Meet Lonnie Emard of IT-oLogy. Lonnie is the Executive Director of IT-oLogy which is the formation of the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management. I met Lonnie over two years ago and have been sharing a great business relationship ever since.
My name is Bobby Rettew and I have served as IT-oLogy’s Digital Media Consultant for close to two years. Lonnie was one of the first clients I worked with while starting my business. Our partnership has been fun and exciting, telling stories surrounding the ever expanding demand in this IT Talent Pipeline.
Lonnie is passionate about IT and he is passionate about building a bright future. If you watch the video, you will learn he has a Computer Science degree and has worked for large organizations in the oil industry and also in healthcare, including BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
He was the visionary that brought IT-oLogy to fruition seeing the increasing demand for a growing, qualified workforce in IT. He also sees the need to communicate that working in IT is more than just programming with jobs ranging from software development, gaming, virtual reality, animation, and so much more.
Take a few minutes and watch the video. Lonnie’s passion is infectious and it is my hope that you take a chance to come to Columbia, SC and shake his hand.
Enjoy!
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Bobby Rettew is a Emmy Award winning, documentary storyteller and digital media strategist. Bobby works with IT-oLogy with all of their video, digital media, and social media strategy.
So are you thinking about the world of IT as it relates to the world of Healthcare? Healthcare IT surrounds us everyday…from electronic medical records to the mobile platforms that drive communication. Did you know that Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina is more than just insurance company, they are a data management and data transfer company. Your insurance information is stored in large servers and it takes a special talent pipeline to manage this information technology, literally.
So, how does this relate to a great conference at IT-oLogy in Columbia, SC on August, 10th? Three major organizations are coming together to share knowledge, feature wonderful presentations, and build strategic relationships that will impact tomorrow’s world of Health Information and Technology. Well, in the video above…John Warner on InnoVenture, LLC describes this event that will be hosted at IT-oLogy in downtown Columbia, SC.
Data Analysis – Health Care Informatics and EMR
Data Management and Insurance Data Warehousing and Infrastructure
Data Collection – Health Care Diagnostics, Devices and Clinical Trials
Health Care IT – A Pipeline of Talent Skills
An important theme throughout the day includes industry/academic partnerships to create a pipeline of talent to design, develop and manage that span of activity.
To view an agenda and see the list of attendees to date, click here.
Plan to join business developers and technology scouts in health care and insurance related companies, faculty and students seeking industry partners to enhance their research and services providers to high growth organizations involved in health science fields, in what should be both an educational and informative day as well as a great opportunity to network with peers in these critical fields.
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Bobby Rettew is a Emmy Award winning, documentary storyteller and digital media strategist. Bobby works with IT-oLogy with all of their video, digital media, and social media strategy.
Blake Sutton, a junior at Spring Valley High School, recently spoke to 100 BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina employees about his experience with IT-oLogy. Not only did Blake have the courage to get up in front of the auditorium filled with adults, he also spoke about a topic that is hard for a lot of people to relate to and understand. However, this room of employees was in awe of Blake’s abilities and experiences.
Blake heard about IT-oLogy through his mom, BlueCross BlueShield of SC employee Tracey Sutton, as well as one of his teachers at Spring Valley High School. He joined other high school students in February for IT-oLogy’s annual Opportunity Day, where he learned about different programs and careers in information technology. Blake became a part of the Palmetto Island group that launched their virtual world in March.
Blake has always been interested in IT. He began playing video games at a young age, and eventually wanted to learn not just how to play the game, but also how the game was created. He wanted to know what goes into programming a video game, and how he could get involved. This past semester, while participating in Palmetto Island, Blake also took the Foundation to Animation course at Spring Valley. There, he learned about the programming used to create video games.
In March, a group of 25 high school students met at IT-oLogy with Clemson Professor Larry Hodges and three graduate students. Dr. Hodges introduced the students to Palmetto Island, a virtual world where they would spend the next six weeks working with avatars. Palmetto Island (PI) is a project developed at Clemson University to create an interactive, online informal learning environment for middle and high school students.
PI is designed to help students learn computing skills such as programming, three-dimensional modeling, avatar design and animation—all in the context of a virtual world that also provides opportunities for mentoring by Clemson computer science majors and professors, and by professionals working in the Information Technology (IT) industry. PI activities are conducted in-world, which means that students connect to PI from their home computer and interact with others on the island via user-controlled virtual characters known as Avatars. The goal of PI is to introduce high school and middle school students in South Carolina to computing skills, opportunities, and IT career options in order to increase the pipeline of future computer science majors.
As a part of PI participation, students received a Lenovo Thinkpad so they would be able to participate in the weekly sessions by logging in from home.
“If I never got the Lenovo Thinkpad, I would never be able to do Imprudence [the program used]. It was a really great opportunity to get the Thinkpad,” said Blake.
“People like me that are interested in having a career in IT can learn a lot of things you need to know to get a job,” Blake continued when talking about why he thinks others should get involved with IT-oLogy.
Blake’s mom, Tracey, agrees. Tracey has seen Blake grow and “develop an element of maturity and focus on what he’s doing in the future.”
“This experience has helped him really obtain more of an interest in what he will be doing when applying to different schools. He has been given exposure to terminology and IT in general. Palmetto Island has engaged him and it’s very exciting to him,” she said. “He is learning without knowing he is learning.”
It is more than a building, it is more than a mission, it is more than a consortium of partners…it is an initiative. There is one thing for sure, there are lots of passionate people that believe in the future of IT. What is IT? Some define “IT” as Information Technology…others define “IT” as the discipline for tomorrow’s economic engine.
This past Tuesday (Feb. 8th), we gathered to see what all the hoopla was all about. Just across the street from the Statehouse in downtown Columbia, SC…there is a new sign. Not only a new sign hanging on the side of a building, but a new sign that there is a massive voice saying…”We Are IT-oLogy.” Yes…you do not hear people saying “I” … they are using the word “We”. It is a group of people, companies, partners, visionaries that are investing in the future…the future workforce for tomorrow’s Information Technology leaders.
Close to 250 people attended the open house for IT-oLogy. It was more than just an open house congregating the “whose who” across the southeast and Columbia…it was also the unveiling of a new name for this passionate initiative. IT-oLogy was brought to the forefront as the new brand for this growing initiative. It is the initiative of the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management. It was also the unveiling of the new website, aimed at attracting a younger audience to engage in an online experience, learning about a career in IT.
So next time you are in Columbia, SC…stop by and check out my friends at IT-oLogy. If you click here, you can find their new multi-million dollar facility, right downtown Columbia, SC. They are just nice people…with a cool mission.
Here are the pictures from the night! I hope you enjoy!
