Metis Strategy show

Metis Strategy

Summary: Weekly conversations with top executives and thought leaders at the intersection of business, technology, and innovation. Each episode of Technovation explores the technology trends that are transforming business, and the leaders driving digital change inside their organizations. Produced by Metis Strategy and hosted by firm President Peter High, Technovation (formerly the Forum on World Class IT) is the premier podcast for IT and technology professionals.

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Podcasts:

 Tristan BoutrosCOO at The New York Times | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 24:21

Among other topics, Tristan discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Tristan’s role at The New York Times * The intersection between technology, product, and design * The creation of holistic portfolios and teams * Digital transformations internally and in consumer experiences * The changes in offered products as digital transformations occur * Organizational change in response to changing digital landscapes * Industry trends * Identifying skill sets for digital transformation * Discovery and Experimentation * Agile Project Management * Global team structure and communication * Eye on the trends: process driven leaders, enterprise level agile mindset, data driven insights Tristan Boutros Biography Tristan is the Chief Operating Officer of Product, Technology & Design at The New York Times. In that role, he is responsible for end-to-end delivery of numerous consumer facing products and internal enterprise systems and processes as well as digital transformation and operations for an organization of over 500 employees. Prior to working at The New York Times, Tristan was the Senior Vice President of Technology and Business Process for Warner Music Group, where he was responsible for IT operations management, business transformation strategy and planning, as well as end-to-end service delivery including the design and delivery of a next generation, cloud based, enterprise software platform. Prior to Warner Music Group, he worked in various senior leadership positions for BlackBerry. Tristan received his Bachelors of Commerce in Marketing & Management Labor Studies from University of Windsor.

 Dave SmoleyCIO of AstraZeneca | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 37:52

Among other topics, Dave discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy * Transforming IT: Five pillars that guided the move to insourcing * Leveraging cloud computing through use of a six-point cloud tool kit * Effective change management * Realizing the goal of making IT “twice as good at half the cost” * Recruitment in light of the move to insourcing * Innovation and experimentation * Eye on the trends: machine learning, cloud computing, mobile apps, UX, voice recognition, video, cyber Dave Smoley Biography Since 2013, Dave has been CIO of AstraZeneca, a $25 billion global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection and neuroscience diseases. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dave served as Senior Vice President and CIO of Flextronics, a global manufacturing services firm. His extensive IT career includes roles at Honeywell where he was Vice President and CIO of Aerospace Electronics Systems, and General Electric where he held the position of Director and Chief Information Officer for GE Power Controls in Barcelona, Spain. Dave is a 2013 inductee into the CIO magazine Hall of Fame. Dave has a B.S. in Computer Science from Clemson University and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia.

 Baljit DailCEO of JDA Software | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:36

Among other topics, Baljit discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Importance of cross-functional team work to figure out product offerings * Continually improving talent management and building people skills * Importance of technology to drive strategic decisions * Staying abreast of the competitive landscape * Importance of investments in R&D towards developing more integrations * Traditional brick and mortar retails versus digital natives * Eye on the Trends: Talent Management, Integration Platform, Supply Chain Solutions Baljit Dail’s Biography Baljit is the Chairman and CEO of JDA Software, a software and consultancy company providing supply chain management, manufacturing planning, retail planning, store operations and collaborative category management solutions. Prior to leading JDA he was an operating partner at New Mountain Capital, a private equity firm based in New York. From 2005 to 2012 Baljit served in several executive roles at Aon Corporation including CEO of Aon Hewitt and Aon Consulting, COO of Aon Benfield, and CIO of Aon Corporation. Baljit also serves on the boards of Midwest ISO (where he also chairs the Information Technology Committee), Alexander Mann Solutions, AmWins, and Western Dental. Baljit holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Warwick in England.

 Shamim Mohammad | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:33

Among other topics, Shamim discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Online finance and home delivery as examples of digital transformation at CarMax * Co-location and product teams * Dev Ops’ role in innovation and execution * Product teams consist of individuals from across the company and are responsible for business outcomes * Open houses to showcase product teams’ work and current projects * Recruiting top IT talent for the digital transformation * “cloud first, mobile first” strategy * Key trends: block chain, machine learning, mobile, cloud Shamim Mohammad Biography Shamim is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of CarMax a $15 billion automobile retailer. In that role, he is responsible for all strategic use of technology throughout CarMax, including managing applications, information security, architecture, infrastructure, operations, and business planning. As a member of the Senior Executive team, Shamim leads business transformations enabled by technology. Prior to working at CarMax, Shamim was the vice president of information technology for BJ’s Wholesale Club, where he transformed and led various strategic technology portfolios including eCommerce, supply chain, and marketing. Prior to BJ’s, he worked in various senior IT leadership positions for Blockbuster and TravelCLICK. Shamim received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Angelo State University, and his Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. I recently caught up with Shamim in Richmond, Virginia and our conversation covered World Class IT Principle One, People, as we discussed the importance of attracting top digital IT talent; and Principle Four, IT & Business Partnership, as we discussed how CarMax’s development of product teams consisting of individuals from across various business units is driving innovation and execution across the organization. We also discussed current trends, how IT “open houses” provide insight and ownership of the IT function, and the focus on a seamless customer experience from online to instore, as well as a variety of other topics.

 Rob Alexander,CIO of Capital One | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 43:20

This is one in a series of interviews with financial services CIOs conducted in collaboration with CIO Straight Talk  magazine. Read additional articles by other technology executives at www.straighttalkonline.com. Among other topics, Rob discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Rob’s preview as CIO of Capital One, and his untraditional IT background * How the organization has adopted agile development, as well as the agile mindset * The IT department’s implementation of Dev Ops, and how they measure its effectiveness * Using technology and organizational best practices to facilitate collaboration * The company’s digital transformation, and the importance of understanding and positioning for disruptive change * Competing with as well as partnering with Fin Tech startups, tapping into innovation ecosystems, and how Capital One leverages the advantages of its scale * Some of the forward-looking products Capital One is developing for its customers Rob Alexander’s Biography Robert has been the Chief Information Officer of Capital One since 2007. As CIO he is responsible for enterprise-wide IT strategy, IT unfractured and architecture, and central data management, information risk and business continuity. Before becoming CIO, Robert served as Capital One’s Executive Vice President for Internet and Enterprise Customer Management, where he served as the lead executive for the largest IT system replacement program in the company’s history. Prior to joining capital one in 1998, Alexander worked as Bain & Company. Robert got his MBA at Harvard Business School, and obtained an undergraduate degree in Physics from Harvard University. I recently caught up with Robert over the phone, and our conversation covered World Class IT Principle One, People, as we discussed how capital one facilitates collaboration; Principle Two, Infrastructure, as we discussed how Capital One integrates its systems after acquisitions; Principle Three, Project & Portfolio Management, as we discussed the IT organizations adoption of agile development, and Principle Five, External Partnerships, as we discussed how Capital One taps into various innovation ecosystems.  

 Peter Zeihan,Geopolitical expert | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:12

Among other topics, Peter discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Impact of the recent election on the theses in his book regarding global markets, security and demography * History of the United States’ role in global security and trade * Factors related to the United States’ dominance as a market power * U.S. foreign policy and its impact on global trade and security * The U.S.’s future position given global changes in geopolitics, demography and energy * Sectors of the U.S. economy that will impacted most by these changes * The advantages Mexico enjoys and Zeihan’s predictions for its growth given the recent election Peter Zeihan’s Biography Peter is a global energy, demographic and security expert whose worldview marries the realities of geography and populations to a deep understanding of how global politics impact markets and economic trends. Peter’s career has ranged from working for the U.S. State Department in Australia, to the DC think tank community, to helping develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies. Peter founded his own firm — Zeihan on Geopolitics — in 2012 in order to provide a select group of clients with direct, custom analytical products. Today those clients represent a vast array of sectors including energy majors, financial institutions, business associations, agricultural interests, universities and the U.S. military. His freshman book, The Accidental Superpower, debuted in 2014. His sophomore project, Shale New World,will be released later this month. Peter has an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Truman State University and completed post-graduate studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand and the Patterson School of Diplomacyand International Commerce.

 Terry West SVP, CIO of the Performance Food Group | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 39:55

Among other topics, Terry discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * The hybrid model of IT organization at Performance Food Group * PFG’s transformation from a private equity owned company to going public * How IT prepared PFG to meet compliance regulations and go public * Simplifying and standardizing business processes and systems * Using technology to enhance the customer experience * Eye on the trends: Internet of Things, cloud services, analytics Terry West’s Biography Terry West is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Performance Food Group (PFG), a role he has held for nearly six years. With annual revenues of $16 billion, PFG is one of the nation’s largest foodservice distributors. Prior to joining the company, Terry was the Vice President of Information Technology for ConAgra Foods.  During his ten years there, he was instrumental in leading the consolidation, centralization and standardization of the company’s information systems and services organization. Terry also served in the U.S. Army for nearly 21 years. His military career included the prestigious role of Presidential Communications Officer at the White House, Commander of the 1110th U.S. Army Signal Battalion, and Commander of the Army Operations Center Command and Control Communications Unit in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations in Washington, D.C. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree in systems technology from the Naval Postgraduate School.

 Scott Farquhar Co-CEO of Atlassian | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Among other topics, Scott discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * The genesis of Atlassian * Using the IT team as a point of entry * The timing of venture capital funding and taking the company public * Fostering a culture of innovation at Atlassian * Serving multiple functions across a company * Prospects for future growth Scott Farquhar’s Biography Scott Farquhar is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company that helps teams organize, discuss and complete shared work. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2002, Atlassian is well-known for its issue tracking application, Jira, as well as its team collaboration product, Confluence. Scott was awarded the ‘Australian IT Professional of the Year’ in 2004, and in 2006 was the youngest person ever to be awarded the ‘Australian Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Ernst & Young alongside co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. Scott holds a Bachelor of Science in business information technology from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

 Stewart Butterfield, Founder and CEO of Slack | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:58

Among other topics, Stewart discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * The genesis of Slack * How Slack was scaled to an enterprise level application * What metrics are used to gauge the health of the business * External inputs into Slack and the value they add * Developers and partners in the Slack ecosystem * The Slack Fund and its role in driving innovative ideas * Stewart’s mentors and lessons learned from his entrepreneurial ventures * How culture can drive productivity * How talent management develops in a rapidly growing company Stewart Butterfield’s Biography Stewart is the founder and CEO of Slack, the fastest growing business app ever. It is a messaging and file sharing application heralded as the “Email Killer” of the workplace with over $100 million in annual revenue. As CEO, Stewart is responsible for all operations throughout the company as well as defining the future vision for Slack. Prior to Slack, Stewart co-founded the picture sharing site Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. He continued as the General Manager of Flickr at Yahoo! until mid-2008. Stewart received his Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Victoria and went on to earn a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge.

 David Thompson CIO of Western Union | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:34

This is one in a series of interviews with financial services CIOs conducted in collaboration with CIO Straight Talk magazine. Read an article on David Thompson, along with articles by other technology executives, at www.straighttalkonline.com. Among other topics, David discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Approaches to safeguarding company data * Building partnerships to facilitate innovation * The role IT plays in enhancing customer experience and supporting the engineering team’s new technologies * Increasing significance of omnichannel experience in financial services * Real time risk assessment tools used to address changing regulations David Thompson’s Biography David is the Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Technology and the Chief Information Officer at The Western Union Company, a $5.5 billion revenue financial services and communications company that provides transactions services around the world. In his role, David oversees Western Union’s IT infrastructure that supports the company’s payment products and services in over 200 countries and territories. David is also the Independent Director of CoreSite, a leading data center provider. Prior to joining Western Union, David served as CIO in several companies, including Symantec Corporation, Oracle, and PeopleSoft, in addition to other roles. David studied Computer Science at American University and Management and Operations at Marymount University.

 David Thompson, EVP, Global Operations and Technology, CIO of Western Union | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Peter High 11/1/16 David Thompson has been the chief information officer at a number of leading companies, including Symantec, Oracle, and PeopleSoft. He has broader responsibilities in his current role as Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Technology and Chief Information Officer at Western Union, the $5.5 billion revenue provider of money movement and payment services based just south of Denver, Colorado. In his role, he is responsible for developing the next generation of payment products and services. He also is responsible for maximizing efficiency, quality, and customer delivery for the company’s global agent network of more than 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. This puts Thompson squarely in the innovation agenda for the company, helping the organization both grow revenue while also doing so efficiently. Additionally, given Thompson’s wealth of experience as a technology leader, but also as one who has always thought of the role of CIO as a business role, he has been asked to join the boards of companies. Since 2010, he has served on the board of CoreSite Realty Corporation, a publicly traded an integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). As such, Thompson is at the forefront of two leading trends for CIOs: he has joined the ranks of the CIO-plus, as well as board-level CIOs. When I recently interviewed him, I was interested in his current sets of responsibilities, and the creative ideas his team is driving, but also his own career path, which represents an aspirational track for other CIOs. (To listen to an unabridged audio version of this interview, please click this link. This is the 30th interview in the CIO-plus series, including CIO-pluses from Boeing, Verizon, and Walgreens. To read the prior 29 interviews, please visit this link. This is also the 18th interview in my board-level CIO series. To read the prior 17 including the CIOs of companies such as Intel, P&G, Biogen, Kroger, and Cardinal Health, please visit this link.) Peter High: You’re the executive vice president of global operations and chief information officer at Western Union, and as the name would suggest, you have operation and technology responsibilities. Can you talk a bit about your purview? David Thompson: I have two jobs. First and foremost, I have responsibility for global operations, which is the management of our customer experience – all of our customer care centers, our interaction with our customers. In addition to that, we have a broad network of partners and agents that service our customers and provide the service globally. Both of those areas require a lot of staff, so a large portion of our employees services our customers’ needs or our agents: Enrolling our agents, training their staff, doing the certifications around [Anti-Money Laundering], and managing the infrastructure associated with our agent network. On the customer care side of the house, I have responsibility to make sure we have a strong, end-to-end process that our customers go through. If a customer has a problem in that process, we have a mechanism for them to interact with us either electronically or via phone, and we can resolve that issue. The other portion of my job, as the chief information officer for the company, the entire technology portfolio for our customers, our agents, our partners, and the regulators of the company. That is an exciting part of my job. I joined the company as the chief technology officer at a point where we are transforming what we are doing, bringing new capabilities to the market, but at the same time,

 Nuria Simo CIO of Inter-American Development Bank | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 31:23

This is one in a series of interviews with financial services CIOs conducted in collaboration with CIO Straight Talk magazine. Read additional articles by other technology executives at www.straighttalkonline.com. Among other topics, Nuria discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * New Opportunities that can be leveraged through upcoming technologies * IT’s structure across multiple regions and countries * Importance of interacting with people on the field across different countries * Incorporating technologies that serve the 21st century consumer * Changing IT’s mindset to becoming customer centric * Focusing on improving collaboration and knowledge sharing capabilities * Eye on the Trends: Internet of Things, Analytics Nuria Simo’s Biography Nuria is the Chief Information Officer of the Inter-American Development Bank, or IDB, the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization aims to reduce poverty and inequality across 26 countries. As CIO, Nuria is responsible for information technology at IDB, including strategy, architecture, application development, infrastructure, risk management, and information security. Nuria has more than 30 years of experience in multiple industries and geographies, particularly with complex organizations undergoing transformational IT processes.  She is the former CIO at Campofrío Food Group in Madrid, Spain, and she has held CIO positions at several global operations such as FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands, EADS in Germany. She has also been an IT executive at Cargill in Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  

 Stephanie von Friedeburg CIO and VP for Information Technology Solutions of the World Bank | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 35:04

This is one in a series of interviews with financial services CIOs conducted in collaboration with CIO Straight Talk magazine. Read an article by Stephanie von Friedeburg, along with articles by other technology executives, at www.strighttalkonline.com.” Among other topics, Stephanie discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * The simplification of IT within the World Bank with the consolidation of the IT Department * The changing skillsets needed in a simplified organization * Digital, and the balance between marketing and IT in a digital organization * How IT can act as an advisor to other parts of the business that may not have full visibility into the entire organization * How she has utilized the venture capital community in her role as CIO * Interesting technologies where the World Bank is actively exploring investment, including drones and satellite imagery * How she develops insights from younger employees to develop new ideas * How she ensures that she continues to develop insights from the existing employee set as well * How she prioritizes ideas at the bank and her take on Waterfall compared to Agile methodologies * Crowdsourcing and the areas that it can impact parts of her organization Stephanie von Friedeburg’s Biography Stephanie von Friedeburg is the CIO and VP for Information Technology Solutions at the World Bank Group, a role she has held since 2012.  Among other responsibilities, Stephanie is in charge of driving IT strategy and bridging the gap between business and technology at the World Bank Group. Stephanie began her career at the World Bank in 1992, serving in a variety of roles, including CIO for the International Finance Corporation, Manager for IFC General Manufacturing Investments in Russia and the former Soviet republics, and Manager for IFC’s Global Telecommunications Portfolio, among other roles. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.  She received her Master of Arts from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, also at the University of Pennsylvania.

 Michael Baresich CIO of Ally Financial Inc | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:24

This is one in a series of interviews with financial services CIOs conducted in collaboration with CIO Straight Talk magazine. Read additional articles by other technology executives at www.straighttalkonline.com. Among other topics, Michael discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Importance of cross-functional team work to figure out product offerings * Keeping an eye out at various human interface platforms to integrate * Being involved with external partners to understand technology landscape * Incorporating technologies that serve the 21st century consumer * Glimpse into the importance of how IT affects decisions requiring acquisitions of companies * Strategic importance of being involved in Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley * Eye on the Trends: Human Machine Interface, Blockchain, Digital Assistants Michael Baresich’s Biography Michael is the Chief Information Officer for Ally Financial, a leading digital financial services company offering financial products for consumers, businesses, automotive dealers and corporate clients with annual revenues of $4.9 billion. As CIO, Michael is responsible for information technology at Ally, including strategy, architecture, application development, infrastructure, risk management, and information security. Prior to Ally, Michael worked at CIT Group, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for six years. Michael received a bachelor’s degree from Harpur College at Binghamton University and master’s degrees from the University of Florida and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  

 Rob Lux, EVP and CIO of Freddie Mac | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:53

Among other topics, Rob discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * An overview of the recent projects where IT played an integral role * Utilizing metrics to drive customer satisfaction * The transformation undertaken by the IT department following the financial crisis * The technologically-informed business executives present Freddie Mac * Enhancing IT’s relationship with the organization through the BTO * Governance practices for large scale agile projects Rob Lux’s Biography Rob is the Chief Information Officer at Freddie Mac, a financial services corporation that specializes in commercial and residential mortgages, with more than $60 billion in annual revenue. In that role, he leads the development of the technology enabled capabilities that drive America’s modern day mortgage market. Prior to Freddie Mac, Rob served as a Principal at Tower Watson where he led the Risk & Financial Services IT division. He also held the position of chief architect at GMAC Financial Services, among other roles. Rob received a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University in Commerce and Engineering, and a master’s degree in Management of Technology from University of Pennsylvania.

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