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Theodore Gibson
Profile
Theo Gibson came to WVU thinking he would be a pre-med major but quickly changed majors before classes started. When he was a freshman, he attended a number of the engineering department presentations. He was not impressed by what he heard. He missed the IE presentation, but many of his classmates were saying great things about it. He decided to major in Industrial Engineering.
Theo began his career with AMP (now TE Connectivity). He originally thought he would go directly to an MBA program after his BSIE degree but is glad that he got industry experience first.
After two years with AMP, Theo decided to attend the MBA program at Georgia Tech. While studying at Georgia Tech, Theo also got a job as a supply chain analyst at Coca-Cola.
Theo always had a curiosity about information technology. While at Georgia Tech, he decided to focus some of his course work in this area. “It was the time of the dot-com boom, so this was a hot field of study,” Theo explains.
After his MBA, Theo began his career with Honeywell as an IT business analyst. “This was a great place to start,” Theo says. “I got to see how IT integrates with all phases of the business. After a three-year rotational program in IT, Theo served as an IT Director for several business units for Honeywell. One of these was in Switzerland, where he spent 3.5 years.
This international assignment put Theo on the “radar” for senior executive positions at Honeywell as well as other companies. Theo offers some important advice for graduates who get an international opportunity. “You need to consider your family. For the first six months, my wife hated the move and at the end of my assignment, she was reluctant to move back to the U.S.
Theo is currently the Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Honeywell IT Enterprise Applications.
Theo offers a number of insights into IT careers. “Information Technology is not coding, but you have to understand the software development life cycle. We try to involve our customers early in the development process. That way they can give us better guidance on what they really want. We are also big believers in agile methodology for software development. This methodology has a major customer focus. We try to develop software and IT systems that the customers want, and not gold plate the products we deliver.”
Bio
Theo Gibson is currently the VP/CIO of Honeywell IT Enterprise Application. In this role, Theo focuses on the support and deployment of standard ERP solutions and internal data analytics to run Honeywell’s businesses.
Previous to the Corporate role, Theo was the VP/CIO of Honeywell Process Solutions responsible for aligning IT to the business priorities. He has also held IT positions in Aerospace and Transportation Systems since joining the company in 1999.
Before joining Honeywell, Theo worked in Atlanta for the Coca-Cola Company in Supply Chain and also spent several years at AMP Incorporated (now TE Connectivity) in their engineering rotational development program.
Theo holds an MBA from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University.
He recently relocated from Houston, Texas to Phoenix, Arizoa with his wife and seven year old son.
