Today we’re having a brief chat with Rachelle Rennagel, Chief knowledge Officer at Sheppard Mullin and the ILTA ‘09 Information Management Track Chair.
What does Information Management mean?
Information Management is a relatively new track to ILTA (in its second year). When I think of IM, I approach it from the stand-point of how an organization manages all their various repositories of data and the operational mandates that drive this need. As you can imagine, this area often will spill over into many other topics – for example, in my humble opinion, Records Management is arguably a subset of Information management as it focuses on a specific aspect of IM, namely the organization, storage and retention of data that has been classified as a records”. Additionally, there are many ways in which IM and KM overlap. KM is concerned with the ability to retrieve data and present it in context and IM plays a part in that. IM is not the hardware of data management, but more the process. That’s why many of this years’ sessions are focused on things like e-mail management, legal process outsourcing, ERM/CRM and other IM topics. As you can imagine, the appeal of this sessions can spill into IT, Records, KM, Marketing and many others.
How did you end up in KM?
KM literally fell into my lap! In my time as a practicing lawyer, I always found myself drawn to finding ways to leverage technology to improve the operational efficiencies of my practice. I was born and raised with a love of computers and a love of process management – yes, a true geek by birth. After I decided to cease practicing law, I looked for opportunities that would meld both my legal acumen as well as my love for technology. I was fortunate enough to find great career opportunities at LexisNexis, where I held a number of roles – I began in the E-discovery world, then more broadly into finding technology solutions to meet the needs of litigators. When I was approached with the opportunity to be the CKO, I jumped at the chance. In this role, not only do I focus on traditional KM tasks, but I also head up litigation support, our library and work closely with my CIO on our Information Management Policy. I see this as the culmination of a long career journey that has really brought together all my passions – I am pushed to learn more on a daily basis.
Filed under: Conference Committee, Interview
