COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Communities of Practice are springing up in all locales, with one common purpose - to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience. Each is a group of peers that come together to ask questions, get answers and explore solutions together. Global Gateways has been instrumental in pioneering this concept with Communities of Practice for CIOs and VPE/CTOs, in both the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles.

PARTNERS / FOUNDERS
The VPE/CTO Community of Practice was founded in May 2003 by two Partners: Stephen McHenry and Al Pappas; Silicon Valley executives with substantial high technology business experience and knowledge.

Stephen McHenry has been VP Engineering and/or Chief Technology Officer for several Silicon Valley startups, and is also a founding co-chair of the Software Engineering Management Special Interest Group of SDForum.

Al Pappas has managed software development and IT organizations for over 30 years. His background includes CIO of Hotwire, Portal, Verifone (acuired by HP) and Adobe. He also has managed engineering development organizations at Adobe, Apple, Schlumberger and MSI Data Corporation.

PARTNERS' BIOS:
Stephen McHenry – Partner
Al Pappas - Partner

VISION
The Community of Practice Partners share the vision to create a networking organization for executives who seek to improve their engineering organizations and business operations. The Partners want to share their business knowledge/experience with the members. Partners will also identity and assist members to develop relationships among peers and appropriate outside parties that are beneficial to CoP members. Initial focus of the membership is in Silicon Valley with emphasis in high technology businesses. The rapid pace of technology changes in Silicon Valley and the expanding globalization of technology businesses from Silicon Valley challenge even the most experienced and knowledgeable VPEs and CTOs to seek assistance in the management of their organizations. The availability of the Partners' business expertise and the pooling of member resources will enhance solving problems, identifying opportunities and obtaining valuable contacts for rapid, successful, profitable business growth.