Highlights from our research and CIO interviews

Every week we publish interviews with CIOs from around the globe. Subscribe to our newsletter to have these delivered directly to you. Browse below to read the latest interviews from our blog.

Recent Topics & Interviews from our CIO Blog:

I recently spoke with my good friend John Yapaola, the CEO of Kapow Software in Palo Alto. We were talking about the best ways to support innovation within a corporate culture, and John raised a great point: How you innovate depends on the size of the company.

I had a conversation with Gordon Payne last week that I can truly describe as mind expanding. As many of you already know, Gordon is SVP and GM of the Desktop and Cloud Division at Citrix. He is also a genuinely brilliant guy, and I was delighted to speak with him at length about the future of IT strategy.

When I interview visionary IT thought leaders about continuous innovation, their answers usually fall into two categories. Generally, they tend to believe that innovation results from either a process or a culture.

A dozen of the nation’s top CIOs had the opportunity in March to spend several hours of quality time with Dr. William LaFontaine, VP Strategy and Worldwide Operations at IBM. Bill is one of Big Blue’s most respected thought leaders, and he agreed to brief the CIOs on IBM’s 2012 Global Technology Outlook (GTO), a special report on the trends most likely to create both disruptions and business opportunities in the near term.

I write and speak frequently about the need for IT leaders to become more proactively involved in helping their firms identify and enter new markets. Sometimes I use the term “global markets” to suggest the broader range of possibilities that exist outside of traditional domestic markets.

My good friend Tom Fountain is a true IT thought leader and visionary. As many of you know, Tom has served as CIO at several major corporations, including Bunge and Honeywell.  I caught up with him last week and asked him to outline his vision for the next big wave in IT. Here’s a brief summary of what he told me...

When you ask Tony Leng for his take on the current state of IT leadership, he always delivers. Tony is a top executive recruiter in the San Francisco area, and he really has his finger on the pulse of today’s IT industry.

I spoke with him last night about the trends that will have the most impact on CIOs and senior IT leaders in the coming months. I asked him which trends are around the corner and over the horizon. Here’s a brief summary of what he told me:

My good friend Saad Ayub is SVP and CIO at Scholastic Corp., the world’s largest distributor and publisher of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media.

Last week I had the good fortune of speaking with Brian R. Lurie, the SVP and CIO of Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE: TFX), a leading global provider of specialty medical devices for a range of procedures in critical care and surgery.

I’ve known Brian for quite a while, and I was delighted to speak with him again. Brian is one of those rare corporate leaders who can blend traditional values with a real instinct for driving business results. 

My friend Dave Smoley is SVP and CIO at Flextronics in San Francisco. He’s also a great champion of innovation, so it’s not surprising that he helped arrange an upcoming four-day program on innovation, leadership and global change at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

I consider Dave to be an exceptionally valuable source of information and insight, and that’s why I’m comfortable recommending the Stanford program.

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