It was nearly two years ago (precisely in September 2009) when I got the mandate to lead ‘CTO Forum’. I was cautiously ecstatic. Why cautiously? There were various problems to overcome, numerous hurdles to cross. But as I have a habit of saying ‘yes’ to challenges (almost every), I accepted this as well. My biggest test was to live up to the expectations the universe had of me. And frankly, I was little or not prepared. Initially, like many others, I stumbled upon a few of those hurdles. There were times when my performance stooped down to an unacceptable level. I realised it wasn’t easy.

But with time, effort and unequivocal support, the journey began. Right from managing a small but volatile team to managing the image of the brand CTO Forum, everything needed proper attention and that too in least time. In fact ‘time’ was the only thing I didn’t have. It was like an airport renovation project. The operations must go on normally while the new infrastructure comes up simultaneously. A lot of things came in the way but nothing deterred the conviction to do faster and better.

Besides the usual sections, we added more to CTO Forum in past two years. The first South Asia CIO Summit was organised in 2010 and second one during this year. Another feather in the cap was CSO Forum – an exclusive effort for the Chief (Information) Security Officers.

Personally for me, these were ecstatic moments. Branching out into new areas was a welcome change and it gave me great opportunities to interact with the CIOs (from South Asian region) and a large pool of CSOs from India. The experiments produced good results.
Time flies. Now it is time for me to bid adieu to a rich, strong community platform. When I look back at those two years, I find myself standing amidst a momentous past. All of this became a reality with tremendous support and guidance from both the community and mentors internally.

Your faith in me gave me the required impetus to not only overcome those challenges but to find a path to walk. But the habit of accepting challenges was no less important.

More than anything else, I seek your pardon for my ignorance, mistakes, errors and blunders.

Lastly, I sincerely appeal to you to continue your support for CTO Forum to help us serve you better.