Tech Update
OPPORTUNITIES IN ENTERTAINMENT AND HOSPITALITY

Entertainment & hospitality: great places for techies to grow

Some of these diverse folks have followed their star to high managerial and policy levels. Others are behind the scenes, happily immersed in the latest technology

"Different groups use technology differently, and we have to be able to look at that." - Myrna Soto, MGM Mirage

By JD Lamb
Contributing Editor

VP Earl Cokley, right, "bridges the gap between technology and business" at Scripps Networks. Here he's seen with Kent Takano, a VP at Scripps' Fine Living TV network.

Myrna Soto, VP and CISO at MGM Mirage, is implementing Six Sigma at the company.

With new technologies on the horizon every day and an increasing need for network and data security, entertainment and hospitality offer great careers for techies.

Analysts predict that both industries will continue to grow steadily. The Internet, an exciting new resource for entertainment, has a projected annual growth rate of nearly 20 percent through 2010. As more entertainment content is distributed digitally direct to the consumer, and as the hospitality industry works to meet its customers' technology needs as well as its own, companies are on the lookout for talent.

More and more of them appreciate the value of a diverse workforce. John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks, says that "To be relevant to the widest possible audience, our brands must reflect the interests and cultural diversity of society. That begins with the people behind our programs and websites."

Myrna Soto is VP of IT governance and chief information security officer at MGM Mirage, the hotel, casino and gaming giant. "We realize that our customers are very diverse, and we need to represent that customer base in our workforce," Soto declares. "Different groups use technology differently, and we have to be able to look at that."

Sanitra Angram, network engineer for Hilton Hotels Corp, says, "As an African American woman, the experience I bring to the table is different from other races. You don't want to limit yourself to one point of view."

A whole new pool of talent
Companies are aware, too, that including diverse folks enlarges the field of talented candidates. Alberto Lopez, corporate director of strategic communications at Harrah's Entertainment, Inc, says, "We look where other corporate industries may not look for talent. IT is traditionally dominated by males, so by looking at females you open a whole new pool of talent."

Janet Pucino, Warner Bros. Entertainment SVP: every phase of technology

Janet Pucino.

"The entertainment business is changing very quickly because of the Internet, downloading, personalized content and TIVO," says Janet Pucino, the most senior female exec in the office of the CIO at Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc (Burbank, CA). "We have to understand where we are today, and what we need to be successful in the future."

In her current role she directs a staff of fifty people. Four VPs report to her on IT strategic planning, enterprise program management for large SAP projects, admin, quality assurance and info security. It's up to the office of the CIO, Pucino explains, "to formalize IT strategic planning for the technologies we need to invest in over the next three to five years. We determine how to run the IT business and achieve the plan."

The work she's doing now is an offshoot of the work she started when she first came to Warner Bros. When her husband moved to a job in California in 1999, Pucino closed up JP Business Solutions, Inc (Lake Forest, IL), the management consulting company she'd founded in 1996, and got a job as director of technology architecture and planning at Warner Bros. The newly created job was a result of the need "to create an enterprise view of technology for the company," and to establish standard practices across the board, she says.

Pucino received a BA in music and education from Northern Illinois University in the 1980s. After college she joined Blue Cross Blue Shield (Chicago, IL), which trained her in Cobol, Basic, and structured systems analysis and design. "I took to it like a fish to water," she says. "It was an exciting time to be there, just as the first PCs were being brought into the company, and I was fearless!"

Since then, Pucino has moved up the ladder through insurance, finance, wireless communication, and now entertainment. She's also finished an MBA from the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL). "I've been lucky," she says. "I've been involved in every aspect of technology, from infrastructure, building networks, overseeing software development and apps to working the helpdesk."

But there's more to success than being good, she notes. "You also have to be in a company that will allow you to grow. You need a lot of mentorship and guidance.

"Today there are many more women in IT, but not necessarily at the top level of technology," Pucino reflects. "You have to prove over and over that you're in your role because you deserve it.

"Of course you have to be competent," she advises. "But you also have to have confidence and courage and be passionate about what you do. And you have to put the company's agenda before your own."

Ann Metzger is Harrah's VP of IT program management

Ann Metzger.

In the twenty-seven years Ann Metzger has been with Harrah's Entertainment (Las Vegas, NV), she's "had the opportunity to grow with the company as the company has grown and changed," she says.

Today Metzger is VP of IT shared services and program management. She runs a team of thirty project managers and program directors who work on business solutions with internal customers at both the corporate and individual property level.

Metzger has a BA in organizational management from Eastern College (Philadelphia, PA). She began with a routine job doing office and computer work, and in 1980 she came to Harrah's.

She never expected to stay with one company so long, but she's found plenty of variety and opportunities in the hotel group, payroll, human resources, finance and more. "It's been very beneficial to work on so many different parts of the business," she says. "I have a broad-based view of how things work across the business and how the different systems interact."

In her current job she oversees management of a wide range of projects, from IT for a new building to redesign of an accounting system. She's also working on ways to deliver personalized content to customers on the gaming floor: an electronic birthday greeting or favorite music to listen to as they play. This is all new technology, completely separate from the slots and gaming. It's intended to enhance the customer's experience, she explains.

"We span lots of different capabilities. It's more fun."

As a project manager, "You don't have to understand everything. But you do have to know when to poke and probe to make sure a solution is being developed effectively. A project manager has to understand business and translate it into tech speak, and then turn around and make the technical end understandable to the business people."

As gaming grows and more companies go public, opportunities in IT are there for the taking, Metzger says. "Come in and learn as much as you can as fast as you can. Be open to opportunities. In gaming things are constantly evolving, and you never know where something will take you."

Earl Cokley: websites, e-com and intelligence for Scripps

Earl Cokley.

"I was brought into the organization to bridge the gap between technology and business," says Earl Cokley, the Knoxville, TN based VP of interactive systems development for Scripps Networks (New York, NY). Cokley came on board in 2006 from TheStreet.com (New York, NY). As exec VP and CTO there, he engineered a major reduction in core technology spending as the company's revenue doubled.

"Bridging the gap" is just the beginning. Cokley oversees a department of thirty-nine internal techies, and offshore consultants varying from a few to a couple of dozen. He and his team manage websites and design and develop content, e-commerce and business intelligence functions. He also works on strategy for the Scripps Networks web content teams.

Cokley has had a knack for computers since he first met them in college in the 1980s studying EE at Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh, PA) and the New York Institute of Technology. His career took off before he finished school because, he says with a smile, he could "find the bugs in the code and fix them faster than the next guy," even when the next guy already had an advanced degree. He began in the financial sector, at International MarketNet (New York, NY) and Standard & Poor's Securities Inc (New York, NY).

"I was the one who could keep the trading floor alive," he says.

Both his technological excellence and his ability to communicate clearly with technicians and businesspeople have contributed to Cokley's success. His parents were excellent role models for that, he says. His mother was a teacher in the New York City school system, and his father was a minister. "I grew up watching my father give sermons and admired his skills in public speaking and working with others," Cokley says.

Thinking back, Cokley realizes that a lot of his early success began in reaction to the reception he got from non-minority fellow developers. "They seemed to expect a lot less from me, and that really bothered me," he says.

"I had to show them something big and get their attention. I didn't get mad, though. I chose to view the situation as fun competition, and it forced me to be that much better!"

Myrna Soto is a VP and CISO at MGM Mirage

Myrna Soto.

As VP of IT governance and chief information security officer (CISO) for MGM Mirage (Las Vegas, NV), Myrna Soto is responsible for safeguarding the company's assets and info, customer data and, as she puts it, "the sanctity of the perimeter of our network."

She also runs the project management office for IT compliance, and she's implementing Six Sigma in the company. She's in charge of four groups, about seventy people. "The nature of what we do is highly collaborative," she says.

Soto has the background for the job: an MS in industrial psychology and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and her "strong passion for psychology and human behavior." Several years as a project management officer at Broadspire, a division of Kemper Insurance Companies (Plantation, FL), and American Express (New York, NY) taught her about working in a highly regulated field.

Early in her career, as an ops manager for Norwegian Cruise Lines in the late 1980s, Soto got interested in how business could use technology to become more efficient. Since then, she says, "I've straddled the fence, being interested in technology but coming back to business as well. The challenge is fostering both, using technical acumen to move the business forward."

Several years ago Soto was recruited by Mandalay Resort Group (Las Vegas, NV) to work on business solutions and data security. When Mandalay merged with MGM Mirage she stayed on.

As the company grew she moved into the CISO role, centralizing network security and data security under one VP and one oversight group. "Some of the most exciting things about my job today are developing a rigorous security system for this company and exploring new technologies in the data security arena," Soto says.

She's enjoying the gaming industry after a career spent predominantly in finance and insurance. The technology side of gaming is advancing at a rapid rate, she says. "There are lots of opportunities to make advancements."

Recently Soto mentored a young Hispanic woman going into IT. "I had so much joy talking to her, and it really opened my eyes to raising awareness. We need folks like that young lady to be the next wave of tech leaders."

Sanitra Angram keeps the Hilton network up and running

Sanitra Angram.

As a network engineer for Hilton Hotels Corp (Beverly Hills, CA) at its Memphis, TN ops center, Sanitra Angram is "a senior-level escalation point for network ops," she says. If the WAN is down at any of Hilton's 2,400 domestic and 400 worldwide hotels, they call Hilton's internal support center, which escalates the call to the Memphis data center if necessary. There, two dozen network ops people and a dozen network engineers work in shifts, ready to get everything up and running.

When network ops can't solve the problem, they call for Angram. Her years of experience in tech support and network admin have given her an intuitive feel for the intricacies of successful troubleshooting.

When she's not doing that work, Angram works with others in the corporate office, coming up with new network layouts and designs. "I enjoy having my hands on the configurations and equipment," Angram says. "There's so much creativity."

She also enjoys the customer service element. In the hospitality industry, Angram says, "Being nice to people is of utmost importance to us." This mindset pervades the work environment as well: "It's like a family."

An early job as a tech support specialist at Stream International (Memphis, TN) helped Angram build customer service skills. "Understanding the desktop and server side of the work also helps a lot," she says. These skills came from earlier work as a PC technician and network admin. "Being a mother helps, too, especially dealing with less-sophisticated users," she says with a laugh.

When Angram was seventeen she went to work as a data-entry clerk at Ingram Micro (Memphis, TN). She learned about computers and software and, she says, it was eye opening for her. She was a black woman from a family where no one had ever gone to college, and here she was working with so many successful African American techies.

"My manager there, Kerry Graham, made a phenomenal difference in my life. He let me know the sky could be the limit, but I would need to go farther in my education."

She started in MIS and finished a BS at the University of Memphis (Memphis, TN), going to school fulltime, working fulltime at Hilton, and raising two young children (she's since had a third). "If it wasn't for the support of my management team here at Hilton, I wouldn't have been able to get it done," she says.

When she graduated she sent Graham a present. "I wanted to let him know if it hadn't been for him I would never have gone to college. He changed my children's lives."

Right now she's working on a Cisco expert level certification. When she's done, she plans to start an MBA.

"What you hope," she says, "is that you're paving the way and making things easier for whoever comes behind."

Kathleen Choi: developer for IGT

Kathleen Choi.

As a Web developer at International Game Technology (IGT, Reno, NV), Kathleen Choi is responsible for researching, developing, coding, testing, debugging and generally maintaining the IGT website. She finds it "creative, diverse and challenging," much less straightforward and linear than the Web programming she did for six years at the Alameda County Office of Education (Hayward, CA).

Following her husband to IGT, Choi was hired as a firmware engineer early in 2006. But she missed working with websites, and she recently transferred to her current job. "IGT is known for its great employee benefits," she says, "and it also provides job opportunities in many different fields. It's a great company to work for."

Choi's interest in CS grew out of her love of math. Her older brother's decision to be a math teacher inspired her to try the field. She came to the U.S. from Hong Kong with her family when she was fifteen, got her BS in math at the University of California-Davis, and began teaching while starting an MS in applied math at California State University-Hayward.

It was the late 1990s and the dot-com industry was booming. "I saw many people changing their career plans to CS and I asked myself, ÔWhy not give this a chance?'"

She began CS courses and found she was a natural in programming. She wound up with two MS degrees, in math and CS, both from Cal State-Hayward. "My parents were very happy," she says.

While completing her masters programs she worked fulltime for Alameda County. "Not until I graduated from school did I have any leisure time," she recalls.

"Because English is not my first language I've sometimes had to work harder than others to achieve the same goal. But family support and a positive attitude are the keys to where I am today, and I do enjoy my life a lot."

D/C

JD Lamb is a writer and editor based in New Hampshire.

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