CIO Talk Network

Guest 1: Bob Baskerville

Title: Chief Information Officer, Scripps Networks Interactive

Guest 2: Kathy Edwards, Ph.D.

Title: Senior Lecturer Department of Management, University of Texas, McCombs Business School

Kids say the darnedest things. If you took your son or daughter into your office, what questions might they ask? They would ask the simplest questions about why you do what you do, what each tool does and how you go about each process. Would you have good answers for him or her? We often don't stop to ask the fundamental questions that would challenge the status quo. We're too focused on the strategy and the visionary end goal to ask the basics first or to find the waste in what we're doing. So what would it take to build leaders and an entire organization that thought this way?

Guest : Larry Biagini

Title : Chief Technology and Security Officer, GE

Traditionally, cloud has been seen as having major security vulnerabilities. Is it now possible to ensure that corporate and customer data is protected when used over public and private cloud services? What new security policies and architectures actually take advantage of cloud delivery in order to increase the levels of security?

Guest 1: Debbie Simkins

Title: Associate Vice President, Office of the CIO for Molina Healthcare, Inc.

Guest 2: James H. Sills, III

Title: Cabinet Secretary and Chief Information Officer, State of Delaware

When IT teams try to rationalize which project to invest in, where to appropriately allocate IT spend and how to respond as business constantly changes, the process put in place is often over-engineered. We see the budget utilized ineffectively and unnecessary delays as we try to standardize everything to find a compromise where both business and staff are happy.  It results in the team getting focused on how to execute that process rather than determine how to achieve the right outcome. How do we learn to minimize and prevent becoming a victim of the process?

Guest 1: Teresa Shuchart

Title: Deputy Chief Information Officer, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Guest 2: William G. Halnon

Title: Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Republic Services Inc.

We aspire to do more, dream more, learn more, and become more, and for better or worse, the traditional wisdom has been that we need to accomplish more in order to get more. But for many, experience, trial and error says differently. We pile on more projects, goals and objectives and lose sight of the one unifying vision that defines us as a company and as leaders. So how can leaders learn to step back and only move forward by putting one foot in front of the other at a time? How do we avoid becoming task managers and get back to being leaders? When everyone is “leaning in” to get ahead, does it make sense to “lean out” for a change?

Guest 1: Becky Blalock

Title: Former SVP & CIO, Southern Company; Author

Guest 2: Brenda Decker

Title: Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska

Part of a CIO’s job is to instill confidence in your team that you’ve got everyone’s back. Demonstrating that you know what’s important to your team and to your business can go a long way toward building productivity, connectivity and a willingness to ascend and grow within the organization. But a leader can’t make someone confident, only help people find their confidence. What are the principles to investing in your employees? How do you build that platform of risk-taking and opportunity for your team to stand on?

Guest : Wayne Shurts

Title : Executive VP & Chief Technology Officer, Sysco

Cloud Computing, Big Data and mobility arguably share similar intrinsic features such as distribution, and geographical dispersion. How can you utilize these common intrinsic features to invite Big Data and mobility into your organization, leveraging an existing cloud infrastructure, at a low risk, low cost and with high resilience to meet changing business demand?

Guest 1: Fawn Germer

Title: Global Leadership Speaker, Bestselling Oprah Author and Women's Leadership Expert

Guest 2: Janet Sherlock

Title: Chief Information Officer, Carter's, Inc.

We want to be able to promote gender equality within IT just as the world has done so within other industries. Numbers suggest that fewer women entering into science, technology, engineering or math fields that might lead to a leadership role in technology. So it remains important that we identify the state of women in IT and business, what’s causing the disparity between men and women and how we get to an ultimately level playing field. How are organizations prioritizing the recruitment and education of women in the technology field? How are existing leaders making the case that a role in IT can help women to achieve their wants, needs and dreams?

Guest : Jon Walton

Title: Chief Information Officer, County of San Mateo, CA

A leader isn’t born in a day but in a lifetime. A leader needs to grow and refine their craft and their influence day in and day out. So let’s take a deep look at everything it takes to make sure a leader is maximizing their potential and developing in the right way. What kind of qualities do we see on display? How do they build their reputation and respect among their team over time? How does a great leader keep that process from breaking down?

Guest 1: Greg Schwartz

Title: Chief Information Officer and SVP Information Technology, USAA

Guest 2: Heather Hernandez

Title: Senior Research Engineer, USAA

Guest 3: Ryan O’Leary

Title: IT Technical Director, USAA

For as much as the current generation loves to bash the 20-somethings entering into the workforce and assign clichés about their demeanor and work ethic, the reality is that this group will one day be the industry leaders and is currently among the group leading the charge of a digital revolution. So rather than thinking about what management practices will work best for “them” how can the current generation help pave the way for the future? If the value in the workplace to millennials is a better corporate environment, a reinvented virtual enterprise, BYOD policies and more flexibility on the whole, how are we modernizing to meet those expectations?

Guest : George Surdu

Title : Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Comerica

In planning your application and infrastructure environment, an essential step is to determine their cloud suitability. How do you go about determining that? Since each application and infrastructure element may have its unique provisioning needs, how do you transform or modernize these elements to run on one cloud foundation? Can you plan all this upfront or have to play it by ear as you unearth the intricacies?