WATERLOO REGION - Chief Information Officers and technology leaders will gather in Waterloo Region on February 27 for CIO/08, Southwestern Ontario’s only executive conference on technology solutions for business.

The full-day event will be held at the Holiday Inn, Kitchener, and will be attended by more than 200 CIOs and senior managers of information and technology from manufacturing, financial services, government, education, health care, and other industry segments.

Speakers for CIO/08 include Chief Information Officer of Research In Motion, Robin Bienfait, David Weinberger, bestselling author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, and Ki Leung, senior vice president, technology development at BMO Financial.

Communitech president and CEO, Iain Klugman, says, "Our first CIO conference was so well received that we’re bringing CIOs and their peers together again to compare notes, share best practices, and problem-solve."

"Excellent breakout sessions — the content was extremely relevant," said Mike Annable, Executive VP Administration of Linamar, about CIO/07. John Martin, CIO, The Economical Insurance Group agreed: "An excellent event — I enjoyed the format and calibre of keynotes and breakouts.”

As part of the preparation to host CIO/08, Communitech interviewed CIOs from a broad range of industries. A full report on key issues facing CIOs will be released at the conference, but the preliminary findings indicate several key issues that occupy the CIO’s mind:

* Security
* Business Alignment
* Virtualization
* Enterprise 2.0
* Attracting and retaining talented staff