vice-President, Global Systems and Solutions. In May 2006, he was appointed as Vice-President and Chief Information Officer. In 2007, Rick received the "Top CIO: 2007" Award from Canadian Business Magazine.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

The latest blog on the interview can be found in the IT Managers Connection (IMC) forum where you can provide your comments in an interactive dialogue.
http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic
:00:42:		Rick describes his many roles outside of CHC.
:01:45:		Rick, you continually provide strategic business results enhancing the value of your organization helping CHC operate aircraft in more than 20 countries worldwide. Can you describe your role in more detail? Profile your current specific role and your own personal: Vision, Mission, Strategy, Goals, and Objectives. "....What I like to do on a day to day basis is to partner with the business to identify opportunities, overcome some of the challenges that they have out there, align the technology and other knowledge that I have with business strategy and enable the business to achieve its goals while at the same time maximizing the return on investment for technology...."
:03:06:		Our audience consists of varying levels of both IT and Business professionals and those in management. What key lessons can you provide from your global management experience? "....Communications up and down and outside the organization....Continually monitor business change....Internally reflect on organization structure....External parties, consultants, and deliverables that they bring to the organization...."
:04:43:		How do you align IT with business performance and strategy? "...If you can understand what the business is trying to accomplish, its goals, its strategies, its direction, then you can work the technology piece to fit that...."
:05:35:		What were the major issues you addressed upon entering your role? "....I took more of a business perspective. We had many pieces of IT all across the global organization operating independently. So one of my initial challenges was to consolidate all of these independent pieces and to develop mechanisms for communicating properly between the IT part of the organization and the business part of the organization....Everything I do now and everything that my people do...we think about the impact on the global business environment....
:06:25:		What are your biggest challenges, and their solutions? How does this relate to business? "....Communication....Change....Executive involvement...."
:07:28:		From his travels and experiences in the various roles he has undertaken, Rick shares some interesting stories from his work.
:09:57:		In your view, what are the most serious roadblocks for businesses and what are their solutions? "....When you are in a global environment, it is always a challenge to manage all of the pieces (they are always operating 24/7) and trying to set a strategy and direction, making sure all those pieces are aligning over time....The ability to manage the future(....when you are an organization that's constantly acquiring new businesses, taking different directions, trying to meet its customer needs, vendors, suppliers, regulatory)...."
:11:21:		What are the top technology issues presently facing businesses and how do you propose they can be solved or resolved? "....Seamless integration between customers, suppliers, vendors, regulatory, technology...."
:14:14:		Can you provide your predictions of future IT/Business trends and their implications/opportunities? "....Shift coming where the business environment will assume more of the IT role (especially as more of the younger generation are coming into the workforce because they are more technologically savvy)....I think IT people in general will get back more into automation, processes, control (that type of environment), that is where IT people can add a lot of vantage going forward into the future...."
:16:57:		As a leading senior executive over a long successful career, what specific advice would you give, to make managers more effective? "....Build quality teams....Create a lot of flexibility in your organization....Remain open to different possibilities...."
:18:38:		If I were early in my career, what specific advice would you give me? "....Don't be afraid to take on all kinds of different challenges that the business world may want to offer...."
:20:16:		Which are your top recommended resources and why? "....Areas around processes and process analysis....Information and data intelligence about the business environment....Stay abreast with current technologies...."
:21:33:		If you were doing this interview, what question would you ask and then what would be your answer? "....What are peoples' perspectives on the global environment?...."