Andre Mendes CIO, Special Olympics International 2008 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Finalist

Andre transformed donated hardware and software and team of volunteers into a world-class media event for the 2007 Special Olympics in China. Using RFID tags and GPS, Andre assured the safety of 7500 athletes and, leveraging volunteer videographers and a global webcasting infrastructure, assured that parents and supporters of athletes could view event footage worldwide. Andre considers innovation core to the role of today’s CIO: “Innovation is the engine that allows a company to thrive. CIOs in really progressive organizations are transforming their use of IT from enabling what is there to actually creating what should be there.“