IBM Sends CCU Alum to China to Serve Region Leveled by 2008 Earthquakes
Jordan Olivero, 26, an IBM managing consultant based in Virginia, has been chosen from a pool of 5,600 applicants to participate in IBM's Corporate Service Corps program. A 2005 Colorado Christian University graduate, he is now on a four-week assignment in China's Sichuan Province, working with eight international IBM employees to help recover the region hit hardest during deadly earthquakes in May 2008. His is the first of IBM's Corps teams to serve in China.
The Corporate Service Corps was created to offer IBM employees opportunities to enhance their skills and expertise toward becoming global leaders. Partnered with a non-governmental organization, Digital Opportunity Trust, Olivero's team is providing assistance and resources in the areas of economic development and information technology (I.T.). He is specifically heading a sub-team that is facilitating workshops and strategic consulting to help the Chengdu Chamber of Commerce improve software outsourcing, I.T. talent development, and strategies for prospering amidst the global financial crisis.
Although he has traveled abroad before, this is Olivero's first trip to China. Working cross-culturally, he hopes to gain a greater cultural intelligence and resilience as a leader. To make the experience fully global, and to offer balanced perspectives and expertise in solving complex problems, IBM comprised the team of employees from different countries and business units. Each team member received three months of preparatory training in local customs, culture, language, project goals, and socioeconomic and political realities.
Olivero earned a bachelor's degree from CCU in business administration, a minor in leadership, and was instrumental in helping lead the University's outreach ministries. He was hired by IBM after graduation, and his consistently high performance across the last three years qualified him to apply to the Corporate Service Corps program.
"I want to know and to love God," he said in an article published by The Oakland Press (Pontiac, Mich.). "I think this means serving outside my boundaries, my state, even my own country. We can't just serve in our own communities. We are global citizens, and we're in this together."
For more information about the IBM Corporate Service Corps, visit the Corporate Service Corps website.