COVITS 2006 Features Keynotes on Public and Private Sector Innovations for Advancing the Public's Agenda: C.K. Prahalad, Visionary Corporate Strategy Teacher, Consultant and Author John D. Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh P. Chopra today announced two keynote speakers for COVITS 2006: C.K. Prahalad, Distinguished Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and John D. Halamka, M.D., Chief Information Officer of Harvard Medical School. Professor Prahalad and Dr. Halamka join Governor Tim Kaine on the list of notable speakers for this year's event.

"Professor Prahalad and Dr. Halamka will inspire attendees to dream solutions to the impossible - democratizing access to high-quality education, elevating patient safety across all healthcare settings, and connecting the 'un-credentialed' workforce with the knowledge economy," Chopra said. "These two visionaries will remind us how to leverage technology to advance a far more noble endeavor - to strengthen our sense of community."

COVITS, the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium, attracts senior-level executives and decision makers in technology from state and local government, business, and academia. The eighth annual conference will be held September 10-12 in Roanoke, Va., supported by key industry sponsors including Northrop Grumman Corp., CGI-AMS Inc., Verizon Business, Advanced Technology Systems Inc., Citrix Systems Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Inc. The conference's media partners include Virginia Business, Government Technology, and Public CIO.

As the Commonwealth of Virginia continues to roll out one of the most sweeping reforms of information technology in the nation, COVITS 2006 will propose and discuss solutions to Virginia's critical technology issues, including the continuing transformation of Virginia's infrastructure and business applications, "intelligent" transportation systems, emerging healthcare IT processes, and best practices for technology in schools.

Professor C.K. Prahalad is the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. He has consulted with senior management of many of the world's foremost companies and is a globally known figure specializing in corporate strategy in large, diversified, multinational corporations. Among his published works, his 2004 book, "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Eradicating Poverty Through Profits", was named the top business book of the year by Amazon.com editors and Fast Company magazine, and was praised by Bill Gates and Madeleine Albright for its compelling insights into creating sustainable growth in developing economies.

Dr. John Halamka is CIO of Harvard Medical School, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Chairman of the New England Health Electronic Data Interchange Network, CIO of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute, and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. On the faculty of Harvard, Dr. Halamka integrates his knowledge of medicine and technology focusing on the use of the Internet to exchange clinical patient data. His research includes security/confidentiality issues, scalability issues, and implementation of standards for exchange of administrative and clinical information. As a clinician as well as researcher, Dr. Halamka uses these tools to improve the care of the patients he treats in the Beth Israel Deaconess Emergency Department. He is also an active teacher, lecturing on both medical and technology topics to the students, residents, and faculty of Harvard and MIT.

Additional highlights of the upcoming program are available on the conference Web site, www.covits.org, with more details to be posted throughout June.

About COVITS, www.covits.org

COVITS (the Commonwealth of Virginia's Innovative Technology Symposium) annually brings together senior-level executives and thought leaders from state and local government, business, and academia to identify, discuss and propose solutions to Virginia's critical technology issues. The conference, in its eighth year, is hosted by Virginia's Secretary of Technology, Aneesh P. Chopra, on behalf of Governor Tim Kaine.