You Are Here: 2008 Forum Annual Meeting
The Forum's 22nd Annual Meeting took place on Friday, September 12, 2008 from 11:00 am - 3:30 pm at The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, Albany Shaker Road, Albany, NY.
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The New York State Forum held its 22nd Annual Meeting on Friday, September 12, 2008 at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany, New York. The keynote for this annual event was provided by NYC CIO and Commissioner Paul Cosgrave. Commissioner Cosgrave addressed the audience of nearly 300 New York state and local government and corporate IT leaders and staff on the promise of innovative technology and telecommunications capacities to transform government. Commissioner Cosgrave drew upon his government experiences at the IRS, the FAA and New York City, as well as his corporate experiences to share how, in each case, technology had transformed an operational component and made it far more efficient, cost-effective and responsive to public needs. Commissioner Cosgrove indicated that central to what he has observed and been involved in as IT successes, the key ingredients have been a clear vision of what the objective(s) are; ongoing communications and understanding of the initiative by all involved in making it a reality; and support and advocacy from the highest policy level in the organization. Commissioner Cosgrave noted the ongoing work of his staff with leadership of the NYS Forum to extend the work of The Forum's IT Corporate Roundtable to the NYMetro area.
Every year The NYS Forum's Annual meeting agenda also includes the presentation of the organization's annual awards for individual excellence as well as awards to state and local government projects and websites deemed to be of an exemplary nature by their peers. The NYS Government Award for Excellence was presented to Robert Freeman, Executive Director, Committee on Open Government, NYS Department of State, for his role in shaping the New York State Freedom of Information legislation and for his exemplary advocacy and service to the public related to the spirit of "open government" inherent to the intent of that legislation. The NYS Forum Annual IT Corporate Roundtable Award for Excellence was presented to Maryann Jablonowski, Business Development Director, Accenture, LLP, for her exemplary and creative leadership of the IT Corporate Roundtable in a year marked by substantial increase in Roundtable outreach and inclusion.
Agenda and Presentations:
Welcome - Gregory M. Benson, Executive Director, NYS Forum
Business Meeting
Executive Committee Election Results
Diane Taylor, NYS Forum Executive Committee Chair & Assistant Director, Bureau Contracts, Office of the State Comptroller
Where have we been? The year in review
Diane Taylor
- Microsoft® PowerPoint Presentation (
, Requires the PowerPoint program, 3,415 KB) - Adobe PDF (
, 579 KB) - HTML
Where are we going? Initiatives for 2008 - 2009
JoAnn Bomeisl, NYS Forum Executive Committee Vice Chair & Director of Application Services, OMRDD
- Microsoft® PowerPoint Presentation (, Requires the PowerPoint program, 1,067 KB)
- Adobe PDF (, 367 KB)
- HTML
Keynote - Paul J. Cosgrave, Commissioner, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
Paul J. Cosgrave 
was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on June 14, 2006. Throughout his more than 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, Commissioner Cosgrave has devoted his career to using the power of technology to make people and the organizations they serve more effective. Commissioner Cosgrave's experience includes work at the Federal Aviation Administration and service as the Chief Information Officer at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Prior to joining the IRS, Commissioner Cosgrave was the Chairman, President and CEO of the Claremont Technology Group.
Maryann Jablonowski, NYS Forum ITCR Chair & Director of Business Development, Accenture
Peter Chynoweth, NYS Forum ITCR Vice Chair & Vice President, CMA Consulting Services
- Microsoft® PowerPoint Presentation (, Requires the PowerPoint program, 915 KB)
- Adobe PDF (, 231 KB)
- HTML
Annual Award Presentations
Award for Excellence in Government IS
Mark Mitchell, Director of Internal Audit, NYSERDA & Diane Taylor, Presenters
Award for Excellence IT Corporate Roundtable
Peter Chynoweth, Presenter
Best Practices Awards
Diane Taylor, JoAnn Bomeisl & Paul Maguire, ISO, OASAS, Presenters
Best of the Web Awards
Jim Costello, Web Application Developer, Center for Technology in Government, Presenter
- Friday, September 12, 2008
- 10:30 am - 3:00 pm
- The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center (King Street Ballroom), Albany Shaker Road, Albany, NY