2007 SIM CIO Leadership Award

Autumn R. Bayles, 2006 recipient Senior VP of Strategic Operations and Technology Tasty Baking Company

Autumn Bayles is the Senior VP of Strategic Operations and Technology for Tasty Baking Company. (Until August 2006, she served as the the Chief Information Officer.) Tasty Baking Company is one of the country's leading bakers of snack cakes, pies, cookies and donuts. The company, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, was founded in 1914 and is the manufacturer of the popular Tastykake brand. In her role as the CIO, Autumn has responsibility for all of the information and communications technology for the company. Prior to joining Tasty Baking Company, Autumn was a principal consultant with IBM Business Consulting Services, previously PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Consulting until a merger earlier this year. While there, she worked with numerous Fortune 500 organizations to assess and implement their information technology systems, practices and strategies. Autumn started her career at Price Waterhouse (later PricewaterhouseCoopers after a merger) in 1992, where she held various positions of increasing responsibility during her 10 year tenure, including Consultant, Senior Consultant, Manager, Senior Manager, and Principal Consultant. As a client service practitioner, Autumn worked on and led numerous large scale information systems and related technical strategy projects, including several ERP implementations, custom application development projects, and merger planning projects. Her clients included Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Duke Energy, Bank of America, Comcast, JP Morgan, and Shell Oil. While client service was her primary responsibility, she also had internal responsibility for management of a firm center of excellence, management of the development of internal project implementation methodologies, instruction of internal consulting classes, leadership of numerous proposal and sales efforts, leadership of staff evaluation committees, recruitment activities, and serving as a Coach to several staff members. Autumn also served as Director of Consulting for Destiny WebSolutions, where she was responsible for project direction, client relationships, business development, and participation in internal strategic directives. Clients included Bank of New York and Citigroup in implementing cutting edge web applications for global use. Autumn also served as a technology management consultant for Safeguard Scientifics wholly-owned subsidiary, aligne, working on technical strategy and program management engagements for both clients and Safeguard portfolio companies. Client experiences included working with management at Atlas Commerce, Safeguard, and ZapMe! in developing technology and business strategies that would facilitate business success in the rapidly changing technology marketplace. Autumn is a graduate of Lehigh University, where she received her bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering. Autumn also holds an MBA degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Autumn is affiliated with many local organizations such as the Union League of Philadelphia and serves on the boards of Junior Achievement, Girl Scouts of SE PA, and The Forum of Executive Women.