Interview with Jack McMillan, CEO, TechBridge July 1, 2007

Jack McMillan, head of TechBridge since 2003, joined the nonprofit side after 20 years as a technology consultant with Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting). In those years he worked mainly with financial applications and system development. McMillan shared some of his observations regarding the similarities and differences between the needs of nonprofits versus for-profit companies. He is enthusiastic about TechBridge’s future plans for the benefit of nonprofits, and appreciative of the support shown by the technology industry and the community.

How did you get started in information technology?

When I was in the MBA program at Harvard in 1982, I had a summer intern assignment at what was at that time Trust Company Bank in Atlanta. My assignment was to build a piece of software that would track the usage of their big check sorting machines, make some calculations about the percentage of capacity that was being used, and then provide some projections. I was really intrigued and when I went back to school in the fall, I started looking at potential employers that did that sort of work. I interviewed with Arthur Anderson & Company and came back to Atlanta with what became Anderson Consulting and eventually Accenture.

What are your views on IT trends and issues related to nonprofits?

While nonprofits are behind the for-profit sector in terms of their adoption and use of technology, they are recognizing the importance of technology and what it can do to streamline their operations. The NPower Network, of which we’re a part, did a national survey of about 450 nonprofits. To the question of “What role does technology play in your organization?” about 93% answered “very important” or “important.” About 50% of those leaders said they believe that technology has the power to transform the way they do business.

Many of the organizations we’re working with are starting to recognize that their system is now more important than it used to be and they’ve got to protect it. We are starting to see, for example, some organizations moving their environments into data centers. Another trend that we see with nonprofits is the adoption of some of the collaboration technologies like Microsoft SharePoint. Even a very small nonprofit that might not even have a physical office can, by putting up a SharePoint portal, collaborate, share work and share documents among their part-time employees, volunteers and other constituents.

Is there a way to measure how much better our community is today because the nonprofits are more effective through the use of technology?

That’s a great question, and it’s one that we are wrestling with. We have anecdotal evidence but we’re trying to come up with a more systematic way of measuring that impact. If you talk to some of our clients like Vince Smith who deals with homeless people down at the Gateway Centre, he is absolutely convinced that because they built that organization from the ground up and embedded technology into their workflow, they’re much more efficient than they would be without it. They are able to run that operation with fewer people and they have a better handle on things. What we are trying to figure out is how to quantify that kind of phenomenon and how to be able to tell that story collectively.

Have you been able to find the talent you need fairly easily now?

In this organization, we probably have to look a little bit longer. We compensate our people well for a nonprofit, but we are not competitive with what these people could get in a for-profit company. So, we have to find individuals who are competent and talented but may be ready for a different approach and who get satisfaction out of feeling like they are doing something for the community versus strictly furthering their business careers.

What are the things you feel are important in managing people and providing leadership to inspire and encourage others?

Leaders need to help articulate a vision of where an organization needs to go, their view of the environment and the things that are important for the organization. It is important to get the buy-in of the people who are going to be doing the work. When it comes to the “how” of how we get there, I like to involve the people who are with me on the team in figuring out that part of it and getting their views on whether my vision is right or not. Once we decide as a team what we are going to do and we assign the responsibilities, we expect people to deliver. We give them room to do their work and try not to micromanage.

Who are some leaders that have impacted you and influenced you over time?

Certainly I would name George Shaheen, who was the leader at Accenture for about a 10 year period from 1989 to 1999. George was a person who kept that organization on a constant change pattern. He was a real visionary. He forced us to be able to react to change and to try to stay ahead of the change curve, and I think a large part of the success at that firm was built around the model that George put in place.

How do you stay current with technology?

I try to read some of the publications and I learn from interacting with people who are in the field. One of the challenges we have in the nonprofit space is that we are not going to be on the leading edge of technology development, so we have to find ways to stay plugged in. Fortunately, because of the relationships we have with our sponsors and many smart people on our board, we do get a current view of where things are.

What’s your perspective of the local technology industry?

The thing that stands out to me is the willingness and eagerness of people to get involved in helping nonprofits. I can’t tell you how many individuals I run into, including many CIOs, who want to figure out how to get people in their groups involved in what we’re doing. There’s a spirit of generosity and community-mindedness out there and part of what we’re trying to do is get focused on how to channel that volunteer help to the benefit of nonprofits. We made good progress last year and we are, in this next fiscal year, going to put even more emphasis on that.

How are you doing that now?

We are putting a new service in place because many people want to help out. There are about 1,300 nonprofits in metro Atlanta that are of a size that can probably afford to pay for our services. There are another 14,000 that are so small that they struggle with funds, but those people have needs too. We are in the middle of piloting and will start more broadly offering a program, to be staffed by volunteers, in which we will give those smaller nonprofits a free technology assessment and plan. The tech volunteers are signing up for it and they love it because they go out and see some of these great organizations and figure out how to help them.

The nonprofits benefit because they are getting some highly skilled people to help them figure out what to do about their technology. TechBridge benefits because we are going to be able to gather a great deal of data about what their needs are. Maybe there are some broader programs or broader platforms that we could put in place that could be shared by those groups, so that no individual nonprofit would bear the full cost of any of it. The cost could be shared.

University/College Affiliations: Georgia Tech, Harvard Business School

Military Experience: 4 years in the United States Army

Community / Volunteer Involvement: Georgia CASA, Community Health Charities of Georgia, Leadership Atlanta, Board of Trustees of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School

Most admired leader: George Shaheen, former CEO of Accenture

Best Advice to Those Starting Out in Technology: Work hard, be open to continuous learning and develop your people/communications skills.

Hometown: Quincy, Florida

Favorite Quote: “A man isn’t defeated when he loses, only when he quits.”

Favorite Location or Recreational Area in Georgia: North Georgia Mountains around Clayton and Dillard

Favorite Hobbies: Golf

Favorite Executive Gadget: Palm Treo

Share anything unique or special about you: I worked in tobacco fields every summer from the time I was 8 years old until I graduated from high school. I figured out that I needed another career.