Most organizations agree that innovation is absolutely critical to remain competitive in a crowded field, yet it is often cast as something above and beyond an organization’s core operations. When times get tough, innovation is often the first thing to go. Join us as we explore how Would-be-Innovators can protect their work with these low-cost, practical strategies for embedding innovation into their core operations.
Key Topics Covered:
- Building strategic alliances with other organizations in your mission space
- Building deep partnerships with your technology vendors
- Avoiding the temptation to go “all in” at the expense of all your side wagers
Speaker
Richard Kostro
Senior Vice President and CIO, Share Our Strength
Rich Kostro is the Chief Information Officer at Share Our Strength, an organization working to end childhood hunger in the US and abroad. He is responsible for implementing new technology solutions, improving the accessibility to and utility of enterprise data, and mitigating cyber security and privacy risks across three different operation areas: Share Our Strength, a non-profit organization with operations across the country.
Prior to joining Share Our Strength, Rich was the Director of Business Integration and Transformation for the Chief Information Security Officer at Capital One, where he led multiple efforts to implement strategic initiatives, improve budget management, and build talent pipelines. Rich also spent nearly 15 years as a strategic consultant, working with both large and small consulting firms, and built an independent consulting practice that provided services to Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) at the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Smithsonian Institutes, as well as a number of private sector firms. Rich also spent two years as a political appointee in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and continues to serve as an Army Reserve Officer, with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and a successful record of commanding Soldiers in both State-side and overseas environments. He earned his BS and MBA from Georgetown University and currently serves on two outside advisory boards.
Rich, his wife Stephanie, and two daughters, Catherine and Sarah, live in Alexandria, Virginia. He’s an avid hiker and is most proud of having thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (from Georgia to Maine) and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.