Viola Maxwell-Thompson is President of Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), a national organization committed to the continuous professional development of black senior-level executives in the technology industry. Their members, who are CIOs and other senior-level technology executives, are from Fortune 500 companies, the public sector, Academia and privately-owned technology companies. Ms. Thompson has drawn on her vast experience in program management and career training to transform ITSMF into a professional development organization with the fiscal soundness and infrastructure to prepare the next generation of black technology leaders for the executive suite.
A nationally recognized thought-leader in business transformation and process re-engineering, Ms. Thompson, who is a former IT management consultant, joined ITSMF as a member in the late 1990s, became Executive Director in 2004 and President in 2015.
Ms. Thompson is often featured in the media for her expert insights on a variety of business topics, including diversity and the retention of executives; work-life balance issues; and career management as a female executive of color. She has been quoted in numerous leading industry and consumer publications—CIO Insight, the Chicago Tribune, Black Enterprise Magazine, Diversity Careers Magazine and IT Management Consulting, among others. In 1998, she was nominated for the National Society of Black Engineers’ (NSBE) “Golden Touch Award,” which recognizes outstanding achievements by black engineers.