Annual Tech Conference 2025: WTA.i

 

12:30p – Conference Kick Off & Keynote

• Generative AI Unleashed: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love our Robot Overlords – Sam Hilgendorf, CIO at Fox World Travel

1:55p – Break Out 1 & 2 

•     Always have an Exit Plan:  Northwestern Mutual’s Data Center Strategy –  Adnan Ramji, VP of Infrastructure Engineering, & Mark Luther, Enterprise Architect, at Northwestern Mutual
•     Mastering Vendor Management and Risk: Strategies for Success – John Twardowski, IT Security and Infrastructure Manager DCI Marketing, & Michael Kahler, VP of Information Security at Tri City National Bank

2:50p – Break Out 3 & 4 

•     Man and the Machine, and the SOC – Shane Sax, Director of Security at Racine County
•     One MEC One Mission – Turning IT into a Strategic Business Partner – Steve Seroogy, IT Director PMO at Mayville Engineering Company Inc

3:45 – Community Highlights! Featuring all your Favorite Wisconsin Orgs

4p – Leadership Panel: AI in Manufacturing

• Moderator: Steve Magnuson, VP of Corporate IT, Regal Rexnord
  Panelist: Tim Dickson, CDIO, Regal Rexnord
  Amanda Jack, CIO, Manpower Group
  Chad Steighner, CDIO, Clarios

KEYNOTE BIO:
Sam Hilgendorf, Chief Information Officer, Fox World Travel

Sam has served as the chief information officer (CIO) at Fox World Travel since 2018. He
is responsible for the vision and execution of Fox’s technology portfolio, which includes IT,
business intelligence, product development, and project management.

Under Sam’s stewardship, Fox has integrated groundbreaking solutions in travel, including a
cutting-edge customer contact center, an enterprise data management platform, and Colby AI, an
AI personal assistant for Fox associates and customers. These pioneering strides have garnered
widespread acclaim within the travel industry, consistently acknowledged through prestigious
accolades.

Under Sam’s direction, Fox has been awarded multiple Magellan awards from Travel Weekly for
innovation and has also been recognized as a Distinguished Partner from SAP Concur for custom
integration work with the Concur Travel platform. He’s also contributed on multiple occurrences to
industry thought leadership on topics such as AI, blockchain, and other technology and leadership topics.

Recently honored with the Orbie award as Wisconsin’s CIO of the Year for Large corporations, Sam
exemplifies a passion for leveraging technology to catalyze positive change. He firmly believes in
harnessing technology’s potential to unleash the latent talents of his team members, propelling
them toward unparalleled achievements. Sam’s dedication extends to enriching customer
experiences, fostering peak performance, and nurturing excellence.

Sam has been happily married for 20 years and is a proud parent of a wonderful pre-teen daughter.
When it comes to hobbies, he describes his family as “a real-life version of the TV show The Big
Bang Theory.” They love playing Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop board games, reading
comic books, dressing up for Renaissance fairs, and indulging in just about every other nerdy
hobby imaginable. These quirky interests bring them joy, excitement, and a whole lot of stories to
tell!

 

Adnan Ramji, Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering and Operations, Northwestern Mutual

Adnan Ramji is the Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering and Operations at Northwestern Mutual, where he oversees critical functions including Network, Server, Storage, Data Center, and Disaster Recovery. Since joining the company in 2019 as the Senior Director of Network Services, Adnan has played an integral role in advancing Northwestern Mutual’s infrastructure capabilities and ensuring the seamless operation of essential services.

With over five years at Northwestern Mutual, Adnan has been instrumental in leading infrastructure engineering initiatives for hosted applications within data centers and in standardizing networking infrastructure across more than 300 field offices. His leadership style is characterized by a focus on stability and simplicity, utilizing his deep technical expertise to foster robust, scalable solutions.

Adnan’s tenure has included spearheading major initiatives such as network transformation, rigorous disaster recovery testing, network segmentation, and the Franklin Data Center exit as part of Northwestern Mutual’s journey to the cloud. His work continues to impact the company’s infrastructure strategy, positioning Northwestern Mutual for long-term resilience and growth.

Adnan resides in Chicago with his wife, Shahina, a dedicated first-grade teacher, and their two children, Aiden and Sophia.

Amanda Jack, Chief Technology Officer for ManpowerGroup
Amanda has more than 20 years of transformation experience within multiple areas of focus, including
workforce solutions, retail, travel & leisure, global data standards, and supply chain optimization.

Amanda began her career at Target. While there she led enterprise-wide improvements through
strategy, technology, data & analytics, and process reinvention. Her focus was on large scale change
initiatives with master data and business intelligence systems.

In 2015, Amanda took on a not-for-profit industry role at GS1 US, where she helped companies
assess and improve their data management to deliver a seamless customer experience and improve
information standards.
Amanda joined SmarteCarte, Inc. in late 2016 to create and lead a corporate transformation. As Chief
Technology Officer, she was responsible for all customer-facing products and tools, internal corporate
systems, cyber security, business intelligence, and supply chain. While there, Amanda implemented
SCI’s first ever global HRIS, led the integration of two growth acquisitions, and transformed their
vending operating system for connected data monitoring of equipment errors, inventory, and cash
collections.
In 2021, Amanda joined ManpowerGroup, where she is currently their Chief Technology Officer. She
leads the technology function globally across four regions and all shared infrastructure and product
applications. As CTO, she leads transformation with business strategy at the forefront, ensuring
ManpowerGroup connects human potential to the power of business.
Amanda lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband and two teenagers. She has been a long-time
developer of talent, actively maturing teams, as well as investing in others; individual success as a
mentor. And she is an ongoing advocate in the community for women in technology.

Chad Steighner, Chief Digital & Information Officer for Clarios

In his role he serves as CDIO accountable for advanced manufacturing engineering, IT operations, cybersecurity, enabling growth via technology and being a digital catalyst for the enterprise. Chad directs investments executed via 290+ internal employees located around the world along with support of contract staff and managed service firms. Starting in 2018 Chad led the strategy and execution of a 30-month carve out from Johnson Controls completing ahead of schedule in July 2021. Since then, he has focused on formulating, then leading transformation in the areas of customer experience, proper application of AI and the future of manufacturing. In 2024 Chad led a dark factory strategy effort which encompassed a 30-company global benchmarking effort to study and recommend a new model for battery manufacturing reducing reliance on labor by more than 67%.

Chad has more than 25 years of experience designing, building and deploying systems around the world in process and discrete manufacturing environments. Seventeen of those years have been in the Clarios organization.

Prior to his career in IT Chad managed the systems group for a private engineering firm where he designed and deployed industrial automation, batching and traceability solutions worldwide for clients such as Cargill, Agribrands Purina and Mars Pet Food. Chad also has engineering experiences from Kimberly-Clark Corporation and IBM.

 

Chad Anhalt, Principal Program Manager at Northwestern Mutual

Chad Anhalt is a seasoned technology program manager with more than 25 years of dedicated service at Northwestern Mutual. Throughout his distinguished career, Chad has demonstrated exceptional leadership in steering complex infrastructure projects, particularly focusing on Network and Data Center initiatives over the past seven years.

Before his specialization in infrastructure, Chad successfully led a diverse range of technology efforts, including organizational-wide transformations and large-scale application re-platforming. His expertise also extends to establishing and managing program management offices, showcasing his comprehensive skill set and commitment to driving innovation and excellence within the organization.

Outside of his professional achievements, Chad is married to his wife, Becky, and together they have two adult children. As a family, they share a love for traveling, attending sporting events, and enjoying summer concerts.

 

 

Tim Dickson, Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) at Regal Rexnord

Tim has served as Regal Rexnord’s Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) since October 2023. Tim previously served as the first-ever CIO at Generac Power Systems from 2020-2023, the Vice President of Front Office IT at Motorola Solutions from 2015-2018, and additionally served as a divisional CIO leading Emerging Technologies, M&A, and User Experience for Dell, Inc from 2004-2015.

At Regal Rexnord, Tim is responsible for leading the organization’s digital and information technology functions. He’s accountable for the strategy, management, transformation, and execution of Regal Rexnord’s global digital and IT organization. Additionally, Tim is responsible for building an industry-leading digital capability to further enhance decision making across the organization and continually exceed our e-commerce customers’ expectations.

Tim has a passion for leading Digital Transformation efforts, upskilling and investing in Digital Talent, and helping to make the greater Milwaukee area and the state of Wisconsin a popular tech hub.  Tim enjoys sharing emerging technology best practices, coaching and mentoring, and volunteering for numerous community service events in the area.

 

Stephen Magnuson, Vice President of Corporate IT at Regal Rexnord

Prior to joining Regal Rexnord in 2022, Stephen spent 20 years at 3M Company.  He has more than 20 years of experience driving IT transformation, mergers and acquisitions, and digital enablement in the global manufacturing and healthcare sectors