Number of years as a CIO 

CIO/CTO/VP IT - 15  years

Specific Industry Experience

Hospitality, Golf and Resort – 7 years

Federal Public Service – 3 years

World Golf Village project – 2 years

Healthcare Web based Service – 3 years

Printing/Publishing – 3 years

Customer facing experience

The United Company:  Orchestrated a comprehensive business re-engineering process for the hotel business that allowed customer access to online bookings.

The United Company:  World Golf Village project implemented online reservation system integrated for the entire community including hotels, time share villas and tee time reservations.

Ciraden:  Led the development of a complex HIPAA compliant dental system with real-time online registration, and integrated with ecommerce business partners.

Cadmus:  Re-invented the online Journal sites that resulted in attracting organizations like the American Medical Association.  This site allowed for real time research by AMA customers and facilitated a fulfillment process on reprint articles.

FEC:  Directed an agency wide team that delivered data mining solutions merging data from the top 101 media markets with the FEC disclosure database (10 million records).  Within 2 weeks the results were posted on the FEC Web site demonstrating advertising patterns and dollars for all House, Senate and Presidential candidates. 

FEC:  Significantly enhanced the Filenet Image and Content Management System hosting 13 million images of electronically filed campaign finance forms.  These can be searched by the general public.

Innovation of new services for  clients and customers

The United Company: Established a software enterprise under the umbrella of The United Company to market and sell software we developed.  I was named the President of this company.

The United Company:  Served as co-chair of the technology committee for the World Golf Village.  Worked closely with the PGA to facilitate the integration of complex technologies.  Amenities include:  PGA productions, hotels, convention center, 54 holes of golf, upscale shopping and time share villas.

CADMUS:  Provided a leading role and guidance in defining an electronic media strategy for Cadmus.  This approach carefully managed and maintained current value chains while planning for new technology solutions that would additionally replace old revenue models. 

Ciraden: Led the development of a complex HIPAA compliant dental system with real-time online registration, and integrated with ecommerce business partners.

FEC:  *Quote from Korn/Ferry interview:  “People would come into our public disclosure department and rummage through all the files that have been submitted — quite a bit of effort. Now we’ve automated that process. The public can get the same information on the Internet with search engine technology, so they can research that information in a matter of minutes instead of hours.”

“Because of his nature and his previous business experience, Palmer is comfortable handling the expanded and elevated responsibilities of his role at the Federal Election Commission.  Palmer represents a new generation of IT executives with the technical skills and personality traits required for success at the C-level in large organizations.”

Ability to be a visionary

The United Company:  Provided the vision and drive to spearhead and design new system solutions for the financial services division to track $250 million in investments.

Ciraden:  As a member of the senior management & investment team established marketing, sales and business strategies.  Provided business leadership via the establishment of an Executive Technology Steering committee.  In addition, provided technology leadership for an external Dental Advisory Board, major dental shows and worked directly with The Board of Directors and Investors.

FEC:  Established a data quality team to identify serious data inaccuracies and procedural missteps; completed a process redesign that resulted in election contribution data accuracy increasing from 67% to 98%. 

FEC: Provide executive leadership and change management for establishing agency-wide policy for implementing comprehensive Presidential and Legislative technology directives (i.e. enterprise architecture, online access for public disclosure and efiling deadlines) and weaving them into supporting agency business practices.

Change agent for a major transformation

FEC:  *Quote from the Korn/Ferry interview.

“One of Palmer's first chores at the FEC was assembling a detailed map of the commission's existing business applications.” After interviewing everyone on the IT staff, I knew that we had a

lot of bright people," said Palmer. "But no single person had a 'big picture' view of our IT resources. So I sat down in a room with my direct reports and we didn't leave until we had drawn an accurate map showing all of our business applications, the hardware they ran on and how they communicated with all the other applications. It was a lot of work, but it was worth the effort."  This process was the first step to understanding the weaknesses in the systems and workflow.  This served as the catalyst for developing a change management initiative.

The United Company: Directed strategic planning for Star Oil and Gas in Calgary, Canada and successfully translated the business goals of top company executive’s into a strategic technology vision.  This re-engineering effort covered five core areas: accounting, land, production accounting, engineering, and exploration.

Cadmus:  Directed the development of new media projects for customers including Internet publishing, online peer review, online reprint ordering, electronic warehouse management, customer content management and B2B e-commerce.

The United Company: Orchestrated a comprehensive business re-engineering process for hotel business that resulted in improved occupancy rate by 37% and generated greater profits.   

Interpersonal influencing skills 

As a successful CIO I have the ability to educate, influence, engage all stakeholders and obtain the commitments from business owners, customers and IT.   I have proven success by building trust and establishing credibility.  This is accomplished by listening and understanding the core needs of all levels in the business operation and clarifying the impact on those affected by the potential changes.

I always investigate alternative solutions, tactics, and approaches to solve issues and enhance business processes.  As there is always diversity in opinions, I have found it important to manage conflicts and differences related to change.  The ability to find common ground with enthusiasm and commitment to help people through that process has contributed to my success as a CIO.

The following quote summarizes my leadership mantra. “If people do not do anything differently from what they would have done without your presence, you have not exerted your leadership.”  In every company I have worked for, I had the ability to influence and motivate those around me to perform beyond their routine efforts and thereby reach new plateaus in making greater contributions to the enterprise.  As a leader, I not only create a vision but also collaborate in defining a strategy to obtain that vision.

The United Company:  As the co-chair of the technology committee for the World Golf Village I was able to bring together 7 different organizations and their respective technology environments in a manner that facilitates a collaboration of integration that was seamless for visiting guests.  Every organization wanted to have their technology architecture selected.  I tactfully guided different agendas into a common integration platform.

FEC: If you can imagine an independent government agency that is governed by six commissioners, three Democrat and three Republican and keeping both sides of the isle happy with technology solutions, that is my world.  It becomes especially difficult when data reported may favor one side of the political agenda.  I was able to effectually articulate and manage all political issues to the satisfaction of both parties and keep their respective support staff happy as well. I consider that a great accomplishment in my ability to influence business owners and still have the ability to move critical projects forward.

Quote from Jim Pehrkon Staff Director at the FEC (Korn/Ferry Interview)

"Alec Palmer has really assumed the role of a leader," says Pehrkon. "He helped us restructure the IT organization so people could apply their talents and energies more effectively. He introduced best practices from the business world that made our IT organization more efficient and more capable. It was not an easy task, but he accomplished it magnificently."  Also important, says Pehrkon, is a new spirit of collegiality and cooperation that encourages innovation and problem-solving throughout the IT organization. "Under Alec's leadership, people feel freer to experiment and to try new approaches. This makes it easier to hit our deadlines and accomplish our mission. We're exceptionally pleased with the accomplishments of Alec and his team in the IT organization."

Leading technology change

FEC:  Led critical implementation of a new campaign finance Data Warehouse encompassing over 15 million records.  The web based interface facilitates real-time complex comparison searches on campaign contribution data. This was accomplished by implementing Microstrategy Business Intelligence, Informatica Power Center data transformation (ETL) and Oracle 9i.  

Ciraden:  As the CTO at Ciraden I led the design, development and implementation of a comprehensive technology and business solution to dental practices throughout the United States.  As a vertically focused ASP, Ciraden offered Internet-native software designed to meet the needs of the dental community.

The United Company:  At the World Golf Village  we integrated the real time assimilation of all major resort partners to integrate customer data from all individual data repositories.

The United Company:  Directed strategic planning for Star Oil and Gas in Calgary, Canada, the re-engineering effort covered five core areas: accounting, production accounting, engineering, land and exploration.

The United Company:  Served as the chief technology adviser for corporate acquisitions, including pharmaceuticals, retail, financial, hospitality, golf courses and manufacturing.

Established a software company under the umbrella of The United Company to market coal mining software developed in house. 

Managing an IT Budget

Budget: 18 million

Complexity: Multi Location Matrix Management

Good Fiscal Stewardship:  In all my leadership roles I have always maximized the IT ROI.  I focused on utilizing the best internal talent augmented with outsourcing as needed.  By developing strategic technology partnerships I have built architectures that are scalable and robust to support and grow with the demand on new business.  This diligence is crucial to ensure technology investments provide the best return.

Education

Bachelor of Science

Brigham Young University

Current Compensation

Average salary over past 6 years is $180,000 (not including bonuses).