On behalf of the Midsize Enterprise Summit team we would like to wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. We would like to share a few things we are thankful for as this week’s newsletter is arriving on the eve of one of the nation’s most enduring holidays.

The key takeaway from the National Center for the Midmarket’s third-quarter report was employment growth among midsize companies hit a two-year high. The Center’s found that employment grew at a rate of nearly 5 percent in the third quarter as midmarket leaders reported an improvement in company performance.

The annualized employment growth rate of 4.9 percent was the highest level observed across the middle market in nearly two years. In addition, all industries except manufacturing reported increases from the second quarter, the center stated in a press release.

he following blog was recently posted by SAP’s Thack Brown on the Huffington Post web site and contains an interesting dialogue between a finance leader and his company’s CIO. Since many midmarket IT leaders report to or work closely with their CFOs this blog will be of interest to the greater MES audience. Brown, the GM, Global Head of Line of Business Finance at SAP, sat down with SAP CIO Americas, Michael Golz, to hear Golz’s perspective on the evolving role of the CFO and the relationship between finance and technology leaders.

At the recent Midsize Enterprise Summit, a panel of leading midmarket CIOs discussed lessons learned from the nexus of business and technology and how they are pivoting to become chief innovation officers.

The panel was moderated by HP Enterprise’s Domingo Cortes, who oversees sales for the west region and was sponsored by HPE and Intel, longtime supporters of MES. HPE and Intel selected customers of theirs who are transforming their roles along with the companies’ IT strategies.