!" STEM Degree & an MBA #" PhD in a STEM Field $" Career in IT
stay humble. His favourite vacation spot, movie, books, gadget,
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
leisure activity are respectively, St Martin, American Virgin
Islands, The Godfather, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, his
iPod, and golf. He also says he already has his dream job. He is
NASA
a member of the Washington CIO Executive Council and the
WOODROW WHITLOW JR. #
Baltimore CIO group.
Center Director
N A S A John H. Glenn Research Center
UTILITIES
BS, M S, PhD - aeronautics and astronautics, MIT
Dr. Whitlow leads the research center strat-
egy. He is responsible for planning, organiz-
COMED
ing and directing the activities required
KEVIN B. BROOKINS ! to accomplish the center’s missions. He
ComEd Vice President
manages a budget of about $500 million, and a mix of around
Distribution System O perations
3,260 civil service employees and contractors. The center has
BS - electrical engineering, Howard University
24 major facilities and over 500 specialized research facilities.
MB A , G overnors State University
Whitlow has been with NASA since 1979 starting as a research
When Kevin Brookins was a teen,
scientist. From 1994 to 1998, he was director, critical technolo-
his high school counselor saw his STEM
gies division, Offi ce of Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters,
aptitude and encouraged him to study en-
before moving to the Glenn Research Center in 1998. From
gineering. That push, and his family’s faith
September 2003 through December 2005, he was deputy direc-
and support, were the foundation for Brookins’ now 25-year ca-
tor of the Kennedy Space Center. His duties included assisting
reer with an electric and gas utility serving 5.4 million custom-
the director in implementing agency program responsibilities
ers. He raised his corporate visibility, earning an MBA paid for
in processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles, process-
by a tuition reimbursement plan, and the degree led to assign-
ing of spacecraft, and acquisition of launch services. Before
ments with increasing responsibility. Brookins, who manages a
becoming deputy director, he was the director of research
$132 million budget, urges other would-be engineer MBAs to
and technology at the Glenn Research Center.
concentrate on fi nance to understand a company’s fi nances.
The numbers maven measures effectiveness with a scorecard
of operational, fi nancial, customer satisfaction, and human
ACADEMIA
performance metrics. The next big thing in utilities, he says,
are meters that give customers real-time data about their energy RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
use and report electricity usage and outage instantly. His favor-
ite movies include Gladiator, The Color Purple, and Undercover
SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON #
Brother. His favorite Web site, vacation spot, gadget, and leisure
President
activity, respectively, are
www.bisonroundup.com, Aruba, an
SB - physics, MIT
alpha-numeric pager, and sports activities related to water.
PhD-theoretical elem entary particle physics, MIT
Under her tenure as the 18th president
of the nation’s oldest technological research
FIRSTENERGY CORPORATION university, Dr. Jackson has fostered a renais-
BENNETT L. GAINES $
sance. She hired over 180 new faculty and
slashed class size and student/faculty ratios, guided construc-
Vice President Information Technology &
tion and renovation of $600 million in research, teaching, and
Corporate Security, and Chief Information O f ficer
Information Technology & Corporate Security
student life facilities, and doubled research awards. In 2001,
B A - sociology, Bald w in-Wallace College
she secured a $360 million unrestricted gift to the university
M A - business, University of Phoenix and launched the $1 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer Campaign
Bennett Gaines is a power exec with
in 2004 — expanding its goal to $1.4 billion two years later
an eclectic background. In 2006, he joined
when the initial goal was met early. Last October, the campaign
FirstEnergy, which has 4.5 million custom-
goal was surpassed nine months before its target date, and days
ers in three states. Prior to that, among other jobs, he spent
before the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
11 years with IBM, and three years as the American managing
opened. In 2007, the National Science Board described Jackson
director of business services at a British subsidiary of a global
as a “national treasure” in the citation for her Vannevar Bush
utility company. Gaines credits his approach to work to Obie
Award for lifetime achievements in scientifi c research, educa-
Bender, a now retired Baldwin-Wallace exec, who showed
tion, and contributions to public policy. In 2005, Time Maga-
him tough love. Gaines says his 685-member team develops
zine said she was “perhaps the ultimate role model for women
and supports its key business systems in house. The next big
in science.”
upgrade in IT effi ciency will occur as “search” is further coupled
with business intelligence. Workers spend too much time
looking for data and then consolidating it to make a decision.
Gaines’ favorites away from work are Oak Bluffs vacations,
Schindler’s List, his iPhone, Native Son, and golf, golf, golf.
His dream job is the one that he has now.
34 USBE & Information Technology I WINTER 2008
http://www.blackengineer.com
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