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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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.
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.
Bill was the 41st Governor of Colorado, serving in that capacity from 2007 through 2011. Currently, Bill is an Energy Strategy Partner at Blackhorn Ventures where he focuses on the built environment, the energy sector, and the transportation sector. Bill is also the Founder of The Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University. In this role, Bill drives the organizations mission to work with state governments and the private sector to transform energy production across the country. As Governor, Bill oversaw Colorado’s renewable energy focused transition to create an environmentally friendly energy economy. Bill signed 57 bills into law as governor, including the thirty percent Renewable Portfolio Standard Act. Before becoming Governor, Bill served as Denver’s District Attorney. Bill received his Bachelor degree in political science from Colorado State University and his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law.
Bill is the Chief Executive Officer of GE Digital, as well as the Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of General Electric, a 126 year-old industrial conglomerate with revenues exceeding $120 billion. At GE, Bill has been responsible for leading a massive digital transformation by bringing in new employees, reprogramming the existing employees, and bringing in Chief Digital Officers from the outside.
Before joining General Electric, Bill served as the Vice President at CISCO. Prior to working at CISCO, Bill was the Senior Vice President at Software AG. Bill has also held executive management positions at The Advisory Board, The MITRE Corporation, and Concept 5 Technologies.
Bill received both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Computer Science from California State University, Fullerton.
Bill serves on the Board of Directors of Magna International Inc.
Kim is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Data Center Infrastructure at Lenovo, a multinational technology giant with $45 billion in revenue. In this role, Kim leads Lenovo’s data center infrastructure segment, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence segment, software-defined infrastructure segment, and the new IoT segment.
Prior to joining Lenovo, Kim was Chief Operating Officer of the Client, IoT, and Systems Architecture Group at Intel. Before that, she held several other senior executive positions at Intel including Corporate Vice President and CIO, and Vice President and General Manager of IT Operations and Services before that. Prior to joining Intel, Kim was Vice President and General Manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise where she served customers in the Communications, Media and Entertainment industry. Before HPE, Kim was a Vice President at EDS. Kim spent the first two decades of her career at IBM.
Kim received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Management from Northeastern University, and an MBA from Cornell University.
Kim is a member of the board of directors for Boston Private, and previously sat on the boards of Cloudera, Riverbed Technology, among other companies.
Gurmeet is the Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, and Chief Information Officer of 7-Eleven. As Chief Digital and Information Officer, Gurmeet leads 7-Eleven’s full stack digital and technology transformation, and is responsible for digital product management, big data, digital user experience, digital partnerships, digital marketing, digital technology, enterprise technology, and R&D.
Prior to 7-Eleven, Gurmeet was Head of Direct to Consumer Auto Finance at Capital One where he grew the digital consumer tripled the revenue of the business in less than two years. Before Capital One, Gurmeet led product marketing at Intuit as a Director. Before Intuit, Gurmeet was a Managing Director at FedEx. Gurmeet began his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
Gurmeet received a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, his Masters of Science in Engineering from Texas A&M University, and his PhD in Engineering from Rice University.
Dan is the Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Product Development at Elsevier, the 138 year old, $3.3 billion publisher which is now the science, technology, and healthcare division of RELX Group. As CTO, Dan is responsible for traditional IT, as well as evolving the company’s products in support of its transformation from a traditional print-based business to a digital solutions provider.
Before joining Elsevier, Dan was the Chief Technology Officer of Reed Business Information (formerly Reed Elsevier), a sister company within RELX Group. Dan joined Reed Business Information as the United Kingdom Chief Technology Officer and later became Global Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining RELX Group, Dan held technology and product development leadership roles with GM Financial, Wunderman Cato Johnson, and IBM, as well as a number of UK and international software organizations.
Dan was one of TechRepublic’s ‘The top 50 CIOs”, and was inducted into the CIO hall of fame in 2017.
