Tech Whisperers: Inside the Playbooks of the Best Digital Leaders

As work culture has shifted to quicker employee turnover, people like Panera Bread CIO, John Meister are becoming a rare species: seven years at Accenture, 15 years at Mastercard, and now approaching his 10th year with Panera.

In this episode, we are unpacking John’s leadership playbook and exploring how stability, intentionality, dedication, and hard work have helped John have successful tenures at each company that he has worked with. 

We discuss:

• How ownership of a problem contributes to innovation
• How to work with ever-changing leadership
• Explaining new technology concepts to senior leadership
• How AI technology like ChatGPT is changing the way technology teams are working
• How to develop resiliency and why every leader needs it

Featuring audience questions from:

Anita Klopfenstein, CIO at Little Caesars

Gary VonderHaar, EVP, Operations & Technology at Mastercard

Naomi Hamilton, Director of Human Resources at Panera Bread

How does someone go from being a KGB spy and one of the most wanted men in America to becoming a fully-fledged American citizen and a top-notch CIO? Jack Barsky, author of Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America, joins Dan to talk about his incredible journey and the best leadership principles he has picked up along the way

We discuss:

• Jack’s experience as a KGB spy
• How Jack left the KGB
• Best practices for professional networking 
• Advice for leaders joining a new organization

Featuring audience questions from:

Robin Dreeke, Founder & CIO of Forged by Trust

Kelly Lyman, CIO at Exelon

Greg Flay, VP for Technology and Data at Austin Energy

Wafaa Mamilli is the Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Zoetis, the world’s leading animal health company, a Fortune 500 company with more than $8 billion in annual revenue. Wafaa has also taken on P&L responsibilities as a Group President over China, Brazil, and Precision Animal Products.

Join us as we discuss:

• How to balance multiple major leadership roles
• Why more tech leaders are being asked to serve on boards
• Advice for tech leaders looking to join a board
• Wafaa’s incredible journey from growing up in Morocco to her current role
• Zoetis’ Five Pillars that help them innovate in animal health

Featuring audience questions from:

Caroline Serfass, Board Member at NNIT and Former CIO at Canon Europe

Today’s guest is Dwayne Allen, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Unisys. Dwayne’s professional history, which includes leading at companies like Marriott, Wachovia Bank, and Microsoft, has given him a wide breadth of industry knowledge and a passion for people and for continual growth. In February 2023, a week prior to our recording, Dwayne was also awarded the Florida CIO of the Year ORBIE® in the Global category for his work at Unisys.  

We are unpacking Dwayne’s leadership playbook and perspectives so you can learn what it takes to lead at a company like Unisys and become CIO of the year in your own journey.

Join us as we discuss:

• Best practices for joining a board and understanding your personal value proposition
• Key lessons learned from working at Microsoft, Marriott, Wachovia, and Unisys
• How to evaluate new career opportunities
• How to balance accountability with positive support and reinforcement
• Maintaining a successful professional network

Featuring audience questions from:

Melanie Sandlin, VP - Americas IT at Allegion

Vasu Iyer, Global IT Business Partner at Corteva Agriscience

From leading at great companies like Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Express Scripts to now leading as the CIO of Little Caesars, Anita Klopfenstein, has an incredible personal and leadership journey that we are excited to unpack for you.

In addition to her career journey, Anita and her husband, Lynn, have 12 kids, total, between homegrown and adoption, but they’ve also fostered over 30 children, in what Anita describes as “controlled chaos.”

Join us as we discuss:

• How Anita embraces her role as an “obstacle remover” for her team
• Why Anita developed a passion for helping children grow and be successful
• How Little Caesars implemented a cloud-first store platform
• How to create a meaningful and fulfilling personal life while balancing a very busy professional life

Featuring audience questions from:

John Meister, CIO of Panera

Jen Wise, CIO at Inspire

Geana Kay-Nash, Vice President, Customer & Information Technology Systems Support at Little Caesars

Jessica Young, Teacher and Anita’s daughter

In this episode, we are unpacking the leadership playbook of Abhi Dhar. Ahbi has been the Chief Digital Officer for a Fortune-50 company, a tech startup co-founder, and now serves as the Chief Information and EVP of Global Technology for TransUnion. Yet, for someone who has managed organizations with budgets in excess of $1Bn, Abhi has maintained his quiet, calm, and genuinely humility through it all.

Join us as we discuss:

• How can CIOs encourage C-Suite leaders to take a seat at the “digital table”
• How TransUnion considers budget, growth, and stakeholder priorities in its strategic planning
• Why digital leaders need to take on a multi-dimensional approach to transformation
• How to minimize disruption when reorganizing teams
• How to maximize developer productivity by focusing on experience instead of efficiency

In this episode of Tech Whisperers, we are unpacking the amazing journeys of two CxO giants and industry leaders: Kim Mackenroth and Chris Nardecchia. Kim is the Global CIO for Textron, a Fortune 500, multi-industry company with 33,000 employees worldwide. Chris is the SVP and Chief Digital & Information Officer for Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest pure-play industrial automation and IoT company. 

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the industry or early in your tech leadership career journey, there is something for everyone in this conversation as we explore over 3 decades of combined digital leadership experience.

Join us as we discuss:

• How to lead effectively when wearing multiple hats
• The keys to success for any business transformation
• Strategic initiatives for 2023
• How Rockwell Automation made data a part of its business DNA
• How Kim has made Textron a go-to employer for top technology talent
• Generational shifts and trends for new digital professionals

As companies and workers continue to adjust to constantly changing workplace environments and cultures, there remain many questions about what it means to “return to work,” what the future holds for in-person, remote, and hybrid work, and how that will impact the way people relate to their work.

In this episode, Bob Johansen, Joseph Press, and Christine Bullen join the show to talk about their brand new book, Office Shock, which aims to paint a vivid picture of the future of work, and equip workers and businesses with the tools and mindset they need to be successful moving forward. In their book, they describe “Office Shock” as an “abrupt, unsettling change in where, how, when, and even why we work.” 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why organizations and workers need to be “Future-Ready”
• “The Seven Spectrums” that guide our decision-making about our work and home life
• The concept of the “Officeverse” and how it relates to the Metaverse
• How to think “Present-Forward” while properly weighing the next 10 years and the previous 50 years. 

Leadership takes a certain level of boldness that not many people can achieve, but even with that boldness, many leaders are still afraid to say what they think and be honest about their experiences. 

Then there’s Wendy Pfeiffer, CIO at Nutanix. Wendy is known for her courage to say what everyone else is thinking and sharing what’s on her heart. That radical transparency and courage is what sets her apart from her peers, and as a CIO, makes her uniquely poised to handle the ever-changing job expectations that can sometimes evolve even faster than the world around it.  

In this episode, we discuss:

• How CIOs can deal with the increasing pressure and responsibilities placed on them
• How to build and run a highly effective IT team despite a tightly-constricted budget
• Why leaders should prioritize one-on-ones with their team members
• How to speak from your heart even when it may put you at risk
• Predictions for the next 10 years in tech leadership

Recruiting the best technology talent has been on everyone’s mind throughout 2022, and CIOs still struggle to find the very best talent to their teams that are not only experts in their field, but also a perfect fit for the organization. So we’ve invited two of the top executive recruiters, Martha Heller and Art Hopkins, to unpack everything you should be considering as your team looks to bring on the best talent possible in 2023.

Martha Heller is the CEO of Heller Search Associates, and the author of several books including Be the Business and The CIO Paradox. She is a thought leader in the CIO and recruitment space, and shares her knowledge through the monthly newsletter, Movers and Shakers.

Art Hopkins is global co-leader of the Technology Officers Practice for Russell Reynolds Associates and is a member of Board & CEO Advisory Partners. He brings expertise in the CTIO, digital, data, and CTO roles, as well as diversity and inclusion best practices. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• What qualities hiring authorities are looking for in technology leaders
• How to properly assess a candidate’s desire to leave their current role and their interest in the role they’re applying for
• The right and wrong questions people are asking around technology talent
• How to acknowledge and own when you’ve been fired in the past.