About

The SIM Charlotte Region Chapter is the preeminent community of senior technology executives in the Carolinas centered in Charlotte. The Chapter also serves Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, and Rock Hill in South Carolina and Asheville, Gastonia, Hickory and Winston Salem in North Carolina.

SIM Charlotte is where IT professionals connect, learn, and grow in order to lead.  Relationship building, learning opportunities, and community outreach in the form of STEM education are the three pillars of the organization. These three pillars combine to create a vibrant network that strengthens the entire region and contributes to the economic engine that powers Charlotte and the surrounding areas.

In addition to the local resources, SIM Charlotte members draw on a vast wealth of connections and offerings from the SIM National level.

Fundraising Programs and History

The Chapter started in 2009 with a core group previously members of the Charlotte Chamber IT Council with support from Marc DiFrancisco and Dan Folwick of Premier CIO, Steve Pickett, SIM National and Penske, Steve Crawford, Amarr Doors, Ed Galloway from the Raleigh RTP SIM Chapter.

The group met following the 2009 Charlotte CIO Forum.  Work began to form the chapter and the first meeting was held in February 2010. 

The SIM chapter continued the CIO Forum partnership helping to host the annual conference. 

The chapter was founded to support: IT leadership networking, Leadership Development and Community Outreach.

The first STEM donation was the Founders Scholarship Endowment to UNC Charlotte College of Computing & Informatics in 2010.

The Chapter partnered with CBJ to launch the Charlotte CIO of the Year Awards in 2012 (?).  We continue to be an Associate Sponsor for the awards since 2016.

The first golf tournament fundraiser was held in 2014.  We donated $23000 in STEM awards to Young Engineers and Charlotte’s Web Technology Mentoring.  The 4th Golf tournament was held in 2019.

In 2015, we hosted the SIM National SIMposium conference.  

In 2016, the Chapter won a Blue Diamond Award for Community Outreach.

In 2018, the Chapter won the SIM National Chapter Innovation award for our Outreach efforts.

Since 2014, we’ve donated:

2015 - $25,000

2016 - $68,500

2017 - $95,650  

2018 - $109,625

2019 - $86,350

Total donations $408,125 to support CMS, youth coding and robotics non-profit programs, STEM camps, and Community College and University scholarships plus adult technology training programs.

Chapter 10th Anniversary

The Chapter will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on January 16th, 2020 and it will be honoring SIM founders, past presidents, and accomplishments.

The outline of the event is dinner, video of how SIM CHLT got started, and the awards to the original founders.

The unique anniversary event will include beverages, dinner, music, and networking to celebrate 10 successful years of the SIM Charlotte chapter!

When: Thursday, January 16th, 2020
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Event page:

https://sim-charlotte-region.ticketleap.com/sim-charlotte-10th-anniversary-celebration/

Password: sim10