Thureen joins 108 other leading business women from around the nation who were nominated by their colleagues, peers and mentors for the honor.

“To be successful in today’s corporate world, I believe you must have integrity, respect for people, a desire to continue to advance your education and a commitment to teamwork,” said Thureen. “You must set high standards for yourself and deliver what you promise. I also believe you need to find a strong mentor.”

“This award reflects Sheri’s technical knowledge, approach to teamwork and commitment to excellence,” said James W. Sheaffer, president of CSC’s North American Public Sector line of business. “She exemplifies the passion, responsiveness and innovation for which CSC is known, and we are honored to have her on our team. We are proud of her much-deserved acknowledgement and her continued dedication to helping American government agencies achieve excellence in executing their core missions.”

With 21 years of information technology experience, Thureen has an extensive background in enterprise resource planning and business reengineering transformations, infrastructure upgrades and sales and marketing initiatives. She has worked on global projects spanning Europe, Asia and the U.S.  Her educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in computer science and psychology from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and a master of business administration in international relations degree from the University of Delaware.

HE&IT magazine ranked Jimenez in the Most Important Hispanics in Technology list for 2008. Editors researched and evaluated thousands of employees from 100 candidate companies and then ranked the highest-achieving Hispanic executives, technologists and researchers in industry, government and academia who demonstrated leadership on a broad front in the workplace and in their communities. Jimenez was honored during the Most Important Hispanics in Technology dinner in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 24.

Jimenez was also selected as one of this year’s top 100 IT executives by HITEC, a council founded by senior Hispanic executives who have built outstanding careers in IT and have a strong desire and passion to make an impact within the Hispanic community.

“These honors reflect Jose’s commitment to both the information technology and Hispanic communities,” said James W. Sheaffer, president of CSC’s North American Public Sector line of business. “With more than 30 years of experience spanning both the public and private sectors, Jose brings deep knowledge and extensive expertise to his leadership of our public sector’s strategy and development function.”

In 1997, a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo came to the Netherlands, and began to send books in French to help create a library in Mikondo, a part of Kinshasa in the DR Congo. His dream was to create an educational and social center for the people of Mikondo, who lack financial and educational opportunities to develop themselves.

I met him in 2000 and got involved, and with the support of our church group, we created a foundation. Along with the people in Mikondo, the foundation set up a primary school, and today we still help the school by: 

• Finding sponsors (please for information)

• Collecting ink cartridges

• Organizing short cycle tours to raise funds

• And this year, for the seventh time, we are holding a flower bulb auction.

We do everything we can to offer good education to the very poor children in Mikondo.

Every year, about 400 children benefit and about 20 personnel make a living with our help. We try to think of new fundraising ideas all the time because we want the primary school to continue on and on. For the future, we dream about a vocational school for 12- to 16-year-old children, but as always, it depends on money. People in Mikondo cannot pay for this school, and education is not free. But if I look at the picture above, I know why we work so hard.

To learn more, e-mail or visit www.mikondo.org.

He adds that Julich’s participation was a highlight and inspiration for the other cyclists. “It was great for our clients and partners to be able to spend some time and talk with Bobby about his experience as a professional rider.”

Participants chose to ride a 100-, 62- or 15-mile course along California’s picturesque Pacific Coast Highway. The day also included a run/walk event, as well as a post-race celebration with pop band “Black Eyed Peas.”

This year’s Challenge raised more than $3.6 million for Best Buddies, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. To learn more and sign up for next year’s race, visit the event’s Web site. 

It’s 10 o’clock on the second night of CSC’s 2008 Technology & Business Solutions Conference. Two hours into an electrifying show that opened with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Travelin’ Band, both the audience and the performers are still going strong.

“Music is a global unifier, a universal language,“ says vocalist and CSC business process architect Jill McNeil, the driving force behind CSC’s Global Jam. “Even if your mannerisms or culture or idioms are misunderstood country to country, music like oldies rock and roll is something everyone can tune into and share at the very deepest level.“

As the band seamlessly segues from Love Shack to the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams — with Gwennie Collins, a global security solutions learning manager from Annapolis, Md., at the microphone — it’s hard to believe that, just two days before, most of the members not only had never performed together but had never even met face-to-face. (Read entire story.)

Our donations will make a vital difference in the lives of those who have given so much to us. Thanks to all employees for giving back to our U.S. military families. Want to contribute? The campaign may be over, but you can still contribute to this important endeavor. For more information, visit the Fisher House or CharityWorks Web site.

“In January 2009, I will be participating in a charity event called 3 Peaks 3 Weeks.

The 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge is an annual all-female climbing event that aims to summit three of Africa’s highest peaks in three weeks. The climbs of Mt. Kenya, Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro seek to raise awareness for environmental, educational and health issues, and to support and encourage grassroots community organizations in Kenya and Tanzania.

3 Peaks 3 Weeks is about dedication, motivation and inspiring individuals to climb higher and push harder for Africa’s future than they ever thought possible.

To learn more and donate, visit my Web site. Thanks for your support.”

“My wife went to Uganda, Africa, and worked with an organization called AOET that is helping to empower orphans left behind because of HIV or AIDS. I saw her video footage and I was really moved, because I saw all these kids that didn’t have anything. And it intrigued me enough to go with her the following year. I was thinking I’d do some sort of manual labor, dig trenches or build orphanages.

But as we got closer to the trip I started to realize that they, as an organization, had this incredible need for computer help. In their office they would process kids that needed sponsorships. And the process that they would go through was incredibly painful, with many different computers. And I thought, man, they really need a network. So when I went to Uganda, I basically installed a wireless network in the office with some other team members. And it literally streamlined the process so that they could get more kids sponsored. So my simple basic computer skills—forget all this high-tech hacking stuff—basic networking skills were literally saving lives. And that was really powerful.

When I got back to the United States, the problem haunted me because I looked around and I saw that we had so much. Not just food and houses, but we had so much in the way of technology and expertise. And that’s where Hackers for Charity was born. The idea was to take hackers, who have amazing skills, and connect those skills with charities that need help, that can’t afford it. Hackers would come to us, and we’d put them to work on micro projects helping charity. And we’d help build their resume. That was the idea. Since then, it’s taken off so fast that I can barely hang onto it.

We’re not just doing this technology initiative where we help charities with technology. We’re building classrooms and taking donations from conferences. You know, the pens and pencils and conference bags and all this swag that conferences give away? We take that and turn it into school supplies to give to kids in underdeveloped countries. So, between building classrooms and pulling together school supplies and working on technology projects, we’ve actually got quite a movement going.

And it’s been really encouraging to see that hackers, who have gotten a bad rap for a long time, have an opportunity to show that there’s another side to them. It’s been incredible to see the work that’s been done as a result.”

To learn more, and donate, visit www.hackersforcharity.org.

“This summer I’m undertaking a venture in the service of humanity. This will be my fourth run for AIDS awareness and physical fitness: a 500+ km run around Cyprus.

We, two brothers, Indian and U.S. citizens, are planning this run on Cyprus to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, especially the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. Forty two million people are infected with HIV/AIDS in the world, which makes it the most serious health-related catastrophe of modern times.

According to the World Health Organization, by 2010, five countries (Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, India and Russia) with 40 percent of the world’s population will add 50 to 75 million infected people to the worldwide pool of HIV disease. In addition, the United Nations estimates that, currently, there are 14 million AIDS orphans and that by 2010 there will be 25 million. Ninety percent of the 2.3 million HIV-positive children living around the world contracted HIV from their mothers, and 1,500 children contract HIV every day. This is simply unacceptable. As a global community, we must do more to help HIV-positive AIDS victims.

The Society for Education and Health has stepped forward to help me in this endeavor. They will match every dollar I raise. This money will pay for logistics, transportation and accommodations supporting the run. In addition, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMfAR) has agreed to provide me with valuable AIDS-related literature to distribute along the run path on Cyprus Island.“

For more information, and to donate, visit www.RunningForHumanity.Org.