717: Mario discusses his journey from CIO to CEO and his vision for the future of the business. He begins with his initial reflections on his transition to the CEO role and explains what helped him rise to the position. He gives an overview of how XPO was founded and the different verticals and spin-offs that have been a part of the company’s history, including the Less-Than-Truckload vertical he served as President for before his promotion. Mario describes the skillsets on his team, lessons from the company’s many successful M&A integrations, and how he fosters a culture of innovation. Finally, Mario speaks about the tech trends in data that are on his radar for the future of XPO and looks back at the keys to his career success.
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710: Neal Sample, former CIO of Northwestern Mutual, discusses his seasoned career as a technology executive across a variety of companies and how the role has evolved over the years. He explains both the enticing and challenging aspects of the CIO role and how it can translate into a broader set of responsibilities at a company. Neal also talks about his board-level experience and why companies, regardless of industry, should look to have a technologist on the board of directors. He looks ahead at his future career prospects, reflects on his pursuit of his Ph.D., provides advice for aspiring CIOs, and speaks to the trends in artificial intelligence and automation that he believes will become prominent in the years to come.
618: Tom discusses the strategic plan for Sysco’s digital transformation and the impact on the B2B customer interaction. Tom provides his purview as both the CIO and CDO and gives his perspective on the five strategic pillars for the company’s Recipe for Growth. He talks about bringing a B2C sensibility to the B2B transactions, focusing on customer engagements and customer journeys, and fostering resilience at the company during the pandemic. Tom also shares how he is not only looking at new solutions for the customer but also how to better position his team for innovation through diversity and inclusion. Finally, Tom discusses tech trends and areas within the company that he looks to focus on in the future.
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This episode is sponsored by Transmit Security.
610: In this interview, Atul Bhardwaj, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Technology Officer of LEGO, speaks with Peter High about the digital transformation of the iconic and well-known toy company. Atul provides an overview of his post as Chief Digital and Technology Officer for LEGO and explains how LEGO is integrating digital into its product offerings. He describes the various ways digital experiences differ between adult and children customers, how LEGO works together and keeps pace with the digital transformation of partners within its ecosystem, and how LEGO is digitizing the internal organization overall. He also discusses the process of building his team at LEGO including what role passion for the product plays, how the common language of code unites a global effort of digital transformation, and how LEGO fosters diversity and inclusion at the company. Finally, Atul looks ahead at the tech trends that his team is keeping an eye on.
604: In this interview, Amir Kazmi, Chief Information and Digital Officer of WestRock, focuses on the role of digital in creating sustainable packaging solutions for supply chains. Amir provides an overview of WestRock’s business as a sustainable packaging solutions company and the purview of the two sides to his role as Chief Information and Digital Officer. He gives a few examples of how WestRock has grown its digital channels, what role digital plays in the supply chain, and how he builds greater digital dexterity and acumen across the company. Additionally, he discusses how his experience as a CEO of a startup informed his current role as a tech executive, how he continues to work with and leverage the capabilities of startups through ecosystems, and why providing leadership on a board of directors can make a real impact on the company and society. Finally, Amir shares with us a few tech trends he is looking forward to in the future.
597: Mamatha Chamarthi, Head of Software Business and Product Management P&L at Stellantis, focuses on the future of autonomous vehicles. Mamatha explains her purview as Head of Software Business & Product Management P&L and describes a trend she sees of technology leaders taking on greater responsibilities on the business and P&L side of the enterprise. She gives insight into the growing opportunities for advancement in autonomous driving and electric vehicles, the coopetition and ecosystems necessary in attaining higher levels of autonomy, and where we are in the journey towards Level 4 and 5 automation. Finally, Mamatha talks about how her global work experience shapes her leadership style, why it is important to have women leaders in technology and business, and what additional trends in technology her team looks to leverage in the future.
This episode is sponsored by Quickbase.
589: In this interview, Michael Newcity, Chief Innovation Officer and President of ArcBest Technologies, focuses on the topic of transformative innovation. Michael describes what transformative innovation entails within a company and how he organizes his teams to foster innovation and drive it forward. He talks about his previous roles and responsibilities as the former CIO, CFO, among others and how these various experiences influenced his perspective as Chief Innovation Officer. Specifically, Michael highlights how his previous role of CFO informed his experience in IT around finance and data within the company. Finally, he covers how ArcBest allocates resources to and focuses on innovation while still maintaining sufficient efforts to run the broader business.
581: In this interview, Michael Wondrasch, EVP & CIO of Avantor, provides an overview of Avantor’s business and the digital and technological aspects behind its mission of accelerating the speed of science. Mike explains how he sees the barriers between suppliers and customers are fading, why the technology implications that arose during the pandemic are likely to stay, how Avantor implemented and navigated a hybrid work environment during the pandemic, and how the merger with VWR helped consolidate its e-commerce platforms and focus on being more customer-centric. He also describes how the differences between the CTO and CIO titles tend to be company-specific and some of the trends in technology he is looking forward to.
578: In this interview, James Sills provides an overview of M&F Bank, how the pandemic has affected the digital customer experience and digitization of banking, and how M&F Bank has managed the differences in digital adoption across consumer age demographics. Additionally, he gives his perspective on that state of racial injustice and social inequity in America, the importance of engaging with minority populations within and outside the company, and how businesses can leverage partnerships with minority-owned businesses and minority-focused organizations to support the push for social justice. Finally, James discusses his career evolution including his experiences as CIO of the state of Delaware and how his current position is taking advantage of ecosystems to foster innovation and keep pace with some of the tech trends he and his team are excited about.
567: In this interview, we discuss Williams-Sonoma’s digital transformation and how Yasir helped build a future-proof business model for the company that was able to not only withstand, but grow during the pandemic. He talks about the merging responsibilities of the CTO and CDO and what it means for the company to be “digital-first”. Yasir details how the company is focused on creating a frictionless customer experience, how digital and technology play a role in in-house design, and how Williams-Sonoma balances centralization with independence between their brands. Finally, we discuss what Yasir sees as the most salient trends in technology and digital coming out of the pandemic.
