May 2013 CIPS Volunteer of the Month:

Mukesh Kashyap, I.S.P., ITCP

Director, CIPS BC

Business Advisor – IM/IT, Government of British Columbia,  

Ministry of Finance, Internal Audit and Advisory Services

About Mukesh: 

What is your Background?

I immigrated to Canada 15 years ago from India, where I worked for the Federal government of India as a System Manager upon the completion of my degree in Computer Science.

I am presently working as a Business Advisor – IM/IT with the Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Finance. I am responsible for developing IM/IT strategies, providing assurance and audits for information management and information technology systems across British Columbia’s ministries and crown corporations. During reviews, I apply IM/IT standards for business requirements, SDLC, security, architecture and governance, consistent with the government guidelines and industry frameworks.

Previously, my contemporary assignment with the Ministry of Social Development was an enterprise wide multi-year, multi-ministry, and multi-phased high profile business transformation project. As the project director (controls & quality), my responsibility was to develop a new notion of performance measurement framework (e.g. Benefit Realization) as well as reporting for the ministries and Treasury Board. In addition, I was involved with reviewing the project controls and quality of business processes, including security and privacy, along with identifying risks.

Earlier I worked for 8 years with the BC Ministry of Forest as a Systems Analyst and later moved to a Team Leader/ Project Manager and Business Analyst position. During this time I developed, implemented and maintained several corporate revenue systems,  I led and worked with the federal government and industry stakeholder’s collaboration.  Previously  I worked as a consultant for couple years with BC Ministry of Health and worked on Mainframe systems.

I have a Master’s in Business Administration with specialization in management consulting and Advance certificate in Business Analysis from Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC and a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. I have been working with the provincial government of BC for more than 13 years. My efforts were recognized and honored by the National and Provincial professional associations (i.e. CIPA, BC Technology, Government Technology, and the BC Premier Award) for my teamwork, project management and innovative skills while dealing with numerous internal and external stakeholders (i.e. industry, federal and provincial government, and vendors). In addition to ISP and ITCP from CIPS, I maintain a few other designations from ITSMF, ISACA, IIA and the BC government.

In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering. I volunteer my time with several professional, community and cultural associations. I volunteered for four years as the Vice-President and secretary for the Greater Victoria International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) chapter and am one of the active founding members for this chapter. I also volunteered with the Institute of Internal Auditors Vancouver Island chapter as the Chair of communication and Program coordinator for more than two years. I prepared our quarterly chapter newsletter and organized events. On behalf of the chapter, I participated in the IIA North American Leadership conference.

Presently I am on the Trustee board of Victoria Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Departmental Representative with the Association of Public Sector Information Professionals (DPI) on behalf of the Government of BC.  I have been on the board of VHP for more than 13 years, as an Executive committee member, Vice-President and Treasurer. I have been involved with developing and organizing events, involving membership and promoting cultural and heritage values in the communities’.

What type of Involvement have you had with CIPS?

I received my ISP designation in 2006 and joined the CIPS British Columbia Board of Directors in 2007. 

As a Director (Membership) with CIPS-BC I maintain memberships and related issues and share them with the CIPS National membership committee, National office and the BC board. During 2010 I led and proposed to provide rebate to members to maintain and encourage an increase in membership. Recently a  similar exercise was completed, by excluding the section fee in BC. As a board member I actively participate in the work and events organized in BC.

I worked on the on British Columbia Technology Award Review Committee during 2006 as an adjudicator, where I was assigned to review the technological features/ components of the nominated projects and provide recommendations for the projects, on behalf of CIPS,

I was an active member of the CIPS Common Body of Knowledge for Computing and IT (CBOK) committee in 2012. My involvement was present from the beginning of the group and I led two key technical sections of CBOK. The group I worked with was very professional and knowledgeable. The CIPS CBOK is a wonderful tool for IT professionals in Canada and across the globe.

My objective is to bring CIPS’ values in the mind of IM/IT and other professionals. I represented CIPS-BC and participated in the Information and Communication Technology Council (ICTC) I-Advance program National Review committee and previously participated as the subject matter expert in developing I-Advance certification activities.

Being a Business Advisor – IM/IT (IM/IT Auditor) with the Government of British Columbia, I was nominated by the CIPS National Board to audit CIPS certification application processing and overall governance of CIPS. I worked on the application processing and presented my report to CIPS National Board and Executive board. I am pleased to receive the support and dedication of the CIPS National  and Certification council members.

What value has your involvement with CIPS provided?

My involvement with CIPS has provided me incredible opportunities to work with committed, adoring and motivated IM/IT professionals. Engagements with CIPS activities at the National and Provincial level provide me with opportunities to meet, and work with like-minded people and most of all, learn from them.

The CIPS professional designation allowed me to further develop and maintain my profession year after year. Also allows me to maintain my designations, and stay up to date with existing and evolving technologies and management competencies.

At end, I would like to emphasis that the CIPS designation is a gateway to immigrant IM/IT professionals in Canada.  

 www.cips.ca/VolunteerOfTheMonth