Former Google CIO to Open HITEC 2014

Former Google CIO, Douglas Merrill, will address the 2014 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) attendees during the opening session on the relevant topics of organizational security and data protection.

Merrill will speak on Monday, 23 June 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California.

As the former CIO and Vice President of Engineering at Google, Merrill oversaw a team of 1,500, as well as all aspects of technology and several high profile projects, one of which, Google Checkout, is now a multi-billion dollar business. Informed, passionate and brilliantly counter-intuitive, he now helps companies around the world learn how to build their own sustainable cultures of innovation. Merrill's latest project is ZestFinance, a big data fuelled underwriting and short-term loan service that provides customers with an affordable alternative to traditional payday loan companies.

He holds a doctorate in cognitive science from Princeton and is the author of Getting Organized in the Google Era: How to Get Stuff Out of Your Head, Find It When You Need It, and Get It Done Right.

“Given the recent data breaches and the growing interest behind big data we felt the attendees at HITEC 2014 could benefit from the expert advice from all of these keynote speakers,” said Frank Wolfe, CAE, HFTP CEO. “The methods for data theft, cyber security, and understanding customer data are constantly evolving. Gaining insights from these individuals will equip our industry with the tools needed to stay ahead of the curve.”

The Tuesday, 24 June, morning keynote session will feature global thought leader, Rachel Botsman.

Botsman will explain to attendees how the rapidly growing collaborative economy is transforming production, finance, education and consumption. She has inspired a new economy with her influential book What's Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live. Botsman is the founder of Collaborative Lab, the leading source of expertise for companies and governments that want to embrace the collaborative economy to revolutionize business and society.

Following the insightful session by Botsman, the Thursday closing keynote will focus on corporate security with practical insights into real work situations relevant to many industries, presented by Eric O’Neill, former FBI operative and subject of the film ‘Breach.’ The session will teach attendees the top 10 things they should be doing to secure their company. After 25 years with the FBI, O’Neill now runs The Georgetown Group, a security firm out of Washington, DC.

HITEC 2014, a service of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), is one of the world’s largest hospitality technology expositions and conferences. The conference will take place 23-26 June 2014.