378: Winnebago CIO Jeff Kuback argues that a strong IT team is an essential element in all industries, even non-technical ones such as RVs and boats. In the past, the industry has been hesitant to invest in IT due to its reputation for high fixed costs, and in fact, Winnebago did not have a CIO when Mike Happe joined as CEO. However, Jeff has worked to make IT more efficient, which includes spending the appropriate amount of money on cybersecurity and moving from an on-premise data center to the cloud. We also discuss how Winnebago has gone from a traditional RV company to focusing on the outdoor lifestyle as a whole, how Winnebago has leveraged Microsoft tools, what Jeff looks for in external partners, among other topics.
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377: Last year, Equifax experienced one of the most devastating security breaches ever, which exposed the private information of 143 million individuals. In this interview, Bryson, who joined the firm after the breach, explains the company’s response and its goals to rebuild customer’s trust through security and compliance work, to build a sustainable future, and to constantly invest in new technologies. We also discuss Bryson’s take on blockchain and the cloud, how Equifax invests in artificial intelligence, his approach to obtaining the best talent, among other topics.
Bryson is the Chief Technology Officer of Equifax, one of the largest credit agencies in the world. As CTO, Bryson focuses on unifying all of Equifax’s technology teams around a common philosophy, a technology-driven culture, and a common architecture to accelerate product development. Before joining Equifax, Bryson was the CTO of IBM Watson and IBM Cloud. Bryson joined IBM when it acquired The Weather Company, where he was CTO and CIO.
376: Ocado CTO Paul Clarke has guided the company to differentiate itself by focusing not on how fast they can innovate, but on how fast they can innovate their system for innovation. Paul discusses the broad and deep technology estate that has enabled Ocado’s online grocery business to operate with scale, sustainability, and profitability. Through a focused but balanced approach to innovation, the company has developed a unique end-to-end operating solution for online grocery retail that includes massive automated warehouses and an e-commerce, fulfillment, and logistics platform. In a strategy that resembles Amazon’s AWS, Ocado is now making its technology available to other retailers through the B2B-focused Ocado Solutions arm. We also discuss Ocado’s roadmap for a frictionless customer experience, the advantages of its business model, its culture of disruptive innovation, among other topics.
Paul is the Chief Technology Officer of Ocado, the world’s largest online-only grocery retailer. In this role, Paul heads up Ocado Technology, whose 950+ engineers develop the cutting-edge technology that power Ocado’s operations and the Ocado Smart Platform. Given its vision of “powering the future of retail through sustained disruptive technology innovation,” Paul has guided Ocado to differentiate itself by focusing not on how fast they can innovate, but on how fast they can innovate their system for innovation. Before becoming CTO, Paul was Head of Routing, Simulations, Mobile, and Robotics. Paul has a Masters of Arts in Psychics from the University of Oxford.
374: Equinix CIO Milind Milind stresses the importance of creating a positive customer experience. Equinix’s core value is to put the customer at the center of everything that they do, and the company has laid out a recipe for customer focus and success consisting of five major components. These components are treating their customers like assets, looking at the entire life cycle of customers, building a customer listening system to receive feedback, using a prioritization system to interpret that feedback, and delivering that feedback to the entire organization. We also discuss how Equinix’s annual revenue grew from $1 billion to $5 billion over an eight year period, the importance of culture in a digital transformation, and Milind’s view on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Milind is the CIO of Equinix, a global platform company focused on enabling the world’s leading businesses to directly connect with their customers, clouds, employees, and partners through their interconnection offering. As CIO, Milind has set five priorities, the most important of which is centered around information security and ensuring that Equinix’s IT infrastructure operations run smoothly. Prior to Equinix, Milind was the Director of Global IT Applications at Verisign.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
