Mark Schwartz, US Citizenship and Immigration Services

Mark Schwartz an experienced, award-winning CIO with a reputation for finding innovative solutions to complex and sometimes unusual business problems. Known for formulating and articulating visions and leading teams in their successful execution, He has used IT to drive revenue and competitive advantage as well as to manage costs in rapidly expanding businesses. He is a relationship-builder who is able to drive change in complex, matrixed organizations. He also has experience as a CEO, with MBA degree from Wharton and Computer Science degree from Yale.

He has been named by Computerworld Magazine one of the Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2010, an award for "exceptional technology leadership, innovative ideas for solving business challenges, and effectively managed IT strategies." In 2006 he was also awarded a CIO 100 award for innovation that drives business results. He has spoken at professional conferences on driving innovation and using IT to support company growth and competitiveness.

He is currently CIO at US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a government agency that processes about 7 million applications for benefits each year, including requests for citizenship, permanent resident status, employment authorization, refugee status and other humanitarian assistance.

Prior to USCIS he was CIO at Intrax Cultural Exchange, an industry-leading, innovative provider of cultural exchange and educational programs to over 40,000 participants a year from more than 70 countries, offering au pair placements, high school exchange programs, work and travel programs, internships, and language study programs.

Specialties: Innovative, sound approaches to solving business problems with technology. DevOps and Continuous Delivery. Leading transformational programs. Delivering competitive advantage and revenue growth as well as cost savings. Strategic visioning and planning, communicating technical concepts to non-technical people, team building and management.