Among other topics, Taso discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Taso Du Val is the CEO and co-founder of Toptal, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed company that connects innovative companies with engineering, design, and finance talent. Taso is also a founding member and serves as an advisor for Artsy, an online database of art, architecture, and design images.
Prior to co-founding Toptal and Artsy, Taso was a lead engineer at photo-sharing startup Fotolog and a lead engineer at the social media company Slide.
Taso was selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 as a leader in Enterprise Technology, in 2015.
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Among other topics, Alan discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Alan is the founder and CEO of Pegasystems, a $750 million provider of strategic applications. Since founding the company in 1983, Alan has grown the organization to more than 4,000 employees, in 30 global offices.
Alan is also the author of “Build for Change, Revolutionizing Customer Engagement through Continuous Digital Innovation.” The book describes a new generation of customers that have the unprecedented power to make or break brands and discusses the changes businesses must embrace to succeed in today’s digital world.
Alan and his wife Pam established the Trefler Foundation, in 1996. The Foundation’s mission is to improve opportunities for young people from urban neighborhoods by helping them develop the skills, knowledge, and values they need to lead productive lives.
Alan holds a degree in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College.
Among other topics, Stuart discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Stuart Sackman is the Corporate Vice President of Global Product and Technology for ADP, a $12 billion human capital management company. Stuart oversees both client-facing product development and internal technology operations.
During Stuart’s 25-year tenure at ADP, he has held positions with broad-ranging responsibilities across several ADP business units. He led product and marketing initiatives, developed strategy for ADP’s international expansion efforts, and steered eBusinness solutions. Most recently, Stuart was the Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Multinational Corporations Services.
Stuart holds a bachelor of arts in Computer Science from Brandeis University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Among other topics, Ken discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Ken Xie is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Fortinet, a cyber security solutions firm. Ken founded Fortinet in 2000 with the goal of making an impactful change in the network security space. Ken has grown the company to nearly 5000 team members and $1.3 billion in revenue.
Ken started his first network security company, SIS, in 1993, while studying at Stanford University. In 1996, he founded NetScreen, which developed network security and access products for enterprises and carriers. NetScreen was acquired by Jupiter Networks for $4 billion, in 2004.
Ken earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Among other topics, Kumud discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Kumud Kalia is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Information Officer of Akamai Technologies, a $2.3 billion global content delivery network services firm. Kumud is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and operation of the applications and infrastructure that support the company’s business operations.
Prior to joining Akamai, Kumud served as CIO at Direct Energy, Qwest Communications, and the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Kumud holds a Bachelor of Science in electronic engineering from Bangor University.
Among other topics, Eric discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
• Evolution of collaboration through different eras • Differentiation in the web conferencing space • Rationale behind deliberately controlling growth of Zoom in early days • Importance of having a company philosophy to deliver happiness to customers • Possibilities of Augmented Reality in the business world • Impact of Silicon Valley on new and upcoming companies • The need to create a culture of self-motivation for employees • Trade-offs required to build a sustainable company • Hybrid approach to selling to Small Businesses and Large Enterprises • Focus on existing customers rather than only pursuing new customers • Sequoia Capital’s impact on Zoom’s growth
Eric Yuan Biography:
Eric is the Founder and CEO of Zoom, a people-centric, cloud service solution, currently valued at $1 billion, that offers video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across multiple platforms. As CEO, Eric influences and guides his team to be single-mindedly focused on excellent call quality and prioritizes delivering happiness to customers. Prior to founding Zoom in 2011, Eric was Corporate Vice President of Engineering at Cisco, where he was responsible for Cisco’s collaboration software development. As one of the founding engineers and Vice President of Engineering at WebEx, Eric grew the WebEx team from 10 engineers to more than 800 worldwide, and contributed to revenue growth from $0 to more than $800M. Eric is a named inventor with 11 issued and 20 pending patents in real time collaboration.
Eric received an Executive MBA from Stanford University.
I recently caught up with Eric in his office in San Jose, California and our conversation covered World Class IT Principle One, People, as we discussed the importance of developing a company culture where employees are focused on end customer happiness; Principle Two, IT Infrastructure, as we discussed the importance of technology reliability to keep customers satisfied; Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships, as we discussed the importance of innovation that stems from the partnership between the Business and IT around customer needs, Principle Five, External Partnerships, as we discussed the impact of Sequoia Capital’s funding of Zoom, along with a variety of other topics.
Among other topics, Keith discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
• Orienting IT towards value • Differentiating IT within a company whose business is technology • The transformation and evolution taking place in the data analytics space • Perspectives on the cloud first strategy • Being “Customer Zero” • Internal and external security concerns • Eye on the trends: sensor-enabled IoT; the continued use of data to provide a holistic view in order to improve companies’ forecasts and decision-making
Keith Collins Biography:
Keith is Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of SAS Institute, a $3.2 billion revenue private software company which specializes in innovative analytics, business intelligence, and data management software and services. SAS software is installed at more than 83,000 business, university and government sites with customers in 148 countries and roughly 14,000 employees worldwide. Keith directed R&D at SAS for most of his career, including 13 years as Chief Technology Officer. His latest charter is to redefine the role of IT from tactical to strategic, and to accelerate SAS in cloud computing, topics we cover in some depth herein.
Keith has a bachelor’s of science in computer science from North Carolina State University, and he is a founding member of the computer science department’s strategic advisory board.
I recently caught up with Keith by phone in his office in Cary, North Carolina, and our conversation covered World Class IT principles two, Infrastructure, as we discussed his cloud first strategy at SAS, principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, as we covered how he has developed a culture within IT to be customer zero in the company, working with colleagues outside of the function to fine tune the offering. We also covered how his previous roles in IT have informed his understanding of his current role as CIO; how to differentiate IT when technology is the business; the transformation currently underway in the data analytics space, among a variety of other topics.
Among other topics, Mark discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Mark Settle’s Biography
Mark is the Chief Information Officer of Okta, a leading provider of identity and device management solutions for various cloud and mobile enterprises. As CIO, Mark leads Okta’s global enterprise IT strategy and operations and collaborates closely with the executive leadership team to align strategic technology initiatives with broader business goals.
Mark is also the author of Truth From the Trenches: A Practical Guide to the Art of IT Management, the insights from which we discuss in depth in this interview. It represents a synopsis of the practices he has used as a CIO many times over at companies like IHS, BMC Software, Oxy, Arrow Electronics, and Corporate Express.
Mark received Bachelors and Masters degrees from MIT, and a PhD from Brown University in Geological Sciences.
I recently caught up with Mark at Metis Strategy headquarters in Washington, DC, and our conversation covered World Class IT Principle One, People, as we discussed the importance of setting up talented teams with strong leaders without creating single points of failure; Principle Three, Project and Portfolio Management, as we discussed how financial management within IT helps build credibility with various business functions; Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships, as we discussed how IT should build towards non-transactional relationships with business partners to influence collaboration; Principle Five, External Partnerships, as we spoke about how he works with his peer CIOs who are the customers of Okta, along with a variety of other topics.
Among other topics, Baljit discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Baljit Dail’s Biography
Baljit is the Chairman and CEO of JDA Software, a software and consultancy company providing supply chain management, manufacturing planning, retail planning, store operations and collaborative category management solutions. Prior to leading JDA he was an operating partner at New Mountain Capital, a private equity firm based in New York. From 2005 to 2012 Baljit served in several executive roles at Aon Corporation including CEO of Aon Hewitt and Aon Consulting, COO of Aon Benfield, and CIO of Aon Corporation.
Baljit also serves on the boards of Midwest ISO (where he also chairs the Information Technology Committee), Alexander Mann Solutions, AmWins, and Western Dental.
Baljit holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Warwick in England.
Among other topics, Scott discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Scott Farquhar’s Biography
Scott Farquhar is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company that helps teams organize, discuss and complete shared work. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2002, Atlassian is well-known for its issue tracking application, Jira, as well as its team collaboration product, Confluence.
Scott was awarded the ‘Australian IT Professional of the Year’ in 2004, and in 2006 was the youngest person ever to be awarded the ‘Australian Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Ernst & Young alongside co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Scott holds a Bachelor of Science in business information technology from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
