Information Technology

Pennsylvania's economy, which for years was shackled by Rust-Belt industries, caught the high-tech wave in the late 1990s as job growth and revenue in computer-related companies soared. In fact, corporate hiring in computer programming and data processing was the fastest-growing job category in Pennsylvania between 1997 and 1999 - beating out the state's recent high-growth industries: low-wage restaurants and personnel agencies. That is the evidence from a new report on the state's economy from Pennsylvania State University.

Philadelphia is turning to the man who modernized New Jersey's archaic driver's license system to do the same with the city's outdated information technology infrastructure. Adel Ebeid, who is the chief information and technology officer for the State of New Jersey, plans to start work in Philadelphia on Aug. 22. He will take a new title as the city's first chief innovation officer. He will not only oversee the city's day-to-day technology needs, but set the strategy and priorities for future innovation.

AGE: 55 JOB: Now acting superintendent, Philadelphia School District. SALARY: $230,000 EDUCATION: Education: B.A., Lafayette College, 1977; M.B.A, Washington University, 1979; Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2003. FAMILY: Married with three children. PHILA. SCHOOL DISTRICT: As deputy superintendent, Nunery had wide responsibility, overseeing facilities, procurement, human resources, information technology, and new schools. OTHER EXPERIENCE: Spent 16 years in corporate banking, and four years with the NBA as a vice president.

Peggy A. Ireland has been promoted to vice president, leasing, at Whitesell Construction Co. Inc. , Delran. She had been senior leasing manager. P. Timothy Phelps has been hired as executive director of the Transportation Management Association of Chester County , Malvern. He had been president of the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce in Pottstown, Pa., where he also was executive director of the subsidiaries the Pottstown Area Industrial Development Corp. and the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

No canaries work for CDI Corp., the $926.3 million Center City company that serves as a temporary-staffing service for companies that need engineers and information technology specialists. But they may as well. Because, just as the canary signals trouble in the mine shaft, CDI's financials sing out what's next in the economy. Their song? An economy on the mend, but slowly. CDI's harbinger status derives from the fact that just more than half its revenue comes from putting engineers to work.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 1.3 million new information science technology workers will be needed through 2006. Pennsylvania State University has a plan to make sure a lot of them are its graduates. A Penn State committee has unanimously recommended creating a School of Information Sciences and Technology to make sure its students are prepared for the 21st century. The plan must be approved by trustees. But Penn State president Graham Spanier has told them he believes establishing the school would be a milestone for the university.

Dianah Neff, Mayor Street's hand-picked chief information officer and driver of the city's Wireless Philadelphia program, will leave City Hall next month to become senior partner at a technology consulting firm to which she steered city work. Street yesterday appointed Neff's deputy, Terry Phillis, to succeed her as acting technology chief. Neff's primary role at the Georgia firm, Civitium, will be to increase its business overseas. "Dianah's experience as a major-city CIO, background in the private sector, and pioneering leadership with Wireless Philadelphia make her ideally suited to lead Civitium's growing business outside the U.S.," the firm's founder and managing partner, Greg Richardson, said in a statement yesterday.

Philadelphia is turning to the man who once modernized New Jersey's archaic driver's license system to do the same with the city's outdated information technology infrastructure. Adel Ebeid, who is the chief information and technology officer for the state of New Jersey, plans to start work in Philadelphia on Aug. 22. He will take over a new title as the city's first chief innovation officer. He will not only oversee the city's day-to-day technology needs, but set the strategy and priorities for future innovation.

Despite a pullback in technology stock prices at the end of last week, investors should be in technology shares not just for the rest of the year, but for the rest of the century and well into the next millennium, analysts say. The reason: Technology is an arena in which U.S. companies increasingly dominate the world, helping to drive the stock market higher and improve the country's balance of trade. "Technology should be a core holding, whether it is for an institution or an individual investor in my opinion," said Joseph P. Quinlan, senior international economist at Dean Witter in New York.

In the heart of Medford, a regional publishing house works to promote South Jersey - and its writers. "Southern New Jersey is an amazing place, and it's been preserved and protected," said John B. Bryans, editor in chief and publisher of Plexus Publishing Inc.'s book division. Since 1977, Plexus has been seeking out good, interesting writing with a focus on local material. The result is a book catalog rich with New Jersey history, science and fiction. Tom Hogan Sr. of Medford began the company 33 years ago with its flagship publication, Biology Digest, which provides current information in life sciences and is used in schools, colleges and libraries.

Peggy A. Ireland has been promoted to vice president, leasing, at Whitesell Construction Co. Inc. , Delran. She had been senior leasing manager. P. Timothy Phelps has been hired as executive director of the Transportation Management Association of Chester County , Malvern. He had been president of the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce in Pottstown, Pa., where he also was executive director of the subsidiaries the Pottstown Area Industrial Development Corp. and the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

With the better part of three weeks to go in 2011, I've received far fewer holiday cards than business surveys about what 2012 will bring. Perhaps no one's feeling very festive after this hard slog of a year. The business forecasts are far from jolly. Their tone is one of continued caution and littered with the U-word - uncertainty. While I think it's far more important to follow what people and businesses do rather than what they say they'll do, it can be useful to scan the results of such surveys for possible trends.

DesignPhiladelphia is an 11-day celebration of creativity in the city. Information on the festival is at www.designphiladelphia.org . Here are previews of four events. Artists, Luddites, and administrative personnel can exact vengeance on technology Saturday at the Printer Smash, back this year by popular demand as part of DesignPhiladelphia. In a space the size of a boxing ring, visitors to Printer Smash will be provided an instrument of destruction, safety goggles, and an inkless technological nemesis.

AGE: 55 JOB: Now acting superintendent, Philadelphia School District. SALARY: $230,000 EDUCATION: Education: B.A., Lafayette College, 1977; M.B.A, Washington University, 1979; Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2003. FAMILY: Married with three children. PHILA. SCHOOL DISTRICT: As deputy superintendent, Nunery had wide responsibility, overseeing facilities, procurement, human resources, information technology, and new schools. OTHER EXPERIENCE: Spent 16 years in corporate banking, and four years with the NBA as a vice president.

Philadelphia is turning to the man who modernized New Jersey's archaic driver's license system to do the same with the city's outdated information technology infrastructure. Adel Ebeid, who is the chief information and technology officer for the State of New Jersey, plans to start work in Philadelphia on Aug. 22. He will take a new title as the city's first chief innovation officer. He will not only oversee the city's day-to-day technology needs, but set the strategy and priorities for future innovation.

Philadelphia is turning to the man who once modernized New Jersey's archaic driver's license system to do the same with the city's outdated information technology infrastructure. Adel Ebeid, who is the chief information and technology officer for the state of New Jersey, plans to start work in Philadelphia on Aug. 22. He will take over a new title as the city's first chief innovation officer. He will not only oversee the city's day-to-day technology needs, but set the strategy and priorities for future innovation.

No canaries work for CDI Corp., the $926.3 million Center City company that serves as a temporary-staffing service for companies that need engineers and information technology specialists. But they may as well. Because, just as the canary signals trouble in the mine shaft, CDI's financials sing out what's next in the economy. Their song? An economy on the mend, but slowly. CDI's harbinger status derives from the fact that just more than half its revenue comes from putting engineers to work.

Allan Frank, who as Philadelphia's first chief technology officer has worked to consolidate its information-technology efforts, will stop working for the city in February and return to private industry. In the short term, Frank said, he plans to do management consulting. With an annual salary of $209,000, Frank, 55, is the city's second-highest-paid employee. The top earner is Chief Medical Officer Sam Gulino, at $239,200. Mayor Nutter also announced Wednesday that Frank would head the new Mayor's Advisory Board on Technology.

In the heart of Medford, a regional publishing house works to promote South Jersey - and its writers. "Southern New Jersey is an amazing place, and it's been preserved and protected," said John B. Bryans, editor in chief and publisher of Plexus Publishing Inc.'s book division. Since 1977, Plexus has been seeking out good, interesting writing with a focus on local material. The result is a book catalog rich with New Jersey history, science and fiction. Tom Hogan Sr. of Medford began the company 33 years ago with its flagship publication, Biology Digest, which provides current information in life sciences and is used in schools, colleges and libraries.

Philadelphia has a proud history of leadership in health care. Philadelphia is home to the nation's first hospital, first medical school, and first medical society. Over the last 250 years, those seeds have grown into a $2-trillion-a-year system, with more than 800,000 doctors and 6,000 hospitals. But far too often, today's doctors and hospitals are using tools and technology that, relatively speaking, are from a distant age. From ATMs and instant messaging to Travelocity and eBay, technology is second nature to us. But when Americans step inside the health-care system, we step back to a time of paper-based medical records and color-coded filing systems.