Q&A: Sandee Kastrul

The president and founder of I.C.Stars talks about its IT leadership initiatives.

Tell me about I.C.Stars. It's a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1999 for the purpose of developing 1,000 community leaders by 2020. Through training in technology, leadership and business skills, I.C.Stars prepares inner-city young people for high-level careers in IT. We do this through a project-based training model, through opportunities to meet IT leaders and potential employers, and through leadership training.

You had over 150 CIOs at last summer's iOpener event. What were some of the ideas for addressing the current IT talent shortfall? A byproduct of the 2001 technology crash and resulting mass layoffs was discouragement for young people to explore careers in IT. Our iOpener event, which drew more than 150 CIOs from across the U.S., was designed to start reversing this trend and help schools to fill the talent supply chain at the high school level and to change perceptions about IT as a dead-end career path.

We now face a talent shortage in IT that reaches throughout the entire supply chain -- from senior leaders to middle management and down to entry-level roles. We are busting the stereotype that the only future for IT is through offshore or outsourced talent. Our CIO leaders are telling us loudly that they have a need for good IT talent here in the U.S. too.

What will I.C.Stars be doing differently as a result of that conversation? We're growing the number of students in our program by 70% this year, in response to the market demand. Also, our curriculum will add a business analyst track to have our students compete against each other for an RFP working on an SAP module implementation. This is not about coding but doing the business analysis. And it may be unusual for entry-level IT staffers to be exposed to this type of business case validation; we believe it is a sign of the times. It is something we are seeing our program sponsors support.

Go to Bed!

Dying to crawl under the desk for a few winks at work? Falling asleep during conference calls? You're not alone. In a poll of 1,000 randomly chosen Americans last fall, the National Sleep Foundation found that Americans are working more and sleeping less -- and it's taking a toll.

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