637: Vlad covers the athlete and teammate-centered strategy at the company. Vlad begins with an explanation of his purview as CTO of the sports retailer and provides background on the company’s strategy focusing on the distinction between the inward and outward-facing aspects. He describes the ways his experience as a professional athlete has shaped his perspective in his role, weaved the teammate mentality into the DNA of the organization, and influenced the way he focuses on the customer and employee experience. Finally, Vlad talks about how he curates his unique ecosystem of experts to improve the athlete experience and the trends in technology that will continue to evolve the sports industry.

636: In this interview, Brett covers the importance of creating digital competencies and weaving them into the fabric of the organization. He gives an overview of Thrivent’s business and the two sides of his purview in digital and technology as well as why he feels his role as Chief Digital Officer is temporary as he shifts digital competencies to be incorporated into the overall company. He then provides the necessary components of transforming Thrivent into a digital-first organization and how the role of IT has transformed into a driver of the true customer experience. Finally, Brett shares the commonalities finance shares with retail when it comes to digital adoption, his view of the tech talent coming out of the Twin Cities, and the trends in digital and technology that he is particularly interested in.

635: In this interview, Shri and Anjana discuss the topic of digital platforms as strategic drivers of growth. Shri discusses his definition of platform in the context of his business at Experian and evaluates how he identifies the business case for these platforms. Anjana explains why she aimed to adopt a platform-centric mindset to deliver care to dialysis patients and how she has built and curated the skill sets of her team to enable the hub strategy at Fresenius. Finally, Shri talks about tackling the challenge of enabling inclusive lending at Experian, and Anjana explains another use case for delivering personalized medical care to Fresenius’s patients.

634: In this interview, Ajit discusses the digital journey of the 100-year-old company and the strategic priorities on his roadmap. He begins with an overview of TIAA and his purview as Head of Client Service and Technology. Ajit shares the six pillars as a part of the company’s strategic priorities and expands upon how he is shifting the company towards a data-driven culture and creating a wide ecosystem of partners. He explains how he leverages this ecosystem with Universities to upskill the organization and provide technology and digital training. Finally, Ajit describes how he evaluates where he buys for parity and builds for differentiation, why he shifted towards a product-oriented approach, and what trends in technology are on his radar.

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This episode is sponsored by Transmit Security and Cisco.

633: In this interview, Casey and Sri discuss how they are tuning their approach to recruiting and retaining talent as we enter a post-pandemic world. They also share ways they are instilling lifelong learning as a part of their company cultures to drive continuous upskilling efforts. Finally, Casey talks about ramping up automation at Asurion and both her and Sri give tips on collaborating in hybrid working environments.

631: In this interview, Sangy discusses his transformational journey and sources of innovation using digital technology. He gives his view of the future of tech at FIS marshaling the efforts of a team of roughly 11,000 colleagues in his organization and curating an ecosystem of partners to invest in modernizing innovations. Sangy also discusses the shifting expectations of employees and customers, evolving uses of cloud technology, traits of a transformational leader, as well as the tech trends that are on Sangy’s radar.

631: In this interview, Amir and Dean discuss scaling artificial intelligence as a method of delivering innovative customer experiences. Amir begins by talking about how AI/ML creates value at the highest level at Discover and what the team structure looks like when bringing these innovations to market. Dean talks about how AI is used along the customer journey at Guardian Life and provides a few use cases of how automation is improving business results. Both executives then share insight into how they are integrating cross-functional product teams with the operations of the company.

630: In this interview, Shawn discusses the importance of having a strong and efficient data foundation. Shawn provides an introduction to Splunk’s business and his purview. He explains how the future is shifting to a multi-cloud hybrid approach and the importance of having consistent security and observability on a shared data platform. Shawn tells us how he sees data security as a foundation for innovation, how his company is turning data into doing, and how this real-time data empowers technology teams. Finally, he talks about the evolution of the role of the IT Leader, the role that Splunk plays in the broader technology ecosystem, and trends in technology that he is excited about.

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This episode is sponsored by Transmit Security and Cisco.

629: In this interview, Jacqueline goes in-depth on the future of work and what changes in culture will come about as a result. Jacqui begins with her purview as a CIO and technology leader at one of the most influential technology companies on the market and how she has curated her team over her three years in-role. She shares lessons on building a strong company culture and maintaining that culture during a hybrid working environment. Jacqui also talks about Cisco’s Customer Zero program, the future of work, and how the role of the CIO has evolved. Finally, Jacqui shares a personal story about her career journey, discusses improving the number of women in technology roles, and trends in technology as she looks ahead.

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This episode is sponsored by Transmit Security and Splunk.

627: In this interview, Praveen discusses the remarkable digital and cultural transformation of the IT organization at CommScope. He shares how he has organized his team at the company and how his diverse experience across various parts of the business has impacted the way he thinks about the value IT can bring. Praveen covers the cultural shift required to bring IT to the center of the business pushing his department to be a driver of revenue, a source of speed and nimbleness while instituting a service-based model. Finally, Praveen looks ahead at the trends in technology that he sees as being drivers of value for IT in the future.