373: Travelport CIO Matt Minetola asserts that as a CIO of a technology company, a critical part of his job is to bring in technology that allows Travelport to distinguish itself, rather than simply managing technology. He cites that if you are the leader of a technology company in today’s world, it is your responsibility to change how the organization builds and develops products. To do this, Matt is focused on constantly identifying key technology enablers to help Travelport set itself apart. We also discuss the value of the cloud, the importance of quickly digesting and managing data, Travelport’s focus on the customer experience, and a variety of other topics.
Matt is the CIO of Travelport, a UK-based travel and technology company and one of the three major Global Distribution System operators. As CIO, Matt is responsible for leading all aspects of Travelport’s technology organization and for the technical delivery of its Travel Commerce Platform. Prior to Travelport, Matt spent 14 years as a CIO at HP.
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372: Bain Capital Ventures Managing Director Matt Harris analyzes how the FinTech competitive landscape has dramatically shifted over his career, from the domination of large financial institutions, which grew ever larger through mergers and acquisitions to the emergence of startups. We also discuss Matt’s interest in real estate tech and InsurTech, his views on Bitcoin and blockchain, what he looks for when making investing decisions, among other topics.
Matt is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, the VC division of Bain Capital with $60 billion of assets under management. For most of Matt’s career, he has been focused on financial technology, and he was most recently ranked number three among the FinTech Finance 40. At Bain Capital Ventures, Matt has invested in numerous FinTech companies, some of which he explores in the interview. Prior to joining BCV in 2012, Matt founded Village Ventures and spent 12 years leading the firm.
371: General Stanley McChrystal explores a variety of different genres of leaders, including geniuses, founders, politicians, reformers, heroes, and zealots. While he asserts that a group’s performance is less about the leader’s ability and more about the surrounding factors, General McChrystal claims that the best leaders are those who are empathetic to the group’s position at a given time and are able to constantly adapt. Throughout our conversation, we also discuss General McChrystal’s evolving opinions on Robert E. Lee, his experience with his nemesis in Al Qaeda Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and why he dedicated his book to John McCain and John Lewis.
General McChrystal is a retired four-star general of the US Army and the author of multiple books, including his most recent one, Leaders: Myth and Reality. Following a 34-year career in the United States Army, General McChrystal founded the McChrystal Group, an advisory services firm that specializes in leadership consulting.
370: John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco, reflects on his 25 years at Cisco, from his greatest professional regret, to the key factors behind Cisco’s massively successful acquisition strategy, to the critical importance of culture. We also discussed his work with the leaders of France and India to digitize their countries, what he looks for when evaluating companies to invest in, insights from his new book, Connecting The Dots: Lessons For Leadership In A Startup World, among other topics.
Intuit’s incoming CEO Sasan Goodarzi stresses the importance of a strong culture and why it is critical to deliver to your customers quickly. Since its founding in 1983, it has been Intuit’s goal to innovate, empower its employees, and remove obstacles so that they can best serve customers. Intuit was recently recognized as the thirteenth best place to work by Fortune Magazine, which Sasan credits to the employees’ willingness to do anything to help others achieve greatness for customers. We also discuss Sasan’s view on artificial intelligence, why the CIO role was his favorite, and how Sasan’s career ambitions have changed over time.
In January, Sasan will become `CEO of Intuit, the $6 billion business and financial software company known for products such as TurboTax, Quickbooks, and Mint. Prior to being named CEO, Sasan has held a variety of leadership roles during his 14 years with Intuit, including CIO. In preparation for the CEO role, Sasan has rolled out a one hundred day onboarding plan, and he has gone on an extensive listening tour focused on how Intuit can create a stronger culture, deliver better for its customers, and develop more opportunities for the company.
Schneider National CIO Shaleen Devgun asserts that in the age of instant gratification, every company must be a technology company regardless of industry. Even as a trucking company, Shaleen highlights how Schneider’s ability to present timely information is crucial for their success, and how every aspect of Schneider’s value chain is impacted by technology. We also discuss how great competitors can make great customers, how they leverage technology to optimize load assignments from 373 trillion combinations, and the relationship between the CIO and VC communities.
Shaleen is the Chief Information Officer of Schneider National, a premier transportation and logistics provider with revenues exceeding $4 billion. Along with traditional CIO responsibilities, Shaleen has accountability for the companies business transformation, logistics engineering, and corporate venturing efforts. Shaleen was recently the recipient of the Forbes CIO Innovation Award, which highlighted the company’s in-cab telematics toolset.
Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman discusses the origins and growth of Honest Tea, how they overcame the company’s 2003 bottling crisis, and the unique equity structure that put them in a position of strength when they sold to Coca Cola. We also discuss Seth’s board membership with Beyond Meat and Bethesda Green.
Seth is the co-founder, President, and CEO of Honest Tea, the nation’s top selling ready-to-drink organic bottled tea. As CEO. Seth is responsible for overseeing the company’s mission to be the first organic and Fair Trade brand in the world’s largest beverage distribution system. Seth has degrees from Harvard and Yale. He is Chairman of the Board at Beyond Meat, and a board member of Ripple Foods and Bethesda Green.
Red Hat CIO Mike Kelly discusses Red Hat’s strategic priorities and mission to become the default choice for next-generation IT, which culminated in the massive IBM deal that could reshape the cloud landscape. We also discussed how IT differentiates itself within a technology organization, how the company’s Red Hat on Red Hat approach enables IT to be the first and best customer of their products, and how Red Hat engages with the CIO community to learn from their different experiences.
Mike Kelly is the CIO of Red Hat, which was recently acquired by IBM for $34 billion in what is the third largest tech acquisition of all time. As CIO, Mike has a wide variety of responsibilities, from overseeing infrastructure and enterprise architecture, to data and analytics, to the associate experience. Mike joined Red Hat from pharmaceutical giant McKesson, currently number five on the Fortune 500, where he was CIO of CIO of McKesson US Pharmaceuticals.
Art is the Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer of Lenovo, a Chinese multinational technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China. As CIO, Art manages teams in both the US and China, and is responsible for the overall delivery of information services, digital technology, and business transformation. Prior to Lenovo, Art spent over eight years as a consultant at McKinsey.
In this interview, Art asserts that as digital disruption accelerates, CIOs must lead the way in showing the organization how technology can be embedded into the business, and how technology can create new opportunity for companies and their customers. We also discuss Lenovo’s IT roadmap, the commonalities and differences between working in the US and China, the three intersecting elements of a business transformation, among other topics.
Shafiq is the President and Founding Partner of Teach the World Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to enhance global literacy using digital technology. Prior founding Teach the World, Shafiq was the Senior Vice President of Chanel Strategy and Distribution at Marriott International, where he was responsible for leading all of Marriott’s distribution channels, growing them from $150MM in revenue to in excess of $15 billion.
Shafiq received his MBA from Harvard Business School and an economics degree from Punjab University in Pakistan.
In this interview, Shafiq shares how he’s leveraging his experience as a digital pioneer to establish and deploy models of literacy and learning effectively and at scale through the power of digital technology. Globally, two of every seven people are functionally illiterate, and Shafiq argues that traditional models of education cannot effectively close this gap, especially in the developing world. Shafiq’s believes digital technology can democratize education to benefit not just the individuals receiving it, but the global economy as a whole.
