 | Summer 2006 |
Profile: Diane Brown
The co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, once observed that the power of technology doubles every 18 months. During the course of her career, Diane Brown has worked to keep pace with those rapid technological advances.
After completing her degree at SVSU in computer information systems – long before e-mail and the Internet became household words – Brown (B.S., 1988) went to work for The Dow Chemical Company in the application and infrastructure area, which literally managed numerous Information Technology projects. Her responsibilities included finding the right technology to satisfy global user requirements, interfaces and data sharing.
"Looking back, there were two SVSU courses that made a significant impact as I entered the world of technology, Systems and Computers & Society. One of my SVSU projects required me to find a company that would allow me to assess their business operations. Part of the assessment required the identification of manual work processes that could be automated to improve the quality and efficiency of operations. Much of what I do today is implementing systems and processes to improve productivity and reduce the cost of operations."
Today, Brown is a manager for Accenture, a management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Based in Midland, she works at the Dow-Accenture Project and Support Center, and has managed the implementation of many multi-million dollar application and work process projects. Brown also has created processes and tools for merging corporate information systems environments, as well as aligning strategic businesses and merging work processes to reduce costs and improve productivity.
"I am not one for repetitious work. The technology industry is all about change and helping clients retain their competitive advantage as the industry changes in the way they conduct business and continue to globalize."
Brown is active in the community, in organizations such as the Tri-counties’ United Negro College Fund committee, where she will serve as co-chair for the 2007-08 campaign. On June 1, 2006, Brown was appointed Citizen-at-Large member with the Midland Planning Commission. In 2004, she established Parents’ Rights to be Parents, a non-profit organization supporting parents’ rights to develop and instill fundamental ethics, morals and values into the lives of youth. Brown also serves as a resource to SVSU’s Office of Diversity Programs. In her spare time she enjoys scrapbooking, reading and traveling to destinations with an abundance of sun and warmth. Brown has two adult children and a grandson.