Q: How long have you been involved with The Open Group?
I became TOGAF® certified in 2004, but it was not until January 2006 that I attended my very first Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference in San Francisco. I have been attending the quarterly events ever since. Since 2010, I have represented Oracle on The Open Group Governing Board.
Q: What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I have been with Oracle/BEA Systems since 2002 where I have been a key contributor to Oracle's Global Enterprise Architecture Program. I have a broad focus, including Enterprise Architecture, digital transformation, hybrid cloud/PaaS, and governance. My responsibilities include the building of the EA community within Oracle through education and certification, as well as the development and delivery of strategy, roadmaps, and architectures.
Q: Why did your organization become a member and what does your involvement look like?
Oracle has a long history of commitment to industry standards and has been a leader since the beginning in many different standards bodies. The Open Group enables me to become actively involved in various forums and working groups. I am actively involved with The Open Group. Apart from representing Oracle on The Open Group Governing Board, I have also participated in the Architecture Forum as well as holding chair positions within the Cloud and SOA Working Group. I have also contributed to a number of SOA and Cloud standards. Oracle is a Platinum Member of The Open Group.
Q: How has membership in The Open Group benefited you, your organization and the industry at large?
The benefit to Oracle has been substantial both in terms of value add to our Enterprise Architecture, real-time/embedded systems, and security communities. In addition, it has driven value in our products, such as UNIX® certification.
Q: What contributions do you hope to bring to The Open Group?
My hope is to increase Oracle's value to The Open Group through greater involvement in all forums. We are currently focusing our attention on a variety of areas such as Open Platform 3.0™, Cloud, IT4IT™, UNIX® and Security.
Q: Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?
I believe that The Open Group brings together more thought leaders than other standards groups. Being part of The Open Group and the various forums gives organizations a platform for learning from the peers and experts in architecture and at the same time contributing their thoughts and knowledge into a best-practice framework.
The Open Group brings suppliers, vendors and customers together to solve critical problems through standards, while at the same time enabling organizations to validate their thoughts on the future of the industry.
Q: What are your hobbies?
Travel and Hiking. If possible I like to combine the two. A few years ago I hiked Machu Picchu while I was traveling through Peru and Bolivia.
Q: What book are you currently reading?
Nowadays I tend to listen to more audible books and podcasts. Currently working my way through “Start with Why” with Simon Sinek and “The Freakonomics” podcast.
Q. What social networks do you belong to?
LinkedIn and Twitter. Also FaceBook - so I can tell what my family is doing.
Q: Any last thoughts?
With the shift to a digital economy, IT’s role is moving towards functioning as a consultant to the business, to identify capabilities required to support the business, and then to become a broker of these identified capabilities. I see this as a great opportunity to contribute to The Open Group so that you can shape the future direction of not only your own organization but the industry as a whole.
Bennett, Stephen G. — Executive Director, Global Enterprise Architecture Program, Oracle
Stephen G. Bennett is an Executive Director in Oracle's Global Enterprise Architecture Program. In this role, Stephen has a broad focus, including Enterprise Architecture, digital transformation, Hybrid cloud, and governance.
His responsibilities include the development and delivery of strategy, multi-year roadmaps, reference architectures, for both customers and Oracle's Enterprise Architecture community.
His works can be found through book publications, trade publications, authoritative architecture guidance, white papers, publication of international standards and standardized frameworks.
Prior to joining Oracle, Stephen led BEA Systems Americas SOA Practice while providing leadership to large enterprise customers around IT/SOA Strategy, governance, and engineering disciplines.