Tom Peck has been on the forefront of change multiple times. Back in the early 2000s, when he was CIO of Entertainment Operations at NBC Universal, Peck was on the cutting edge of moving analog-based entertainment media (VHS tapes!) to digital files, a precursor to today’s on-demand digital streams.
He also launched a Web-based portal for managing all aspects of TV show development. Then as CIO at MGM Mirage (2006-2008), he pioneered smart hotel rooms (which automatically open the blinds, turn on the TV and adjust the temperature), dynamic hotel pricing and server-based gaming at casinos. Next, as CIO of Levi Strauss (2008-2012), he ventured into social commerce and helped the iconic maker of blue jeans become the first apparel company to offer social shopping through Facebook.
Peck says staying on the leading edge requires four characteristics: a competitive spirit; a mix of technology, business and leadership skills; a strong team behind you; and the ability to sell your vision.
[ Meet the CIO Hall of Fame 2015 inductees ]
“I’m willing to invest in new technologies when I can see some business gains,” he says.
“I’m pretty good at selling, and you’ll probably find that many [trailblazers] are. I have to sell my business leaders, my CEOs–sometimes CEOs at vendor firms–and colleagues that what you’re seeing is the best thing you’ve ever seen, you should take the risk and you should bet on us,” says Peck. He’s currently CIO–and also head of procurement and travel–at AECOM, a $20 billion architecture, engineering, construction and management services company with nearly 100,000 employees in more than 150 countries.
Peck and the rest of this year’s CIO Hall of Fame inductees all have had careers filled with the types of accomplishments that are typical of IT leaders. But all five also have shown a knack for being pioneers in new technologies, business models and processes.
How do they do it? They say they don’t set out to implement the latest technologies just to be early adopters. Rather, they start by searching for the best way to solve a problem or seize an opportunity–and that leads to some form of innovation.
“What I get paid to do is move the organization, to put the vision out there and move it forward,” says Chris Perretta, CIO at State Street Corp.
Perretta is leading a wide-ranging effort to transform State Street into a digital enterprise. That includes a deploying a groundbreaking IT architecture that features private clouds. The financial services company even obtained a U.S. patent in 2012 related to its private cloud.
Innovation comes from approaching challenges from new angles, Perretta says. “You look at problems through a different lens and demonstrate in a commercial term what the value can be.”
It’s also important to build a good team and give people room to explore. “You recognize great ideas and really talented people, and you give them oxygen–you give their ideas oxygen,” he says.
Ina Kamenz, global CIO at $19.6 billion Eli Lilly, has a similar track record as a pioneer. Her CIO career has included industry leadership roles in preparing for the Y2K date rollover and complying with Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulations. Being “an engineer at heart” helps put her at the forefront, Kamenz says, adding “I’m into process, logic, reasoning, problem-solving. I’m all about making things better for the people, the process, the company.”
Kamenz focuses on execution and building business value. “I always believe as a leader in IT it’s not just about coming up with the idea, it’s delivering and seeing the results,” she says.
That’s also the case for honoree Steve Phillips, CIO at Avnet, a $27.5 billion global technology distributor. His strategy for virtualizing and greening Avnet’s data center saved the company more than $18 million and reduced energy consumption by 10 percent. He pioneered a bring-your-own-device plan, now in its seventh year, that cut wireless expenses by 20 percent.
Top CIOs also develop a culture of innovation. Phillips does that through the annual “CIO Challenge” program he founded several years ago. IT employees submit innovative ideas and Phillips provides up to $50,000 from his budget to implement the suggestion that gets the most votes.
Rebecca Jacoby, longtime CIO at Cisco Systems (now chief of operations), is most proud of transforming the tech vendor’s IT department so that it can respond–quickly–to the business’s strategic needs.
Cisco’s “Fast IT” model features an agile, self-service platform that helps the company and its partners launch services in minutes rather than months. Her team pioneered a context-aware, cloud-based commerce platform for Cisco’s ecosystem of partners and resellers, plus a sales analytics tool known internally as DISE (Dynamic Insights for Sales Executives).
Jacoby’s philosophy is that IT departments, and the CIOs who lead them, have to continually redefine themselves. “I feed on change. I can’t by nature stay still and be happy,” she says. “You have to keep reinventing yourself…. You have to look at new technologies and say, ‘What are we going to do next?'”
New members of the CIO Hall of Fame
Our tough judges picked five exemplary CIOs who excel at producing business results
Rebecca Jacoby SVP of Operations, Cisco Systems Inc.
Career: Until her recent promotion, Jacoby had spent nine years as CIO at Cisco, where she typically implemented the new technologies that Cisco sells to other CIOs. She and her IT team established a model called Fast IT that’s designed to ensure that Cisco and its business partners have the agile systems they need to deal with a fast-changing market. Jacoby has also been on the front lines of integrating Cisco’s numerous business acquisitions.
Judge’s view: “She has been successful over a long period of time in a dynamic and challenging industry, and in a dynamic company, through high growth and now maturity/restructuring. She is a role model for women tech leaders as well as men.”
Ina Kamenz SVP & Global CIO, Eli Lilly and Co.
Career: Kamenz joined Eli Lilly last year to revitalize IT and innovation at the pharmaceutical company. Previously, as CIO at Thermo Fisher Scientific, she integrated IT at a company that had grown through a series of 200 acquisitions. As CIO at Marriott, she was involved in the acquisition of the Ritz Carlton and Renaissance hotel chains, and was a high-profile leader of the Y2K business-continuity program.
Judge’s view: “In each of those organizations she is more than a CIO–she is a partner to the business, leading process teams, mergers and acquisitions, startups, etc. She is trusted beyond the normal IT activities.”
Thomas Peck CIO and SVP, Global IT, Travel and Procurement, AECOM
Career: At AECOM, which designs and constructs huge infrastructure projects, Peck led the largest acquisition in that industry’s history, launched a revenue-generating service, and automated the company’s project-delivery process with mobile, cloud and workflow technologies. As CIO at Levi Strauss, Peck was a leader in online retail, and as CIO at MGM Mirage he was an innovator in the hotel and casino industries.
Judge’s view: “Consistent track record of business success in several diverse industries. Implemented progressive strategies–which is always harder than it looks.”
Chris Perretta EVP & CIO, State Street Corp.
Career: Perretta is considered a tech- and business-savvy visionary in the field of cloud computing. At State Street, he led development of a groundbreaking private-cloud architecture and is moving the organization toward becoming a digital enterprise. He also frequently speaks to gatherings of Wall Street analysts and investors. He was previously CIO at GE Capital.
Judge’s view: “Chris is ahead of his time merging engineering excellence with vision and tech chops. He is advancing cloud, platform-as-a-service and other areas aggressively, whereas most others are just toying around, and he’s doing it in an industry that is famously risk-averse.”
Steve Phillips SVP & CIO, Avnet Inc.
Career: Phillips and his team have excelled at making IT valuable in a low-margin distribution business. They’ve done that by getting the most out of the company’s data center, integrating numerous acquisitions (typically within 90 days), exploiting mobile technologies and improving B2B e-commerce capabilities.
Judge’s view: “He has built a career of getting well aligned with the business and positioning himself as a strategic asset. Surviving in this role in this industry is difficult.”
2015 CIO Hall of Fame judges
14 judges–all of them members of the CIO Hall of Fame–selected this year’s class of inductees
Gregor Bailar CIO (retired), Capital One and Nasdaq Stock Market
Barbra Cooper Group VP & CIO (retired), Toyota
Helen Cousins EVP & CIO (retired), Lincoln Trust Co.
Charlie Feld Founder, The Feld Group Institute
Tom Flanagan VP & Partner, IBM
Elizabeth Hackenson SVP of Technology and Services and CIO, The AES Corp.
Tom Murphy VP of IT & University CIO, University of Pennsylvania
Mike Prince CIO Emeritus, Burlington Coat Factory (retired)
Geir Ramleth SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Citrix
Andreas Resch Managing Partner, Modalis Management Berlin
Rebecca Rhoads President, Global Business Services & CIO, Raytheon
David Smoley CIO, AstraZeneca
Pete Walton VP & CIO (retired), Hess Corp.
Carl Wilson EVP & CIO (retired), Marriott International
Next read this
Author: Mary K. Pratt, Contributing writer
Mary K. Pratt is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts.
