IT-oLogy’s mission includes three initiatives: Promote IT, Teach IT and Grow IT. These initiatives drive the ability to grow the IT talent pipeline. As IT-oLogy continues to advance our footprint nationally, so will these three initiatives. IT-oLogy has proven that programs within these initiatives produce results and eventually produce economic development advantages within a community. That is what has become so attractive to other cities such as Charlotte, Greenville/Spartanburg and Dallas/Fort Worth and will continue to move us forward to other communities.
IT-oLogy now has over 300 business and academic partners and the success of this non-profit effort is a by-product of two things that come together. Certainly the efforts of partners to guide, direct, fund and support the various programs are key, but the formation of a national non-profit also means full time staff donated through partner contributions. In the case of the three major initiatives, each one is blessed with a program director to support the implementations across all branches.
Alicia Thibaudet as the Promote IT director has the responsibility of K-12 program development. Alicia works with various Promote IT councils to identify resources, develop and deliver great programs for middle and high school students. Her background as a great coordinator, planner and communicator, coupled with a love for kids make for a great leader in this space.
If you’ve visited with us in our headquarters in Columbia, SC, chances are you’ve met Diedre Murphy. Diedre has most recently made the move from Venue Director to Teach IT initiative director. The Teach IT initiative is directed at the time period where candidates leave high school and continue to develop skills before they enter the workforce. This is heavily driven by our university and technical college partners working directly with our business partners to ensure that we have the quantity and quality of a ready workforce to meet the needs of business in this country. Diedre is just now introducing herself to the partners around the country.
Jim Stritzinger has brought 20+ years of professional experience to his role as Grow IT Director. He is an experienced high-tech entrepreneur who is extremely well connected in South Carolina and the region. The Grow IT initiative is all about advancing IT talent in the form of professional development, keeping IT professionals current. The ROI that Jim talks about with our business partners are tangible benefits in IT talent acquisition, talent management, talent development, talent retention and IT leadership development. Jim is also working with councils made up of partners to guide and direct these programs in line with the priorities for economic growth within the IT-oLogy branch communities.
I invite you to learn more and join our growing organization to use these tools to collaboratively solve this national IT talent shortage. Visit www.it-ology.org.