Testimonials From Some Previous Students / Candidates:
"The classes prepared me for significantly increased responsibilities in my company. Within 2 years of completing the courses I was responsible for strategically critical areas of our global technical infrastructure."
- John Murphy, Director Deutsche Bank
"Working in a professional services organization, the program gave me skills that were applicable from day one. Whether it was dealing with strategic programs, project management, financial management, or technology issues, the classes were all relevant and helped accelerate my career progression."
-Tony Politano, Senior Director, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and author
"My new found Project Management, Financial Control, and Digital Management skills enable me to run strategic initiatives more effectively. Invaluable investment in my time"
- Stanley Kules, Director, the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
"Upon completing the classes I was promoted to Director of the Information Technology Support Directorate where I managed 5 divisions staffed with 142 IT professionals providing the full suite of IT applications and support services and was responsible for $100M+ budget."
- John J. Tugman, Vice President, EPS Network Solutions
"In all of my years of schooling, these courses were the most influential to my career success. The time devoted was well worth the investment."
- Vicki Rivera Global Business Manager
"The courses and leadership under Jerry allowed me to transition from the corporate world into the academic world. His IBM experience and connections with IT leaders from around the world were invaluable in developing a research stream that not only resulted in my Ph.D. dissertation, but several co-authored articles over the years. Luftman's guidance and mentoring have allowed me to pursue my goal of a career in academia and still maintain a consulting practice on the side"
- Dr. Raymond Papp, Professor, The University of Tampa
"During the GIIM coaching working sessions, the coach was able to help me recognize where I truly placed value, what I needed to do to clearly define my goals, and what behaviors and practices I needed to leverage to achieve them. I was amazed by the coach’s ability to quickly drill into specific areas of concern and provide resources to help clarify and sharpen my focus. While working with the coach, it became clear that a change was in order and rather than shy away from it, they helped me clearly consider my path and ultimately make the decision that was best for me. I highly recommend the program and more than that, a great all around resource for clarifying work/life choices that help you improve you!"
- Don Wood, Digital Transformation Lead at Google
"With the knowledge, confidence, and support that I received from the courses I was able to grow my company by seeking out strategic partnerships. This allowed me to participate in an IPO and created an entirely new career path that would not have been possible before the program."
- Ken Harney, Director, the Burgiss Group
"Having the opportunity to work in several very large and very different Fortune 500 companies as an IT professional (and as a women), I can flat out tell you that I did not have the right skills in place early in my career to help me meet my career objectives. My Information Systems Undergraduate Degree did not prepare me for what I needed to know even 10 years into my job. I was stalling out as a First Line Manager and was struggling as a woman in a man's field as well. I found what I was missing in taking my career to the next level with the classes. It ingrained in me the need to understand the business and to personally take hold of my own career with what I learned and experienced, and to get to know as many people by leveraging those skills, and managing my relationship better, which indeed led me to find the right mentors to guide me on my path. I can say with all sincerity, I would not be where I am today without programs like GIIM."
- Catherine M. White, Executive Director Global Technology,
JPMorgan Chase
"As a senior management consultant, former CIO, and academic, my course experience has exceeded my expectations with its broad coverage of subject matter essentials for the effective management of IT organizations in the 21st century. Graduates of GIIM are exposed to real-world problems in IT strategy and organization management that must be addressed through the application of a wide variety of analysis frameworks, business planning techniques and core technology courses that will serve them well in their current and future workplaces. Graduates are prepared to face real-world business and IT challenges where I find in few other academic or commercial programs.
Jerry Luftman, as founder and Executive Director of GIIM brings world-class depth of experience as a senior practitioner at IBM, senior management consultant, and academic to the program and breathes life into the types of problems and exercises posed to students. His deep practical experience working at CxO levels in many different industries and his ground-breaking research in the area of strategic alignment of business and IT enables Dr. Luftman to bring current insights to the classroom environment to the benefit of his students."
- Elby Nash, Practice Leader & Senior Management Consultant Cognizant
“Jerry is a renowned expert in information technology and business alignment and I've benefited tremendously by his counsel, leadership, insights and applied experience in this key area. Dr. Luftman's experience combines the strengths of practitioner, consultant, and academic. His framework for assessing IT-business alignment maturity is considered key in helping companies around the world understand, define, and scope an appropriate strategic planning direction that leverages Information Technology. Dr. Luftman continues to publish leading research and his GIIM program is making a significant contribution to individuals and companies around the globe. He is an invaluable reference in my role as an IT executive.”
- Ken Denno, Director, Oracle Corporation
"Today’s market is ultra-competitive. You need an edge if you want to stand out. Completing the courses in the program has given me that distinction. The IS management classes better prepared me with a well-rounded focused education experience in strategic information technology management and leadership."
- Donald E. Brown, Executive, Prudential
"It was my pleasure to participate in the program over the last 12 months. I found the leadership coaching extremely valuable. I was amazed by the coach’s ability to quickly grasp my situation, and relate that to their personal experience and explain how he solved it with real time examples. It was a rewarding experience and I am able to apply those concepts to become better leader."
- Suresh Kumar Alluru, Director at PayPal
"The courses have provided me with the concepts, methods, and tools to use in my career. The program gave me a greater understanding of the Strategic Alignment between Information Technology and Business. The focus on strategy, Business Process Management, and Technology Fundamentals gave me the ideal landscape to further my career. The mix of classes provided me with a unique mixture of Business Acumen with Innovation through the use of Technology. My experience with the faculty was excellent. I would recommend the program to Executives, Managers, and those interested in furthering their understanding of strategy, information technology, and business. The faculty in his new independent initiative are top notch in the industry."
- Chris Colla, Director of Business Process Management Logistics and Supply Chain, Sharp Electronics Corporation
What Our Client Organizations & Affiliates Have To Say:
“Our company has found GIIM to be an invaluable resource for providing our business and IT management with a more flexible, practical, lower-cost, higher-quality, custom-tailored digital education alternative than our local universities."
"Our association has found GIIM courses to be a highly-flexible and cost-effective, value-added offering to our membership. We also especially value the added visibility our organization gains with the co-branded course completion certificates that GIIM awards to our member graduates."
What CIO certificate programs can do for your career?
IT leadership programs can help you gain key management insights and accelerate your network but still don’t beat hands-on experience for getting ahead.
If you’ve been recently promoted into the CIO role, or hope to be at some point, a CIO management-certificate program can help you learn how to think strategically, approach the job systematically and broadly, and communicate effectively with other executives in the C-suite. And they can help you resolve issues you may be grappling with in your own company.
Another big benefit, depending on the program: The opportunity to build your network of high-powered CIOs and other career influencers in a much shorter time than you would need to without the course. The coaching that comes with these programs — some at extra cost — is also extremely helpful, according to CIOs who have taken these courses.
These programs can also help get your resume noticed if you’re looking for a job or are already out of work, career coaches say.
No replacement for hands-on experience
“People go through it and feel more marketable, but don’t always do their research” before signing up, she says. To get a job, “you need to be out there talking to people and building your network.”
Some people “just want the piece of paper and don’t care about the course,” admits Dr. Jerry Luftman, founder and managing director of the Global Institute of IT Management (GIIM). His company works with colleges and universities around the world to deliver 35 certificate
GIIM: Flexibility in a leadership program
GIIM’s model is different. It creates four courses for each of its certificate programs, then works with accredited institutions to deliver them. Courses can be online or in-person; it depends on how the university wants to present them. GIIM also works with companies that want to create a training program for employees, Luftman says.
Most participants graduate from the Leadership in Business-IT Management program in four to six months, he explains, but there is some flexibility. Fees range from $3,000 to $6,000 per class, or $12,000 to $24,000 for the entire program. (Coaching is available for a separate fee.)
The least expensive option is asynchronous classes — where students watch prerecorded videos at whatever time they wish — but the more senior-level participants in the CIO curriculum prefer interacting in real-time, Luftman says. Still, students based outside the US sometimes find that asynchronous classes suit them better because of their work schedules.
Most of the participants in GIIM’s Leadership certificate program have 10 or more years of experience in IT. Courses include managing IT resources, strategic issues in IT, managing emerging technologies, and IT leadership. After graduation, students also receive certification from the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP).
GIIM’s edge, Luftman says, is in providing classes that feature the best and brightest academics and IT practitioners as faculty, as well as a lot of flexibility around when and how the classes are available. “The programs we offer are very rigorous,” he says. “We make them work hard and
Feedback from a graduate
Catherine M. White, with leadership positions with J&J, JP Morgan Chase, and currently head of AI and machine learning at consultancy Yates Ltd., graduated from GIIM’s certificate program in 2012. At the time she found the program very helpful to fill in some of what was missing from her computer-science education. “I can code in 27 different languages, but [my degree] didn’t prepare me for managing people,” she says. GIIM helped her do that.
“It’s really good stuff because they integrated the workload with what you were doing in your job so you could get a real feel for the application of the content,” she says. “I would do it again in a heartbeat if I was still in a corporate position.”
“It was fantastic,” she recalls. “It was quite hands-on and we relied on each other to be successful” in the exercises. “I was forced to do things like sales, which I was uncomfortable with.”
One example, she says, is that many techies can “talk all day long” about the benefits of databases versus blockchain for various types of applications. But managers need to understand “the personality type you’re looking for” when filling a job on your blockchain or database team.
“I’ve taken every class under the sun,” she explains, many because she needed a specific certification at a specific point in her career. But she’s also a big fan of learning new things that are trending, just to learn. “If you’re not doing something every six to 10 months,” she says, “you fall behind.”
- As an innovative Education as a Service initiative, GIIM is at the forefront of digital management education, preparing IT and non-IT professionals for the enduring digital transformation.
- GIIM participants have access to 300+ recognized leaders from academia, management consulting, and IT/business practitioners from around the globe.
- The accredited programs endorsed by the worlds largest IT management associations, as well as our many corporate and academic affiliates are indicative of the quality and value of a GIIM Certificate.
