ITsmiths with Mike Smith

Have you ever not received the promotion you wanted? You took it pretty hard, right? You were probably even a little angry. What did you do about it? Well that happened to Christopher Davis, and it upset him. But he made a decision to learn from the situation and turn it into something positive. That, along with a few other cool stories, made it a really fun interview about his IT Leadership journey. He's currently the interim CIO at Southern Veterinary Partners and he's a wealth of knowledge on leading teams. To learn more visit https://www.aerocominc.com

Ever wonder if you should go back to school and get your degree? Michael Garner, Director of Information Security at Community Health Systems did. And that says a lot, considering he's also a former member of the Army Special Forces. Michael went back to school and not only got his bachelor's degree, he also got a Master's degree in Cybersecurity from Brown University. But Michael said it was a lot more than a piece of paper and a resume builder. He said it also changed his mindset and confidence as an IT leader. Listen to his story. For more info visit https://www.aerocominc.com

Have you ever worked for multiple bosses, at the same time? When Michael Loggins, Global Vice President of IT for SMC, first took over IT in Europe, he had over 20 bosses. He also had to deal with inherent skepticism in the eyes of his direct reports in each country. Not an easy task, but what he figured out was that to succeed, it wasn't going to be about the fancy new technology he could implement. It was going to be about authentic communication and building relationships. Luckily, that was something he valued, and was good at. Which he learned early-on, growing up in a large family. For more information visit www.Aerocominc.com

At heart, Raghu Bala is an IT professional. He started programming at the young age of 12, and has never stopped. He said he actually loves it so much, even if he wasn't paid for it, he'd still do it for fun. Since moving to the US after high school, Raghu has held leadership positions for several companies, obtained an MBA from Wharton, and founded 4 different tech startups, including his current company, NetObjex. One of the things he says has been a big contributor to his success, is his ability to compartmentalize the different aspects of his life… which started as a child. Here's his story. For more information visit www.Aerocominc.com

Jeff Roberts has been a CIO for mid-size companies, for 14 years, and recently started his own niche technology consulting company. That's impressive, but something even more impressive is that during that 14-year tenure in the C-suite, Jeff has had 15… yes… 15 of his direct reports become C-level executives, themselves. So, why is he so good at mentoring future IT leaders? Well, according to Jeff, a big reason is the mentors he has been blessed with. Three of them, in particular, played a significant role, and Jeff shared the stories when he and I sat down in early March. For more information find us. For more information visit https://www.aerocominc.com/

Eric Rosenzweig is currently the Vice President of IT for Qdoba Restaurant corporation… a company with over 740 restaurants in the US. And Canada. In addition to Qdoba, Eric has also held a few other leadership and CIO positions, including a 15 year stint at Petco, where he was the Vice President of Information Systems.

For more information visit https://www.aerocominc.com/

Andy Smith has excelled in many executive-level positions in IT, including Vice President positions within the IT departments of some of the World's largest companies. In his most recent role, he was the Vice President of Global Infrastructure, Cloud, Operations and End User Services for Intercontinental Hotel Group, PLC… a 4.3 Billion dollar company with over 35,000 employees, spread across more than 100 countries. But as cool as that sounds, it's nothing compared to the story of how he got there. Take a listen. For more information visit Aerocominc.com

Kal Majmundar tells us the story of how he used hard work, relationship building skills and some good advice from his parents to become a top IT executive for companies like Gap, Levi Strauss, Visa, and Patelco Credit Union. For more information visit https://www.aerocominc.com

Hear Chris Romano talk about the risks he took which led him to high level positions at companies like Nasdaq, VMware, and Dell Computers. For more information visit https://www.aerocominc.com

Richard Loew CIO of North America's Largest Oil refinery, MOTIVA, tells us the story of how growing up with his grandmother played a significant role in his career success. For more information visit https://www.aerocominc.com