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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
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.
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.
Kai-Fu is a prominent venture capitalist, technology executive, artificial intelligence expert, and author of the new book, “AI Superpowers. China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order.” Currently, Kai-Fu is the founding CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese venture capital firm with $2 billion under management, a third of which is in AI. He founded Sinovation Ventures after leading Google’s initial entry into China as the President of Google China. Prior to Google, he spent a number of years at Microsoft as a Corporate Vice President. While at Microsoft he established Microsoft Research Asia, which is widely considered one of the best computer science research labs in the world.
Kai-Fu began his career as an AI researcher, having obtained a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon.
In this interview, Kai-Fu discusses his new book, “AI Superpowers,” in which he highlights the stunning, government-supported progress China’s technology sector has made in recent years. He goes on to argue that China is well positioned to surpass the US in AI prowess, and the reasons for that country’s gains. We also discuss the risk of job displacement, why US companies struggle to break into the Chinese market, and why the reverse is also true, what Sinovation Ventures looks for when identifying new opportunities, and a variety of other topics.
Kimberly is the Chief Operating Officer of Fannie Mae, a Fortune 25 company with revenues exceeding $112 billion. As COO, Kimberly is responsible for overseeing the company’s technology, operations, innovation, data, and strategic execution functions. Previously, Kimberly held a variety of roles in her twelve years with the company, including Chief Risk Officer and Chief Credit Officer.
Prior to Fannie Mae, Kimberly was the Director of Fixed Income Sales at the Investment Bank, Credit Suisse. Before Credit Suisse, Kimberly was an equity trader at D.E Shaw & Co.
Kimberly received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Princeton University, and an MBA in Finance and Economics from Columbia Business School.
Kimberly serves as a Director on the Board at Calvert Impact Capital.
Steve is the Chief Information Officer of FINRA, a non-governmental organization that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets, such as the New York Stock Exchange. As CIO, Steve focuses on building surveillance systems that assist the company’s staff in examining firms and regulating the markets.
Prior to FINRA, Steve was the Co-CIO at Citibank. Before Citibank, Steve was the Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and the Head of Operations and Technology of the NASDAQ. Prior at the NASDAQ, Steve held the same roles at the Chicago Stock Exchange. Before the Chicago Stock Exchange, Steve worked as a Managing Principal at IBM. Steve began his career with KPMG.
Steve received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University and his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Bill is the Chief Technology Officer of Blackstone, the alternative asset management and financial services firm with revenues exceeding $7 billion. As CTO, Bill is responsible for working with vendor partners to better understand the business to make better types of investments. Bill is also responsible for advising companies across Blackstone’s portfolio operations group.
Prior to Blackstone, Bill was the Chief Technology Officer at OpenSky. Before OpenSky, Bill served as the Chief Technology Officer at Capital IQ. Bill also worked as an Architect at Sapient.
Bill received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a computer science major and a concentration in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania.
