The pace of change in business is accelerating dramatically. In order to stay ahead of the market, CIOs need to help drive innovation and create new waves of value for the enterprise. These and other steps being taken by technology executives to demonstrate courageous leadership will be the focal point of the discussions at the 2017 Atlanta CIO Executive Leadership Summit, produced by HMG Strategy, to be held on August 15, 2017 at The St. Regis Atlanta.

"Savvy CIOs have their fingers on the pulse of the business," said Hunter Muller, HMG Strategy's President & CEO. "For companies to flourish in dynamic markets, CIOs need to step up with bold, game-changing innovation and develop transformational business models that can propel the enterprise forward."

The Atlanta CIO Executive Leadership Summit will kick-off with a captivating executive panel discussion on best practices for driving speed to market through innovation and technology in the digital age. Additional presentations will include an executive keynote from Informatica; the art of communicating effectively with the Board of Directors; prominent venture capitalists who will share insights regarding new technologies that are creating disruption and new value in enterprises; presentation of the HMG Strategy 2017 Regional Champion Awards; recommendations by security leaders for balancing agility, innovation, and security; and wrapping up with a distinguished panel of CIOs who will share the steps they're each taking to become the CEO of Technology.

Distinguished speakers at the Atlanta summit will include Eric Anderson, Partner – Global Head of FinTech Practice, Egon Zehnder; Shoukat Ali Bhamani, CIO, CPO & VP Digitalization, Schaeffler Group Americas; Anil Cheriyan, EVP & CIO, SunTrust Bank; Nelson Chu, Managing Director, Kinetic Ventures; Lee W. Crump, Group VP & CIO, Rollins, Inc.; John Damalas, Executive CIO – Data Science, Finance and Multi-Year Agreements, GE Power; Lookman Fazal, CTO & CISO, Argo Turboserve Corporation; Jay Ferro, EVP, Chief Information and Technology Officer, ExamWorks; Dale Gawley, Corporate CIO, AXIS Capital; Steve Kendrick, President, KER Partners; Rohit Lal, IT Director, Architecture, CONA Services – A Coca-Cola System IT Services Company; Jimmy Lummis, Interim Director of Cyber Security and CISO, Georgia Institute of Technology; Ross Mason, Founder, HINRI; Laura Miller, SVP, Global Solutions Delivery, InterContinental Hotels Group; Hunter Muller, President & CEO, HMG Strategy; David Nagel, Senior Director of Enterprise CyberSecurity, Genuine Parts Company; Edwina Payne, VP & CIO, Halyard Health; Graeme Payne, SVP & CIO Global Corporate Platforms, Equifax; Mark Polansky, Senior Partner, CIO/IT Officers Practice, Korn Ferry; Dan Puterbaugh, Senior Legal Advocate, Adobe; Calvin C. Rhodes, Executive Director of the Georgia Technology Authority Governor's CIO, State of Georgia; Dr. Kenneth Russell, Vice President, Digital Transformation and CIO, Pfeiffer University; Brian Shield, VP, IT, Boston Red Sox; and John Trainor, VP & CIO, Aaron's, Inc.

Presenting Partners for the summit include Informatica. Platinum Partners include Adobe. Gold Partners include Apptio, CenturyLink, Lenovo Software, Neudesic, Pure Storage, and Tintri. Research Partners include Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Strategic Partners include Egon Zehnder, Heidrick & Struggles, Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart. Alliance Partners include Amplify Partners, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. Association Partners include the Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GeorgiaCIO), the Society for Information Management Atlanta Chapter (SIM Atlanta), and Year Up Greater Atlanta.