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Circa 1988. This is a fuzzy photo poorly captured by yours truly. But the message couldn’t be more clear. And it was Gord Kilarski, Supervisor of Computer Information Services (CIS), who set out to prove some fifteen years ago, that technology and business were more than kissing cousins. They were […] inseparable in an increasingly electronically-bound, competitive economy.
Project Olympus
The objective was to restructure and realign a 75 year-old publicly held crown corporation, employing 4,500 people with investments in plant, property and equipment in excess of $ .5 Billion. All in preparation for a competitive, deregulated marketplace.
Think 1980’s and the divestiture of AT&T in the U.S. as a driving force.
Gord fired up the CIS department and together, we fired up the entire company.
The crown corp was Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) which since June 12, 1908 enjoyed a monopoly on the procurement and installation of all telephones, cellular phones and cable tv . . . both products and services.
This included an extensive fiber optic network and an all-digital network in place by 1996. Let me repeat that last part. An all-digital network in place by 1996.
The following is reprinted from Gord’s professional resumé. I can’t emphasize enough his allegiance to the human factor first and foremost . . . fostering an amicable alliance between man and machine.
Improving business with IT and data performance
With 30 plus years of hands on and executive experience, Gord Kilarski has pretty much grown to know advances in technology and data will disrupt and improve businesses. Looking at where technology is headed with a keen eye to business operationalization has been a trademark of his. His leadership skills along with his strategic execution experience has helped companies take advantage of data and technology to improve their operating models, grow their bottom line and get out of regulatory binds with governance and risk management disciplines.
He has served as COO, CTO and Vice President for technology companies and Deloitte with 16 years of service where he applied his industry experience advising management and boards on how to govern, risk manage and improve their businesses with IT and data performance.
Business driven data and technology strategies
Gord is respected for developing executable data and technology strategies focused on accelerating business value, growth and risk mitigation. His body of work includes serving all industries with a recent focus on FSIs, Consumer Business, Technology Companies, and the Public Sector. He is adept at understanding business operating models and diagnosing root cause problems and opportunities which comes in handy when triaging business problems, making technology and data performance improvements or architecting wholesale changes. Gord has served all three lines of defense and is adept at understanding how effective governance and risk management can be game changers when faced with urgent challenges and deadlines.
Innovation leadership/change management
Gord has provided innovation leadership in varying capacities throughout his career including culture changing programs leveraging data and technology. He has a strong record of accomplishment in delivering business value to the bottom line in large change programs. He is most recently the General Manager of the Analytics Integrated Market Offering at Deloitte Canada launching analytic capabilities across all service lines and was a member of the Global Analytics Insight Driven Organization initiative designed to accelerate market solutions using advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Grounded in the human factor
Gord is a student of how people work . . .
motivational methods and successful negotiations with training in and application of organizational cybernetics. He believes that the ‘human factor’ is of critical importance in business transformation and for that matter all aspects of business. He can often predict the degree of success by assessing the organization structure and the behavior and capabilities of those involved. Gord helps people think differently and reimagine business operating models based on understanding how technology and data can be key enablers to produce the changes required.
Gord holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Saskatoon, Regina Campus and also holds Information Systems and Technology certifications.
