Maria Azua, Vice President of Technology and Innovation for the IBM CIO Office. Responsible for the development and integration of innovative IT solutions as well as Social Networking and Collaboration tools to foster innovation and better communitcaiont across IBM. Development of new technologies to achive IT infrastructure automation to lower overall energy consumption. Manages IBM cross business units Innovation Program to improve profitability, productivity and the work experience of IBMers through innovation. Before joining the CIO team, Maria was the Director of Technology Evaluation at IBM, responsible for corporate assessment of new technology opportunities. She has chaired the IBM Finance Sector Industry Solutions Architecture Board, and managed the integration of industry standards for the finance sector within the IBM Software Group. As solutions architect for e-business, she provided IBM technical leadership for many large customers in the financial sector and she is well recognized for her technical leadership in home-banking solutions.