CIO Unscripted

Being great at the technical work doesn’t automatically make you great at leading people. So what does?

In this episode, Niel sits down with Felix Quintana to talk about moving from hands-on infrastructure work into people leadership, and what that shift might ask of technical leaders who are used to living in the details. Felix’s story points to a few ideas that could be useful for any IT leader: wanting to lead people for the right reasons, speaking the language of the business instead of the language of the tech, and solving a pain point the business actually feels.

The conversation also looks at AI from a longer view. Felix was automating mortgage processes with robotic process automation before generative AI took off, and he shares what that experience may say about data quality and readiness today. From there, he walks through how his organization seems to be approaching AI now: tying it to existing company objectives instead of treating it as its own goal, and working toward a future where employees manage agents.

Niel sits down with Dean Sapp, CISO at Filevine, to talk about how AI has changed both sides of the cybersecurity equation. Dean walks through how AI-driven exploit chaining is finding vulnerabilities that have sat undetected in major systems for decades, why purpose-built models and strict access controls matter more than ever, and how his team went from a buy-first to a build-first approach to security tooling. The conversation also covers Dean's own path into cybersecurity, from teenage AutoCAD competitions and Novell certifications to building a security operations center for a large multinational and co-founding Brain Trace, later acquired by Sophos. They close by talking through how Filevine uses AI to help law firms draft demand letters in a day instead of weeks, and what that means for who can access legal help in the first place.

Niel Nickolaisen sits down with Todd Thompson, SVP of Technology at Extra Space Storage, for a conversation that spans more than 22 years of leading technology across JetBlue Airways, Starwood Hotels, Vivint, doTERRA, and LifeVantage. Todd walks through the framework that's carried him across every one of those roles, people first, business second, technology third, and points to moments that prove it out: building the first online check-in at JetBlue, standing up a $151 million custom reservation system at Starwood, and knowing when to bring in the right team rather than trying to solve everything himself. The conversation also turns to where AI is already changing the job, from vibe-coded front ends to the democratization of who gets to build technology inside a company, and what that might mean for how CIOs think about governance going forward.

About Todd Thompson:
Todd Thompson is SVP of Technology at Extra Space Storage. He began programming at age 12 and was doing paid development work by 14, using a database system called Knowledge Man. He holds a computer science degree from Brigham Young University and started his career at Andersen Consulting before becoming a CIO for the first time more than 22 years ago, going on to lead technology at JetBlue Airways, Starwood Hotels, Vivint, doTERRA, and LifeVantage.

In this episode, Sarah talks through her unconventional route to the CIO seat at ARUP Laboratories, one of the largest reference labs in the country. She and host Niel Nickolaisen explore what it means to lead technologists without being the most technical person in the room, how ARUP is starting to apply AI to lab and diagnostic workflows, and how her team tries to balance keeping the lights on with making room for innovation. The conversation also touches on team-building, mentorship, and a lesson Sarah keeps coming back to: don't confuse outputs with outcomes.

About Sarah Teofilo:
Sarah Teofilo is the CIO of ARUP Laboratories. She began her career in liberal arts and nonprofit arts administration, work that took her across the U.S. and internationally on large-scale events. After returning to Utah, she joined ARUP on the business side, moved into the revenue management group, and became a product owner working with the software development team — the starting point for her move into technology. She has spent the last 13 years at ARUP in roles focused on connecting business needs to technology solutions, leading to her current role as CIO.

Mary's path into technology started with seven years as an accountant. On today's episode, she joins Niel to talk about how that finance background shaped her into a business-first technology leader, why she thinks building a great team is the most remarkable thing she's ever pulled off, and how she's helping her organization prioritize AI without losing the plate-spinning act of keeping the lights on. It's a conversation about staying calm under pressure, communicating more than you think you need to, and creating an environment where people are genuinely glad to be there.

About Mary:
Mary Wyderski is a technology leader with a career that spans accounting, ERP implementation, and CIO roles across manufacturing, professional services in the construction industry, and now the waste and recycling industry.

Niel Nickolaisen sits down with Jeff Stott, CIO of Welltower and former CIO of Extra Space Storage, to talk about the technology bet that turned into one of the company's biggest advantages. Jeff spent several years leading a full replatform of Extra Space's systems, a project that ran well past its original timeline before proving its worth in a big way: when the company later acquired a competitor roughly half its size, the new platform let them absorb over a thousand locations in weeks rather than months. The conversation also gets into how Jeff handles organizational change, including a memorable moment during that acquisition when he chose clarity over compromise, and why he's come to believe the best plans are the ones he doesn't try to sell on his own.

About Jeff Stott:
Jeff Stott is the CIO at Welltower. He previously led technology at Extra Space Storage, where a major platform rebuild became a key part of the company's growth strategy.

Niel Nickolaisen chats with Eric Hawley, CIO of Utah State University, for a conversation that covers a lot of ground. Eric shares how his career started by accident, and how nearly every opportunity since has come by invitation rather than application. The conversation touches on what it looks like to build relationships across a complex, decentralized organization, how to know when edge experimentation has reached the inflection point where centralization actually makes sense, and how he thinks about AI policy in higher education, where the instinct to lock things down too early can create more risk than it prevents. Eric also gets into what he calls a "table of trust," and why building that group of people you can work through anything with might be the most important thing a technology leader can do.

About Eric Hawley:
Eric Hawley is the Chief Information Officer at Utah State University, an R1 research institution, where he has served in the CIO role for over 15 years. He has built his career almost entirely by invitation, and still teaches at USU to stay connected to the real work of the university he supports.

Niel Nickolaisen once micromanaged his way to a perfect ERP rollout. On time, on budget, on scope. Then his handpicked team told him they never wanted to work with him again.

In this episode of CIO Unscripted, Mike Linton sits down with Niel for a conversation about the hard lesson that came out of that experience and how it completely changed the way he leads. We discussed why he believes change is emotional, not logical, what it actually looks like to build a culture of trust instead of a "permission culture," how he handles low performers without abandoning that trust, and why he thinks the best IT leaders should study marketing.

About Niel:

• Field CIO and at VLCM
• Decades of experience leading IT and technology teams
• Frequently cited in major IT publications
• Known for turning around low-credibility, low-performing IT departments into high-trust, high-output teams

In this episode of CIO Unscripted, Niel Nickolaisen and Mike Linton sit down with Lisa Gardner, CIO at MTC, to talk about what it actually takes to lead technology for an organization that runs Job Corps programs, correctional facilities, and detention centers, including several ICE facilities, across the US, the UK, and Australia.

We discussed how she walked into a "freight train" of simultaneous ERP and workforce platform launches in her first few months, why she built her AI governance committee around the principle of "yes, and" instead of "no," and how staying close to the business (not just the technology) has shaped her entire path to CIO.

About Lisa:

• CIO at MTC
• Background in financial services and healthcare technology
• Started her career as a COBOL developer at Safeco
• Leads a team of about 30 supporting roughly 8,000 employees across high-stakes, high-security environments

Niel Nickolaisen and Mike Linton sit down with BJ Vander Linden, CIO of the Larry H. Miller Group, for a wide-ranging conversation about what the technology leadership journey can actually look like. BJ shares how he stumbled into IT through call centers with no real plan, eventually working his way up through a series of roles before landing at LHM, where he's now been longer than anywhere else in his career. The conversation touches on how the CIO role seems to be shifting away from technical depth and toward business outcomes, lessons learned from staying somewhere long enough to face your own decisions, what good vendor relationships look like, and why building culture deliberately might be the most important thing a technology leader can do.