The 30 most influential business leaders in tech 2021.

VOL 11 I ISSUE 04 I 2021
ED
OBUCHOWSKI
Exemplifying Reformative Tech Leadership
Tech to Top
Innovative Leadership
in Tech Space
THE
Most
Inﬂuential
BUSINESS
LEADERS
in Tech, 2021
Embracing Changes
How is Technology Shaping
the Leadership for the
Future?

At the Top of
Their Games
t is fascinating to know how technology changes the world
Iaround us. It is now accessible at our fingertips, one tap, and the
things we need are around us. Technology has turned the world
upside-down, which makes me ponder that if there were no
technology, no internet, and no invention of computers, humans
would have nothing to be proud of, wouldn't they? But one thing
that technology has made possible is that it has brought the world
closer; you can connect with anyone, anywhere, anything, and
everything with the help of technology.
Realizing the potential power of technology, business leaders
thought of doing something significant to contribute to the world
and making it a better place to live and thrive. And the results were
astonishing, as technological leaders stood to their word by
bringing various new applications with technology to multiple
industries, and many leaders followed their entrepreneurial drive
to make their mark in their respective fields. The industry grew
over time, and today we see people adhering to the technological
culture's integrity, innovation, and accountability.
Technological leaders' task is to deal with all the challenges to the
best of their abilities. When the pandemic tragedy came into play,
businesses were forced to shift their focus and completely go
remote and digital, which resulted in various other challenges, and
technological leaders were up for these challenges. They did their
best to keep things on track and were always approachable for any
trouble. These leaders stayed aware of the latest trends and
technologies, which is crucial to remaining at the top.
This journey has many challenges, but technological leaders do not
feel low and handle every challenge with their knowledge and
EDITOR’S NOTE

expertise. It is what adds credibility to their profile, and building business relationships come along with it.
Having that proactive vision to find a solution to every problem is what makes them unique.
They understand their responsibilities, and today they have become the voice of their respective
companies. They plan their professional career with loyalty and build a robust technological foundation
wherever they go. Technology is the field where you are never short of opportunities, and thus, having the
technical skillset will take you places you never imagined. There is so much to add about the technology and
the contribution of the technological leaders to this field.
We are already seeing the best of them and are excited about what they hold in the coming years. They
have created a culture of innovation and creativity by taking their chances. Recognizing their tough job for
creating opportunities for us all, we at CIO LOOK decided to honor such technological leaders through our
upcoming edition, "The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech, 2021.”
Dive into this edition to unveil the inspiring stories of some exemplary tech leaders. Lastly, while flipping
the pages, go through the creative articles by the in-house editorial team.
Go on! Explore!
Aditya Gaikar

Exemplifying Reformative
Tech Leadership
COVER STORY
Ed
Obuchowski
12
ARTICLES
How is Technology Shaping the
Leadership for the Future?
Embracing Changes
54
Innovative Leadership
in Tech Space
Tech to Top
76
Leading Transformation through
Technology and Digitization
Ann Dozier
24
Solving Issues of Humanity
by Using Technology
Asokan Ashok
28

A Benevolent Leader Unlocking
Economic Opportunities
Brad Henderson
34
Making Quality IT Services
Accessible for All
Carrie Goetz
42
Revolutionizing Healthcare by
Aligning IT with Business Strategy
Hernando Celada
50
Piloting "Tech for Good" Initiative to the
Community and Across Borders Globally
Jennifer Lauretta
62
Driving Innovation in
the Finance Industry
Brandon Mays
38
Leading the Digital Transformation of
the Medical Imaging Industry
Dr. Germán Arango
46
Adapting Innovative Technologies
for Successful Business Drive
Jason Bressler
58
Pushing the Boundaries of
Traditional Design Practices
Kashif Dafedar
66
CONTENTS

Leading with Transformative
Approach
Marc Zinsmeister
62
Ardent Technologist Driving IT Innovation
and Digital Transformation
Max Chan
82
A Leader with an Excellent Blend of Technical
Expertise and Business Acumen
Paul Miller
90
Transforming Insurance Industry
with his Excellent Leadership
Rao Tadepalli
100
Pushing the Boundaries of
Traditional Design Practices
Kashif Dafedar
78
Combining Education and Technology to
Deliver Exemplary Educational Experience
Nathan Short and Glen Warren
86
Paving the Way for Bug-Free
Mobile Applications
Ran Rachlin
94
Diversiﬁed Search Group's on
Post-covid Digital Leadership
Tony Leng
104

CONTENT
Senior Editor
DESIGN
Visualizer
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
November, 2021
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Brief
Company Name
Carrie Goetz
CTO and Principal
Dr. German Arango
CEO and co-founder
Amir Arooni
CIO
Brandon Mays
President & CFO
Discover Financial Services create solutions that connect
people to commerce in more rewarding ways.
StrategITcom was founded on the premise that quality IT
services should be accessible to all without exorbitant price
tags.
IMEXHS is a dedicated company to implement solutions of
high technology for the health industry.
Atlas Credit Company prides on oﬀering some of the best loans
for bad credit.
Ann Dozier
CIO and SVP
Southern Glazer's Wine is the world's pre-eminent distributor of
beverage alcohol, and proud to be a multi-generational, family-
owned company.
Southern Glazer's Wine
and Spirits
southernglazers.com
Discover Financial
Services
discover.com
Atlas Credit Company
atlascredit.com
Ashok Asokan
CEO and Founder
UnfoldLabs is an Innovative Products and Services Company.
UnfoldLabs Inc.
unfoldlabs.com
Brad Hendersonc
CEO
P33 is committed to reclaiming Chicago's position as the
World's Brightest Spot for technological discovery and
development.
P33 Chicago
p33chicago.com
IMEXHS
imexhs.com
Atticus Tysen
CIO
Intuit is a global technology platform that helps customers and
communities overcome their most important ﬁnancial
challenges.
Intuit
intuit.com
StrategITcom
strategitcom.com
Aaron Gwinner
CIO
Reynolds American Inc. is a world-leading manufacturer that’s
transforming the tobacco industry through innovation.
Reynolds American Inc.
reynoldsamerican.com
Chris Purcell
CIO
PEMCO Insurance is the Defender of Your Northwest,
providing auto, home, renters and boat coverage.
PEMCO Mutual Insurance
pemco.com
Featuring Person

Brief
Company Name
Kashif Dafedar
Design Technology
Specialist
Michele Rodgers
CIO
Franck Fatras
Co-Founder
Jeff Schmidt
CEO
LendingPoint is a financial technology platform that provides
financing origination solutions.
CallisonRTKL is a global architecture, planning and design
practice.
Exeter is committed to help consumers find the right financing
for their next vehicle purchase.
Avertium is the security partner that companies turn to for end-
to-end solutions.
Ed Obuchowski
CTO
Advisor Group, Inc. is the nation's largest network of
independent financial advisors serving over 11,000 advisors
and overseeing $450 billion in client assets.
Advisor Group
advisorgroup.com
lendingpoint
lendingpoint.com
Avertium
avertium.com
DiAnna Thimjon
CIO
Cherokee Federal is focused on building solutions, solving
complex challenges, and serving the nation’s mission around
the globe for more than 60 federal clients.
Cherokee Federal
cherokee-federal.com
Jennifer Lauretta
CTIO
360 Health Tech run numerous processes for large companies
and have been striving to automate the processes taken over
from other companies which lead to accumulative significant
expertise in RPA.
360 Health Tech
360healthtech.com
Exeter Finance
exeterfinance.com
Hernando Celada
CIO
ChenMed serves the underserved – moderate-to-low-income
seniors with complex chronic diseases.
ChenMed
chenmed.com
CallisonRTKL
crtkl.com
Gint Grabauskas
CTO
Offerpad sets itself apart with a personalized customer
experience to make buying and selling homes easy.
Offerpad
offerpad.com
Jason Bressler
CTO
UWM is dedicated to making dreams come true for the team
members, the broker partners and homeowners nationwide.
United Wholesale Mortgage
uwm.com
Featuring Person

Brief
Company Name
Rao Tadepalli
CIO
Tony Leng
MD Lead Practitioner
and OMP
Marc Zinsmeisterci
VP and CIO
Nathan Short
Director of Information
Technology and Glen
Warren
Director of Literacies
Ullico Inc. is an insurance and financial services holding
company.
Seibels offers the Property and Casualty Insurance industry and
Financial Services industry, BPO services, and TPA services
powered by world-class technology.
Diversified Search believes that great leadership transforms
people, organizations and the world.
Encinitas Union School District works collaboratively with
parents and community members in the areas of science,
technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts.
Mike Santimaw
CIO
Rent-A-Center has kept at the top of the rent-to-own industry,
and is looking for people who share this passion.
Rent-A-Center
rentacenter.com
Ullico
ullico.com
Encinitas Union
School District
eusd.net
Michael Wondrasch
CIO
Avantor is a trusted global partner to customers and suppliers in
the life sciences, advanced technologies and applied materials
industries.
Avantor
avantorsciences.com
Paul Miller
CTO
Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for the
intelligent edge.
Windriver
windriver.com
Diversified Search
diversifiedsearch.com
Matt Mehlbrech
VP of IT
CoorsTek offers high-performance properties of products
manufactured from engineered technical ceramics and
advanced materials.
CoorsTek
CoorsTek.com
Seibels
seibels.com
Max Chan
CIO
Avnet is a global electronic components distributor.
Avnet
avnet.com
Ran Rachlin
CEO & Co-Founder
Ubertesters is a crowd-based, complete mobile apps/web
testing solution provider.
Ubertesters Inc.
ubertesters.com
Featuring Person

Ed
Obuchowski
Exemplifying Reformative Tech Leadership
Our mission is to inspire and
equip the hero in every
financial professional and
acknowledge their profound
importance in people's lives.
“
“
COVER STORY

Ed Obuchowski
Chief Technology Ofﬁcer
Advisor Group, Inc.

W
hat once seemed impossible has become
possible today, all thanks to technological
advancements. Technology has played a
significant role in changing the face of various sectors
and, ultimately, enhanced people’s experiences.
Today, technology is evolving at a rapid pace, and thus,
organizations are constantly adopting cutting-edge
technologies to stay ahead of the curve and deliver
enriching experiences to their clients. This evolution
requires agile leadership. Advisor Group, Inc. found
such an agile leader, Ed Obuchowski.
Ed Obuchowski is serving as the Chief Technology
Officer at Advisor Group, the nation’s largest network
of independent wealth management firms. He is leading
the firm's technology strategy to help advisors
efficiently grow and scale their businesses.
Ed’s path to CIO/CTO is a unique one. However, looking
back, he thinks it was exactly what he needed to
prepare himself for the most challenging and rewarding
roles in his career.
We at CIO Look got into conversation with Ed to learn
more about his journey, challenges, and how he has
spearheaded the technical aspects of Advisor Group.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position at Advisor Group.
What challenges you had to overcome to reach where
you are today?
After college, I decided to change careers from one love
of my life to another. As such, I gave up my flight
instructing job and aspirations to become a commercial

We devote millions to arming
our financial professionals
with the technology and
resources that keep them
ahead of the market.
“
“
pilot and transitioned full time into technology as a
system and network administrator.
From there, I eventually left that initial role and joined a
trading firm in downtown Chicago. It was there I was
introduced to the trading culture as well as, at times,
stressful responsibilities of running a large trading floor
and backend systems. I eventually left that firm and
moved into a service and operations role where I
learned what customer service was all about as well as
the complexities of the financial services world. This
role required that I obtain a number of securities
licenses and thus learn the brokerage industry from a
business perspective in great detail.
As my career progressed, my responsibilities shifted
back to technology, where I ran a large Market Data
Technology team that consumed data from all domestic
and some international exchanges. The large team was
responsible for all of the quotes, news, charts and other
analytics for Charles Schwab and their subsidiaries.
After upgrading the technology and the team, I found
myself with the opportunity to move into an SVP role
that was responsible for all retail technology at Schwab.
Both of these roles would not have been possible had I
not understood the voice of our clients and the needs of
our business partners. The role was almost purely
software development, which remains a lifelong
passion.
As fortune would have it, the head of Infrastructure
decided to retire, and I was offered the opportunity to
move to Phoenix from Austin and become the
Infrastructure successor. After more than a decade, I
received a late evening call asking if I would be willing
to take on the role of SVP of Advisor Services
Technology. It was the culmination of many different
business, service, operations, and technology roles that
eventually prepared me for the next major career
opportunity, CTO/CIO of Advisor Group.
Tell us something more about your company and its
mission and vision.
I sincerely feel that Advisor Group has an extremely
honorable and rewarding mission, with a set of values
that puts our Advisors and their clients first.
Furthermore, AG remains committed to ensuring that
we continue to invest in and uncompromisingly support
a culture that empowers our teams and attracts top
talent to every group and organization in the company.
What I truly love about AG is the fact that every
business decision must successfully pass through our
culture filter. In other words, the people, diversity, the
culture, and our commitment to our Financial
Professionals comes first. This is critical to a company
that plans to grow substantially through organic and

inorganic acquisitions. In my experience, a company
whose primary lens is commitment and loyalty to their
clients and their employees can successfully grow the
company without impacting our secret sauce, our
devotion to our clients, our employees, and our culture.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the
Financial Services niche through your expertise in the
market.
As a CIO/CTO who enjoys a tremendous amount of
empowerment and support from the CEO, the
Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors, I
have always felt it is my responsibility to innovate and
differentiate through technology. While technology
remains a key focus, the reality is that business-driven
technology is what changes companies and industries.
That goal is only achievable if there is unbending trust
built upon strong foundational relationships between
technology teams and all of our constituents across the
company, including our Financial Professionals and
their clients.
Technology must be an equal player at the table. As the
technology lens allows the business and other groups
to see solutions to opportunities and challenges that
would have otherwise been overlooked. Conversely,
the combination of technology ideas and innovations
coupled with highly experienced and incredibly capable
businesses and other teams can be game-changing.
Examples include hyper-integration between
proprietary AG systems and third parties. This
approach is applicable to both internal and client-facing
systems. AG can thus focus on our core competencies,
and in parallel, provide seamlessly integrated solutions
and an exceptional user experience with third parties.
This approach also enables AG to bring tools and
capabilities to our clients much faster than if we relied

on purely internal development. Having a well-defined
technology and product strategy also provides our
constituents with being able to use the platforms of
their choice. As such, continued investment in
innovation is certainly important, but so is the ongoing
investment in modernization and automation which
allows AG to be unencumbered by legacy technologies.
Truth be told, there are numerous ways that AG has
influenced and pushed the industry. Partnering with
Financial Professionals to keep their offices safe from a
cybersecurity perspective was and will be a critical and
significant undertaking. Helping our customers and our
internal teams to become much more efficient through
investments in data analytics and digital solutions has
already yielded substantial benefits. And lastly, our
ability to empower our advisors with the insights to
effectively manage their business and aggressively
grow their practices through data-driven insights is
both a requirement as well as a differentiator for our
Financial Professionals.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
My belief is that all technology organizations must
balance their investments between core and
innovation. Many people believe that investing in
legacy systems or upgrades in infrastructure is not
innovative. While most of the time not overly sexy, core
investments can absolutely be innovative and game-
changing. As an example, AG recently moved two of our
data centers onto state-of-the-art technology. This
investment will reduce costs, increase automation,
improve security, scalability, and performance. When
we made this decision, we were careful to be on the
leading but not bleeding edge. This approach, which
was ingrained in our strategy, was and is game-
changing.
On the more traditional innovation front, there are a
number of areas and approaches, and decisions that we
consciously make to differentiate AG while avoiding the
need to reinvent the wheel. Integrating proprietary
systems and experiences into many different 3rd
parties in a manner that is fully digital and virtually
transparent to our customers is an area that allows AG
We offer financial professionals
the hard-won experience earned
from decades of industry
leadership and the personal
relationships based on the trust
that comes from making and
keeping promises.
“
“

to offer solutions that others are still years away from
bringing to market. Another example, which is one that
I am incredibly proud of, is the approach we have taken
to protect our advisor’s business from external security
threats. In a model where Financial Professionals chose
their own equipment and connectivity, we challenged
the team to bring forward solutions that would help
them comply with policies and regulations as well as
detect and remediate certain threats and
vulnerabilities. This initiative will persist in perpetuity
as the threats advance. However, with AG in their
corner our customers and their clients will remain as
protected as possible across an ever-changing threat
landscape.
If given a chance, what technological change would
you like to bring in the Financial Services industry?
Frankly, I feel very strongly that my team and I are
constantly given the freedom to influence or even
change the industry. From my perspective, real industry
change isn’t accomplished via the guide rails of
regulations and policies alone. Instead, true industry
change occurs through example. Although overused,
Amazon is probably the best example of how a business
model and strategy wrapped in truly impressive
technology with a great user experience can not only
change but upend an entire industry across the globe.
Social media, while despised by me, is another example
of how new capabilities that people didn’t know they
needed would also change the world (perhaps not for
the better).
Personally, as a very values and customer driven
person, I would like to help our industry to become the
most ethical and trusted industry in the nation. Over
the years Wall Street has been a place that has brought
prosperity to millions. A country that invests in their
country’s industries are true patriots. Investing in
stocks and other instruments, whether directly or
through a Financial Professional, amounts to that
person’s investment in their dreams and aspirations.
Perhaps they want to retire at a reasonable age,
purchase their first house, put their children through
college, or donate to worthwhile causes. All of these
things, and more are achievable in a system built upon
trust and transparency. As such, instead of putting in
place more barriers, creating unwanted administrivia,
and using the threat of fines and other methods to drive
behavior, I would rather implement industry-wide
capabilities that ensure mistakes are minimized and
best practices are always follows.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run
and what are your future goals for Advisor Group?
In the not-so-long run, I envision seeing Advisor Group
in the top three largest providers for Financial
Professionals. I expect AG to be the number one most
trusted, the number one most customer-focused, and
the most innovative provider of digital and data driven
solutions that allows our FP’s to grow at an incredibly
fast pace via a fully digitized and hyper-efficient set of
platforms.
While bold and courageous, it is all extremely feasible.
In many regards, our size, our culture, and ability to
innovate, and deliver creative business and technology
solutions puts AG at an advantage that can be
positively exploited as compared to many other firms.
What would be your advice to budding technological
entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the financial
services sector?
Have the courage to take chances. Step out of your
comfort zone, even if the challenge is “beyond you”
from your perspective. Remember, when you are
offered an opportunity, regardless of your experience,
someone really trusts in your capabilities. Take the
tough jobs, especially in the growth stage of your
career. People will have empathy and respect you for it.
Have a mentor. Let me repeat that, have multiple
COVER STORY

mentors. Experience and perspective must be learned
over time. However, mentors can help you see things
about you, your personal life and even your work life
that you cannot. Everyone needs a mirror or two during
their journey. Build relationships in your community, in
your industry, and in your company. Never ever under
any circumstances burn a bridge. DO NOT fear change
or the future. Instead, embrace it. Delegate and
empower by (as my mentor told me) “giving up control
to get control”. Learn to work effectively in high-stress
conditions. This can jump start your career or set it
back if you are not careful.
Be kind, brave, and always respectful. Don’t be negative
or engage in gossip regarding the firm or a fellow
employee; you’re not going to like the outcome. Never
talk down to a person or get into an argument in public.
A lot of times behind the scenes private conversations
can resolve issues and even strengthen relationships.
Be solutions-driven. It is great to find issues, but you
must be willing to come up with solutions that you are
prepared to take on. Always help your peers and
partners. You all work in the same company. Your pay
checks come from the same place. Build aligned teams.
Share your values, you mission, your strategy, and your
objectives; and be a broken record about them. DO
NOT micromanage your career. Be assertive,
aggressive, and have the courage to ask for what you
deserve. Be willing to accept the positive and negative
outcomes. People who are very engaged in their
careers, but don’t manage the journey on a daily basis,
can find their way up the ladder more effectively,
because going up the corporate ladder is rarely a
straight line. Be a mentor to others. Coach them and
help them. Build successors not fiefdoms. I don’t know
anyone who got fired for building a team that is capable
of taking over your job. However, the inverse happens
constantly.
Live a balanced life. Love and be there for your family
and friends. On their death bed, no one ever said, “I
wish I worked more”! Treat yourself well. Stay healthy
physically and mentally, especially as you age; trust me,
I know! Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It doesn’t make
you weak, but it can make you more effective and
respected. Don’t be someone you are not. Your long-
term success will come from what is inside of you. Be
willing to put in the hours. If you don’t like them then be
a leader in changing the applicable dynamic.
Complaining won’t get you anywhere. On a personal
level, sometimes bad things happen to good people. It is
critical that you take the time you need to get through
the difficult times so you can again reengage when you
are ready. You may not always see it, but everyone
suffers in their life. It is how you handle it that makes all
of the difference.

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Ann Dozier
Senior Vice President &
Chief Information Ofﬁcer
Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits
| November 2021 |
24

Ann Dozier
hen a business leverages technology, it not
Wonly streamlines business processes but
offers data and insights that drive further
innovation and digitization leading to growth and
effectiveness. Pioneering leaders understand this
critical aspect and continue to focus on expanding their
array to bring transformative change. Ann Dozier is one
such leader who has created a vast impact in the
technological facet in her workings with
transformational leadership skills.
Ann is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information
Ofﬁcer at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. It is the
world's pre-eminent selling, logistics, and data insights
company for beverage alcohol and a multi-generational,
family-owned company operating in 44 U.S. states, the
District of Columbia, and Canada.
Over the past eight years, Ann has created an
enterprise IT function that operates with agility using a
product and portfolio model while also leveraging a
partner network that allows Southern Glazer's to
expand to meet business needs while modernizing and
integrating its infrastructure and legacy systems and
growing the business through digital innovation.
The Professional Voyage
Ann's career in technology began with companies like
EDS and IBM, which laid her technological foundation.
She considers herself fortunate to work with great
companies, fantastic leaders, and capable teams that
presented her with opportunities for tremendous
learning and growth.
Early in her career, Ann moved into the consumer
products industry with a focus on the beverage
industry, where she used transformational leadership
expertise, working with high growth companies during
times of acquisitions where opportunities were
abundant. She was often tapped for the roles that were
integral to the business's success with tight timelines to
deliver.
Fast-paced environments allowed Ann to embrace new
opportunities to learn and collaborate, which is why she
decided to join Southern (now Southern Glazer's) in
2013. In addition to modernizing and integrating core
business systems as part of the merger, she has also
enabled the digitization of the business and partner
relationships, while implementing a cyber program
focused on managing risk—all key objectives of
delivering business value for the company, its supplier
partners, and customers.
Ann had great mentors and sponsors that helped her
along the way. She now provides her team
opportunities to learn and grow while mentoring future
leaders, including promoting diversity, inclusion, and
belonging. She also spends time giving back to the
communities with a focus on building a diverse talent
pipeline for the future.
The Overview
Southern Glazer's mission is to exceed the expectations
of its supplier partners and customers with outstanding
sales, service, and business results through innovative
strategies, unmatched relationships, and cutting-edge
technology through the industry's best trained and
most talented team.
Southern Glazer's built its culture on FAMILY, with a
team that thinks and acts like owners, reﬂecting core
Leading Transformation through Technology and Digitization
| November 2021 |
25

values of respect, transparency, excellence, integrity,
inclusiveness, and leadership in everything it does,
while recognizing that people are its greatest asset.
The company thinks "customer ﬁrst," recognizing that it
sits in the middle of the top supplier brands across wine
and spirits and various customers across the U.S. and
Canada. It strives to be the partner of choice by offering
best-in-class capabilities, while making it easy to do
business and offering insights that drive business.
Being a technology leader in a company that
understands the value of technology and highlights
"data insights" and "cutting edge technology" in its
vision and mission enables Ann to partner across the
enterprise. She ensures technology is a differentiator
for the suppliers, employees, and customers.
Transformative Expertise
Ann expresses that as an IT leader, she beneﬁts from
working across company functions, which provides a
unique opportunity to connect the dots across
strategies and objectives. She uses that knowledge to
create a clear strategy and goals for the team while
creating an environment that inspires the team to
maximize their capabilities. It allows Ann to use her
market experience to deliver results at scale.
Blending experienced, tenured wine and spirits talent
with top tech talent in an environment where each
team member is empowered and feels a sense of
belonging has allowed Ann to advance the technology
and its value for Southern Glazer's. Ann says, "We talk
about being’ your best you,’ which leads to great business
outcomes.”
Implementing Technological Advancements
A primary focus of technology is to make doing
business easier by simplifying a day-in-the-life of
customers, suppliers, and employees, states Ann. It
comes in many forms, including automating repeatable
“Being your best you.”
ETP Leadership Team
| November 2021 |
26

processes through technologies, like Robotic Process
Automation (RPA); making data-driven insights readily
available for quick decision-making; offers predictive
analytics to simplify planning and forecasting; and fully
automating day-to-day business operations.
Southern Glazer's wants to offer access to solutions in
multiple ways to create a personalized experience that
allows its users to connect in a way that best meets
their needs. IT has partnered with the commercial
business function to create SGProof, an omnichannel
solution that offers eCommerce, sales, and service
capabilities. It is powered by insights customizing the
selling experience to meet each customer's need while
also offering valuable insights to its supplier partners.
Ann is constantly looking for ways to continue evolving
digital capabilities to make it easy to do business with
Southern Glazer’s. She acknowledges the importance of
getting the right product in the right place at the right
time for customers—something that is paramount for
the company.
Going Above and Beyond
Ann expresses that five years ago, Southern Glazer's
combined a company that was more than 50 years old
with a company that was more than 100 years old,
which meant it had a very decentralized technology
stack. So naturally, one of her main focuses has been on
standardizing and simplifying the company's
technology to offer enterprise solutions. It's been an
overall transformation for Ann, and she has been
extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to make
investments in infrastructure, back-office solutions,
and digital experiences.
Ann says that success for the technology team comes
from offering superior service, automation that drives
efficiency and effectiveness, and digital solutions with
differentiated value for their business partners. She
wants to use technology to continue to be the best
distributor of wine and spirits while differentiating
Southern Glazer's with capabilities and predictive
insights that offer a unique value proposition.
Bequeathing Budding Entrepreneurs
Ann states that technology is always changing and
evolving, so the opportunities are limitless. The key is to
offer technology solutions that have a direct
correlation to business value. She says, "Knowing what
you are trying to solve and applying new technologies to
address what are often age-old problems can lead to great
results. It's important to constantly challenge the status
quo, not fearing failure and recognizing that often, the
greatest lessons come from turning failures into success.”
| November 2021 |
27

Asokan Ashok
Founder and CEO
UnfoldLabs Inc.
| November 2021 |
28

Asokan
Ashok
Solving Issues of
Humanity by Using
Technology
I
f technology is used positively, it has the power to
make a huge difference in the lives of people.
Successful business leaders believe that there is
remarkable potential in technology. By combing their
admirable leadership and technical skills with their
visionary approach to solving complex business
problems, they separate themselves from the herd.
Asokan Ashok is one such impactful business and
technology leader who believes in the potential of
technology and wants to make the world a better place
to live by using technology. Ashok has over 30+ years of
experience as a technology leader and innovator. He is
CEO of UnfoldLabs, a company that focuses on creating
innovative products and solutions for the technology
industry. He has led UnfoldLabs to success with his
passion for strategic, innovative products and solutions.
Being an inspirational and amazing leader with his
business relationships and industry expertise, he has
nurtured and grown UnfoldLabs with a keen interest
towards futuristic and cutting-edge technology.
Innovating Things to Help Humanity Grow
Starting his career as a Software Engineer, Ashok has
never looked back on innovating things that help
humanity grow. His hard work and passion for
technology brought him multiple prestigious awards.
Ups and Downs are common, and Ashok believes in
learning from mistakes and moving forward.
As a technology geek, he is more passionate about
writing and motivating people with thoughtful,
forward-thinking ideas. He has presented at various
conferences around the world. His vision towards
future technologies and experience in implementing
strategic business ideas have achieved him the great
honor of receiving many awards for leadership,
technology, and products.
Easing Lives of People with Innovative Tech Products
and Solutions
As technology trends are growing/changing at a
tremendous rate, organizations need to re-focus and
align with the new waves to keep pace with the
changing trends and technology. That’s why UnfoldLabs
started with a motto to ease people’s life with
innovative technology products and solutions.
The professionals at UnfoldLabs capture these changes
through innovation who are an agile team specializing
in mobile, cloud, and new product development/
innovation. They make products from pure ideation to
complete product development and marketing,
ensuring a high level of success. The company’s vision is
to provide the right solution for the customer; hence,
its team encourages process, excellence, user
experience, and innovation for a quality outcome.
UnfoldLabs strives for Strategic Precision in all of its
production processes.
Providing Best Experience to Users with Perfect
Functionality
Ashok states that passion and engagement are
universal features within the UnfoldLabs community. It
| November 2021 |
29

UnfoldLabs is
an Innovative
Products and
Services
Company
based in
Sunny San
Diego,
California.
“
“
| November 2021 |
30

has developed products to help people ease their living
in day-to-day life. Starting from Fun, Inspiration
(unfoldQuotes – App for Motivational, Love, Nature,
etc. quotes) to Family Safety and Security (MyFamily –
A Digital Parenting Platform), its experts always strive
to solve human/humanity issues with technology.
UnfoldLabs also has other amazing solutions like
SecureME and uFallAlert that have already positively
impacted many of its users. It always strives to provide
the best user experience with perfect functionality that
can solve user problems.
Collaborating Closely with All Team Members
Talking about the values and the work culture, Ashok
mentions that Excellence, Safety, Care, Innovation, and
Responsibility define UnfoldLabs. Its culture is based on
a flat, hierarchical structure in which it has an open-
door policy and collaborates closely with all members
of the team, whether they are janitors or CEOs. It has a
well-organized structure of frequent meetings and
weekly face-to-face briefings in place to ensure that it
maintains communication and a much-needed sense of
belonging.
UnfoldLabs sets goals for each team so that everyone
knows what they're working towards. Setting goals will
not only help them perform better, but it will also help
their team members collaborate more effectively.
In addition to setting goals, UnfoldLabs ensures that
every employee is aware of its long-term objectives.
This is to aid in the development of a sense of
professional purpose among its personnel. UnfoldLabs
makes time to make the office environment happier and
merrier, even if its work might be challenging at times.
Everyone's spirits are lifted with the right amount of
inspiration, motivation, and happiness.
Having Right People and Right Culture to Win Any
Technology War
Ashok believes that the technology will have a
significant impact on most businesses, as it will shift
orders of magnitude in terms of data transmission
speed and volume and connection quality.
Ashok states the importance of innovating continuous
innovation, “Advances in information technology have
ushered in a period of rapid innovation and upheaval. We
will not be able to satisfy the expectations of today's highly
consumerized markets unless we continue to innovate,
particularly in the area of modern digital transformation.”
Ashok says, “You need the right people and the right
culture to win any technology war.” So, UnfoldLabs’ HR
team makes sure that the right individuals are hired and
cared for so that they can take care of the stakeholders.
UnfoldLabs works hard to create the right culture for
its people to learn and grow because great companies
don't necessarily build great cultures, but great
learning cultures do.
Having Perseverance is the Key
The software industry is advancing quickly, with every
piece of tech becoming connected to the cloud. So,
Ashok believes that successful entrepreneurs can be
only those who can adapt quickly.
In his advice to budding entrepreneurs, he says,“Be it
any product, get to the basics of it. It is very important that
one is always ready to learn, unlearn and move forward
with the right attitude, just not in the software sector but
any sector.” Ashok is completely convinced that pure
perseverance separates successful entrepreneurs from
non-successful ones.
Providing Unmatched Customer Service
Ashok’s goal has always been to take a more innovative
position in the industry on solutions and provide
unmatched customer service. UnfoldLabs continuously
strives to enhance the lives of the world by providing a
simple and better user experience. Its aim is always to
contribute towards making the world a better place to
live by using technology. Of course, in terms of
geography, UnfoldLabs will continue to grow.
| November 2021 |
31

Brad
Henderson
A Benevolent Leader Unlocking
Economic Opportunities
H
ow often do we come across selfless leaders
who bring an innovative aspect to society with
the potential for widespread growth for
opportunities? It is astonishing to see how these
leaders make their thoughts into reality. A thoughtful
leader is filled with a willingness to listen and engage,
and it is their humility and transparency that makes
them exceptional. With such willingness, Brad
Henderson is leading by example.
As the CEO of P33 Chicago, Brad's two decades' worth
of professional experience brings a deep understanding
of how to unlock economic opportunities that benefit
businesses and individuals to P33's efforts. P33 is
committed to reclaiming Chicago's position as the
World's Brightest Spot for technological discovery and
development.
In an interview with CIO Look, Brad unveils his journey
and shares his insights regarding economic
opportunities.
Below are the highlights of the interview.
Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a
proficient tech business leader.
I spent 15 years as a consultant at a large consulting
firm, helping companies to solve real, complex problems
related to strategy. About 6 or 7 years ago, it became
really clear to me that a lot of the choices that these big
companies needed to take on were intertwined with
technology and couldn't be solved without addressing
the technology itself. It was the realization that
technology had become a profound and crucial
requisite for helping us all navigate to a better future.
What roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in
the corporate business? And how did you overcome
them?
For me, it's all about mobilizing people – getting people
to do different things - to solve big problems by
thinking deeply about what we can do together as a
team and then to act collectively as an agent of change
and transformation.
How do you diversify P33's offerings to entice the
target audience?
P33's mandate and what we take to heart in everything
we do is that we first consciously recognize that we
must acknowledge many different types of
stakeholders and that they must be involved and
engaged for us to be successful. Second, and this is
really important, we actively listen and recognize that
we need to truly understand what people need and
| November 2021 |
35

hear what they have to say, over and above of what we
want to hear or believe.
What culture change do you suggest for companies to
embrace the global technology leadership for the
inclusive growth for all?
This is an important question. And it's hard because
historically, technology has generally been developed
by a non-diverse group of individuals. To be inclusive, it
means you must physically go to places and explore
how you can get exposure to different people, values,
and new ideas that can be built directly into the
technology solutions we create. It requires all of us to
lean outside of our comfort zone.
How do you keep yourself up to date with the latest
technology?
I'm a voracious reader. For me, it means ﬁnding a smart,
curated resource like the Anti- disciplinarian
newsletter from BCG, which gives me a great topline on
the latest in complex emerging technologies.
What does it take to attract and retain tech talent?
I think the key is making sure that people get to solve
hard, meaningful challenges where you can grow your
career and maintain a high quality of life, and that's why
we think Chicago's tech ecosystem has so much to offer
tech talent.
What are the vital traits that every business leader
should possess?
I think humility, transparency, and a vision for what a
leader is doing, along with a willingness to listen and
engage.
Where are you focusing your energy now, and where
do you hope to make an impact next?
We're focused on making Chicago the most welcoming
and supportive place for tech talent for all
backgrounds. This is really at the core of what we do.
That and making sure that we are building toward how
we can solve the toughest problems that materially
improve millions of lives by creating breakthroughs in
agriculture, improving access to healthcare, or helping
people build a brighter ﬁnancial future.
We serve as an
ORCHESTRATOR bringing the
voices of business, tech,
nonprofit, and government to
the table to the
CATALYZE
solutions that will make
CHICAGOLAND an inclusive
tech leader.
‘‘
‘‘
| November 2021 |
36

Brandon
Mays Driving Innovation in
the Finance Industry
ith the digital demand and work from home
Wconditions, the pandemic has resulted in the
accelerated growth of the FinTech industry.
To provide seamless experiences to the customers,
many leaders in the finance industry came forward with
new or revised business ideas, modern solutions,
ground-breaking technologies, and robust leadership
skills. Amongst those leaders, one such leader is
Brandon Mays, the President and Chief Financial
Officer at Atlas Credit Company (ACC) since Feb.
2011.
We, at CIO Look, caught up with Brandon to unveil his
journey and how ACC has grown into one of the most
reputable and responsible consumer lenders in the
state of Texas.
About the Company
ACC is assisting families financially since 1968. The
company prides itself on offering some of the best loans
for bad credit. When customers apply for one of their
personal loans, it does not limit approval to their credit
score. It considers all the qualifications of customers so
that it can offer them a repayment plan that works for
their budget. Its personal loans are designed to meet
the individual financial needs of its customers. The
company prides itself on providing excellent customer
service.
Continuing Moving Forward
Talking about the challenges, Brandon mentions one of
the primary challenges faced by ACC has always been
the dichotomy between its legacy processes and its
new, cutting-edge processes. It began significant
expansion efforts in 2014, and from those efforts, it
drove innovation for its processes and underlying
technology. Since then, its evolution through expansion
has never stopped, and it continues to move forward.
It has constant growing pains, stumbling product
launches, and unforeseen issues that arise. But it keeps
moving forward as a company and keeps exceeding the
expectations of its customers every day.
Brandon asserts, “One of the biggest keys to our success is
that we keep our people constantly engaged on new ideas,
where we are on progress of current projects and what we
have coming down the road. That engagement keeps our
people motivated and excited for what is yet to come.”
Servant Leadership
The success of any organization depends on the success
and satisfaction of its employees and its customers.
Happy employees are able to function more efficiently
and are enthusiastic about serving the customers of the
organization. Servant leadership in the company plays
an important role in ensuring the success and
satisfaction of the employees and customers. Brandon
Mays leads with servant-style leadership at ACC to
create successful employees and happy customers.
Enabling People to Grow with Financial Knowledge
Moreover, Brandon believes that the largest gap that
exists for clients lies within a lack of financial literacy.
One project ACC has in the works is a financial literacy
platform separate from its business operations that will
serve as a tool for everyone who wants to take
advantage of the various seminars and discussions to
| November 2021 |
38

Brandon Mays
President/Chief
Financial Ofﬁcer
Atlas Credit Company
| November 2021 |
39

deepen their ﬁnancial knowledge. This goes back to one
of the company’s core beliefs of enabling people to
grow once they connect with ACC.
Creating Meaningful Results
Impactful leadership to Brandon is when his actions
create meaningful results in ACC’s employees and its
customers. Delivering value that translates into visible
results for both its employees and customers is what
tells him that they are making a difference that will last
far beyond this quarter’s proﬁt projections.
Having Hunger for More
We asked Brandon about what essential traits
entrepreneurs should possess to thrive in the present-
day cutthroat business ecosystem, to which he said, “A
hunger for more and the ability to execute that hunger. So
many entrepreneurs lack one or the other of these skills,
and these are the most critical. The hunger for more drives
innovation, expansion, new markets, new products.”
He also opines that the ability to execute things brings
life to your aspirations. He has seen too many
executives who have great ideas but are not able to
bring them to life. While, he has also seen the
executives with a great ability to execute but have no
creative passion to leverage.
In his opinion, the ability to execute and having a
creative passion to leverage are the most important
traits for entrepreneurs. He considers that these traits
must be present and work in tandem with one another.
Then truly great things start happening.
Providing More Seamless Product Experience for
Consumers
ACC began as a small, locally-owned institution, and it
now serves customers across multiple states across the
country. With that solid foundation, Brandon believes
ACC is positioned appropriately to launch its business
model internationally, beginning with a few strategic
marketplaces and expanded product lines across all
market fronts. To successfully accomplish that scale, it
plans to continue enhancing its AI underwriting
strategy to provide consumers with a more seamless
product experience.
Our personal loans
are designed to meet
your individual
financial needs, and
we pride ourselves on
providing excellent
customer service
from the first moment
you contact us.
“
“
| November 2021 |
40

Carrie Goetz
Principal & CTO
StrategITcom
| November 2021 |
42

Carrie Goetz
Making Quality IT Services Accessible for All
here are many companies that need technical
Tdirection but can’t afford, or don’t need, a full-
time CTO. This is what led Carrie Goetz to start
StrategITcom. As Principal/ CTO at StrategITcom,
Carrie is shaping the technology direction for
companies and public entities.
She along with her team, help these companies match
and master the technology that will help propel their
businesses.
Carries has nearly 40 years of global experience
designing, running, and auditing data centers, IT
departments, and intelligent buildings. Besides, she is
an International Keynote Speaker, STEM evangelist,
and Podcaster, and has been published in more than
250 publications.
Inspired by her vision and approach, we at Insights
Success got into a conversation with Carrie to know
more about her journey and contribution to the IT
industry.
leader until your current position at StrategITcom.
you are today?
Like many people in the data center industry, we sort of
inherited it, started it and grew it all out of need. My
journey started in architecture. I began teaching civil,
architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical
drafting and then computer-aided engineering when
Autocad ﬁrst came out. I started writing code for those
packages learning a new language. Then, when
networking was in its infancy, there was a project to tie
several campuses together and they asked if I would
take that project on since I had some computer
understanding. I jumped in with both feet. Back then, it
was frame relay for the WAN, and LANs were starting
to compete for market share.
From there, I quit teaching and started a networking
division for an international company and began a
journey into consulting. That was a tremendous time in
that you learn so much about the way businesses
operate, what’s important, the commercial and
business aspects, and decision factors. I wouldn’t trade
it for anything! That experience led me to some top
leadership roles within some large enterprises
knocking on and breaking that glass ceiling. I then had
“We strive to provide excellence. Anything
less is just not acceptable.”
| November 2021 |
43

the opportunity to take that expertise global with an
established company but as a new line of business, data
centers. The global scene was an amazing opportunity
both personally and professionally. I have a huge
extended family that spans the globe. It’s the “sexy” side
of tech, I suppose. The ability to travel and learn about
other cultures and business in a global setting is vastly
different when you are feet on the ground compared to
our preconceived ideas. I also got to show people
around the globe other things about our country and
culture that they may not have known.
I have been blessed to work on amazing projects with
amazing people all over the planet. To date, I have over
4 million miles (that I can actually count) trekking the
planet and that doesn’t include trains and automobiles.
I have worked with some of the most amazing minds in
the industry. I have embraced tech for good and
thoroughly enjoy the sustainability aspect of our
industry. I don’t mean work on renewables, but of
course that is part of it. But really drilling down and
making sure that loads are what they need to be,
redundancy is under control, power considerations
within designs, and the entire ecosystem that makes up
a data center.
I am a firm believer in the ecosystem approach. Every
business is its own ecosystem. Every data center is its
own ecosystem. In working with companies, we take a
wholistic approach. After all, you want your tech to
work for you; you don’t want to have to fight your
technology.
mission and vision.
When I opened StrategITcom, the charter was simple.
Fifty percent of all employees will be female and 50% of
all partner referrals will go to diversely owned
enterprises. We believe in being the voice and catalyst
for the change we seek. There are two sides to this
business, services, and solutions. On the services side of
the house, our flagship offering is CTOaaS, or fractional
CTO services if you will. On the solutions side, we are a
broker and work to bring solutions to those that
already have technical expertise in house, but are
looking for the right solutions from a vendor agnostic
broker from which to choose. We openly disclose any
finder’s fees or contracts with our customers. We feel
the open and honest method suits us and our
customers best.
Information Technology & Services niche through
your expertise in the market?
I have been a stanch advocate of diversity and inclusion
from early on in my career. For me, it has been highly
beneficial through learning from a vast array of
talented individuals. I also am one of the few people
that have been down multiple tracks in my own career
from coding to design, audits, operations, and the like.
As such, I have crafted methodologies to drill down
through technologies through a holistic ecosystem
approach. As an example, when picking a technology,
you should know what that technology provides, that’s
a given. But one should also explore what that
technology will do to the ecosystem. We also like to
take a lifecycle approach. Decisions for short lifecycles
will not always be the same as those that are longer
term decisions. Our niche really is born out of in house
| November 2021 |
44

and external talent. It’s a matter of working to connect
the dots for the good of the customer. Sometimes that
means playing the devil’s advocate. We are lucky to
have the best customers around!
resourceful?
I believe to leverage technology one must constantly
stay abreast of the latest and greatest and WHERE
those technologies fit. I am not a fan of “one size fits all”
statements. We view every piece of technology as a
tool in a tool kit. Sometimes you need a hammer,
sometimes you need pliers.
Working with the customer is the best of all worlds.
When we find some amazing technology; we can
evangelize it to those that it can help. Most times, it’s a
mixed bag of tricks, like solving a puzzle. Which
personally, to me, is the most fun! We don’t believe in
technology for technology sake, rather we believe that
there is a right solution for the right time period to
solve a particular problem.
and what are your future goals for StrategITcom?
In the long run, our goal is to catalyze those we can,
grow where we can, and enjoy life while doing so. I plan
to incorporate as many charitable projects as possible.
I’m strongly committed to mentorship and sponsorship
for those coming into the industry, so that work will
continue as I find it immensely rewarding.
The company continues to grow and our partner
network expands selectively building stronger and
more robust offerings and referrals. We are steadfastly
committed to our sister companies and helping to grow
their businesses as well as ours. We are also launching a
remote work program for business development to
help some of the women that lost their jobs due to
covid. We feel that we can be impactful while still
supporting work life balance and expectations.
| November 2021 |
45

Built by physicians, for physicians to
improve patient care through eﬃcient
diagnosis strategies.
‘
‘ ‘
‘
Dr. Germán Arango
CEO and co-founder
IMEXHS
| November 2021 |
46

Leading the Digital Transformation of the Medical Imaging Industry
Dr. Germán Arango
T
he modern technological advancements in the
healthcare industry have allowed medical
professionals to streamline their work process,
which wasn't the case a decade ago. When Dr. Germán
needed to send images of a few reports from the
Amazon jungle to the capital city of Colombia, Bogota,
several problems arose. The internet upload bandwidth
available was very limited, and none of the existing
software solutions provided by the legacy providers in
the marketplace were functional in this environment.
To overcome these problems, Dr. Germán, one
radiologist, and two engineers co-founded IMEXHS, a
software platform to resolve such a problem in 2012.
Dr. Germán is the CEO and Co-founder of IMEXHS and
is responsible for strategic planning. He leads and
manages with the support of the other directors of the
company. From the operational standpoint, Dr. Germán
is the final decision-maker of all fronts: commercial,
technological, administrative, and financial.
Within strategic planning, the most critical part is the
definition of the product roadmap. One of Dr. Germán's
main activities is product managing, which defines the
approaches he leads, develops, and will be valuable for
the company's customers.
The Path Filled with Challenges
Initially, Dr. Germán and the team created a
teleradiology platform, which was the origin of
IMEXHS. They started with continuous growth in
product offering, commercial activity, and technology
development, now having more than 300 sites installed
across 15 countries.
Fundamentally, the first challenge that Dr. Germán
faced was his background in medicine, radiology, and
neuroradiology, which did not represent a solid
experience to create a company. It was challenging to
create a company with a background in medicine
because most doctors have a different approach than
business, which requires much learning and creating.
The second big challenge was listing the company on
the Australian stock exchange, making it a public
company. "It has required a lot of learning, resilience, and
effort to incorporate the knowledge of this new world,
which is the stock market world," says Dr. Germán.
Dr. German now finds it challenging to manage a
multinational company with operations in different
countries and corporate governance in Australia and a
large part of its operations in Latin America, which
implies synchronizing different cultures and languages.
IMEXHS has achieved a very efficient corporate order
that has managed to operate in a fine-tuned manner,
despite the restrictions of the pandemic.
Staying on the Top
IMEXHS has always been disruptive in technology and
business models. Besides having a 100% cloud-based
platform, it offers high technology tools such as
advanced post-processing and artificial intelligence.
Beyond that, it has been a pioneer in SaaS models in the
Latin American region. A year ago, it launched a
completely standardized subscription cloud-based
model.
A year ago, IMEXHS launched a completely disruptive
subscription-based model called AQUILA in the Cloud.
Its objective is to democratize access to high-tech
medical imaging across all the market segments,
targeting the low and medium complexity segments
that are underserved or have low-quality software
offerings.
Via AQUILA in the Cloud, the company is offering a
subscription model that no one else is doing, taking
advantage of its cloud technology and multi-tenant
architecture. Since its launch in June 2020, it has
completed 84 installations across 15 countries in Latin
America, including 6 installations in the United States
and 4 in Australia.
| November 2021 |
47

The Post-Pandemic Effect
Talking about the changes in information technology
and healthcare services post-pandemic, Dr. Germán
expresses that the first major change which was made
evident during the pandemic and will be more evident
post-pandemic will be the migration of service to
remote delivery. Demanding greater stability, security,
performance, and functionality of the technology
platforms to support these activities.
The first effect, which he believes is a short-term effect
that will be established, is that telemedicine tactics will
increase the proportion to face-to-face activities.
The second element that he thinks is going to be
enhanced is the incorporation of artificial intelligence.
He mentions that telemedicine is a solution that
probably meets the need in the short term. However,
the ultimate solution is that information doesn't even
have to travel from one place to another and require as
much human intervention.
The incorporation of artificial intelligence can simplify
the deficit of providers in certain areas, partially
replace telemedicine, and make medical practice more
efficient and more precise, which are also urgent needs.
Implementing Technological Developments
One of IMEXHS's premises is to improve the quality of
life of physicians and patients. From the patient's
perspective, which is its main priority, it must offer
technological platforms that handle medical
information securely and efficiently while increasing its
availability for remote or local medical reports and
incorporating more functionalities that allow more
sophisticated analysis.
All this represents a higher quality of medical practice,
greater precision in the results of medical practice,
lower medicolegal risks, and fewer failures in the
provision of care, which all adds up to improving
patient's health.
From the doctors' point of view, the company provides
them with tools that make their work much more
efficient. It also ensures reducing medical-legal errors
and risks, increasing diagnostic accuracy, and resulting
in a higher quality of life, greater efficiency, less risk,
and ultimately even higher income due to improved
productivity.
The Steps Going Forward
Dr. Germán mentions that IMEXHS is focused on
continuing with the disruption in the medical imaging
technologies market, not only in the radiology space
but in many other medical specialties involving imaging.
The company will do this disruption from the
technology and business model angles.
Its business model, a project that will fill a large gap
within an underserved market, will take off significantly
in the next few years. The product offering is preparing
for more complex customers, with new technologies,
incorporating many more elements of artificial
intelligence.
The more artificial intelligence tools IMEXHS's
products have, the more attractive it will be to its
customers. On this front, it is developing an Enterprise
Imaging platform that it believes will break the current
paradigm of service offerings and be just as successful
as AQUILA in the Cloud.
Additionally, in the medical practice, Dr. Germán
understands that to the extent that it is permeated with
technology and, particularly with artificial intelligence
tools, the practice will be more efficient and productive
every day.
Furthermore, Dr. Germán believes that the boundary
between technology and human practice will be
reduced in the medium term. One of the company's
visions is that it has to be present on both fronts
because eventually, it will become one, and it is
preparing for that moment.
| November 2021 |
48

Hernando Celada
Chief Information Ofﬁcer at
ChenMed and Head of
ChenMed’s Software Company
CTech
| November 2021 |
50

Hernando
Celada
Revolutionizing Healthcare by Aligning IT with Business Strategy
E
very industry today needs leaders who are
techies at heart, have a deeper understanding of
the business, and can effectively collaborate with
other business functions. One such leader we, at CIO
Look, came across is Hernando Celada.
Hernando Celada is the Chief Information Officer of
ChenMed, a fast-growing, technology-driven
healthcare provider and long-recognized leader in
value-based care. At ChenMed, Hernando is
responsible for aligning the technology strategy and
assets with the company’s vision and mission.
Hernando is also the Head of ChenMed’s software
company, CTech, where he oversees the development
of ChenMed’s custom-built tools, including their
homegrown electronic health records (EHR) system,
which is designed specifically for value-based care. His
proven track record of aligning IT and business strategy
has enabled ChenMed to scale to about 100 locations
in 12 states.
Disrupting Healthcare with Technology at Center
ChenMed is the largest family-owned, physician-led
primary care provider serving the neediest and most
underserved populations in America. At ChenMed,
Hernando and the team are disrupting healthcare as
they know it with its technology at the center.
ChenMed’s value-based care model allows them to
provide VIP care at a lower cost to the most overlooked
and underserved patients by traditional healthcare
models. Hernando believes the work he and his team do
at ChenMed will revolutionize the way we view
healthcare, both in the United States and across the
globe. And others agree – Fortune Magazine named
ChenMed one of its Change the World companies for
2020 and Great Place to Work Institute certified
ChenMed as a Great Place to Work® in 2021
Solving Complexity for Value-based Providers with
Holistic Solution
Hernando further expresses that CTech has developed
a highly differentiated technology platform built
specifically for at-risk primary care. Most providers
across the country operate in a fee-for-service
environment which is straightforward, but doesn’t
serve doctors nor their patients well.
The value-based care model allows ChenMed to
provide VIP care at a lower cost to patients
underserved by traditional fee-for-service. But value-
based care is complex and requires caring for the whole
patient, which traditional off-the-shelf platforms are
not equipped to support. CTech solves this complexity
for value-based providers and practices with a holistic
| November 2021 |
51

solution that provides a 360-degree view of the patient.
Further, CTech’s platform was built with the physician
in mind: its data-driven best practice alerts are built
directly into the workﬂow to provide easy-to-action
recommendations.
Building High Performing Teams and Strong
Workplace Culture
When it comes to its technology, Hernando believes
that the best way to produce excellent products is by
building high-performing teams and creating a strong
workplace culture.
In addition to driving value through cutting-edge,
custom-built tools that drive the best health outcomes
for ChenMed’s patients, Hernando also has experience
in building high-performing teams and a strong
company culture. IDG’s Insider Pro and Computer
world recently recognized ChenMed as one of the top
100 Best Places to Work in IT. Hernando has built a
culture of positivity, which fosters passion and
innovation among its team members.
Because ChenMed’s work is mission driven, Celada
says that it was crucial to build a custom EHR system
ChenMed’s doctors
improve the health of the
neediest seniors every day
with its intensive high-
touch care model.
‘‘
‘‘
| November 2021 |
52

that focuses on delivering better patient outcomes for
the neediest populations. ChenMed’s commitment to
improving lives extends beyond its patient care and is
reflected in its investment in its employees. ChenMed
invests in skill-building for its staff by offering
exceptional growth resources, leadership programs,
mentoring, competitive compensation, technical
training and certification.
Delivering Custom-Built Care
Hernando believes that clinical care is just one of
several factors in a patient’s total health. Delivering
complete VIP care requires attention to be paid to
other aspects, including genetic code, zip code, and
lifestyle behaviors, he says. “Our custom-built, 100
percent cloud-based system enables our primary care
physicians and care teams to be successful in this model,”
asserts Hernando.
Providing Best Course of Treatment Possible
Talking about the next big change in the healthcare
industry, Hernando mentions that consumer
expectations will continue to drive innovation in
healthcare. Over the last year and a half, with the boom
of virtual care and other digital healthcare tools,
patients want care on their terms, and technology can
help healthcare systems deliver on that expectation.
Through wearable technology, healthcare providers
can learn more about their patients than ever before in
an effort to tailor care plans and provide the best
course of treatment possible. Finally, augmented, not
artificial, intelligence will be a gamechanger. While
physicians will ultimately make decisions for their
patients’ care, data-driven recommendations can
enable them to do so efficiently and with better
predictability.
Aspiring to Create Impact
Hernando believes his path will lead him where he can
make the greatest amount of impact for ChenMed as
well as the healthcare system overall. His experience in
technology has afforded him the opportunities he has
been presented to date, but he also has a huge passion
for the business overall.
Enlightening Younger Ones
In his advice to budding leaders in the healthcare
sector, Hernando says, “Develop relationships with your
business stakeholders – be a thought partner, not just an
order taker. The best ideas and most successful results are
born from the collaboration between technology and
business leaders.”
| November 2021 |
53

T
echnology plays a vital role in determining how
we live, work, interact, and connect. It has
become the most important part of all business
processes. No business can flourish without the
adoption of the latest technologies in its business
processes. Technology is continuously gaining greater
in most of the business processes. The use of evolved
technologies in business processes improves the
productivity and efficiency of the organizations'
workers and leaders. Evolving technologies help
leaders manage their businesses in a more organized
manner and help them derive maximum profitability.
The streamlining of business processes becomes easy
and efficient with the use of technologies. The rapidly
evolving innovation in technology is a boon to leaders
for availing edge over others. As the role of technology
is critical in all businesses, the leaders also need to be
technically apt, smart, and capable of utilizing
technologies effectively. Knowledge or awareness of
the potential of particular technologies and the
effective utilization of the technologies or leveraging
technologies diligently are important traits business
leaders should have in the technology-driven world.
Successful business leaders succeed in their businesses
because of their ability to tap the potential of the latest
technologies for leading people by example and
managing their overall business.
The way solutions are delivered to the clients or
customers can change drastically with the evolution of
collaborative technologies, mobility, advanced big data
analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, etc.
Leaders can maximize their capabilities with the use of
all these latest technologies. They need to be more
aware and be updated with the knowledge and
utilization of these technologies. Evolving technology
certainly demands the evolving capabilities of business
leaders. The current digital era requires leaders who
are capable of driving digital transformation.
Technology helps business leaders build capable teams
by training them and tracking their progress, even
remotely. Business leaders can utilize technology to
promote remote work culture. With the evolution of
increasing connectivity with many connecting devices,
artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and cloud
services, there are increased possibilities for
fragmented and remote teams to collaborate efficiently
and drive profitable business results. Taking care of all
stakeholders is possible for business leaders with the
use of innovative technologies. Implementing the latest
technologies is no longer an option for business
leaders; it has become a necessity. Today, it is critical for
them to adopt digitalization for the sustainable growth
and development of their business and deriving
maximum profitability.
The evolving technology demands leaders to be more
innovative, more skilled, and more tech-savvy. They
should use the key tools and technologies effectively to
strengthen the business potential of their
organizations. In the current and future times, business
leaders have to embrace advanced business analytics
technologies to tap the potential of data to get better
insights for taking the most important business
decisions. Harmonizing understanding of data analytics
with analytical tools and business context will give
business leaders a huge edge over others. This will be
the most common basic norm in the future for business
leaders as this will become the most important aspect
of businesses.
Collaborative technologies are becoming the most
important part of the business process more than ever
since the pandemic has fostered the remote work
culture. Business leaders should effectively manage the
drawbacks of remote work culture for driving the
productive and efficient use of all employees' time. In
the future, they need to be sharper to take advantage
of collaborative platforms to ensure that there is no
communication gap with anyone. Leaders need to be
more effective in understanding remote work culture
and using communication tools diligently for effectively
managing people and projects together.
Technology can also be effectively used to empower
leadership with more abilities, take the most informed
business decisions, and have future insights to avail
competitive advantage over others in the industry.
Leaders should empower employees and communicate
important messages succinctly and concisely to all
stakeholders for critically aligning everyone to
organizations' common goals. Business leaders who will
make the best use of the right tools at the right time will
be the most successful leaders in the technology space.
Embracing Changes
| November 2021 |
54

How is
TECHNOLOGY
Shaping the
LEADERSHIP
for the FUTURE?
| November 2021 |
76
| November 2021 |
55

Jason Bressler
Adapting Innovative Technologies for Successful Business Drive
O
ver the years, businesses had to adapt to the
innovative waves of technological and digital
advancements to stay relevant and eager.
Adapting to these changes can be difficult at times, but
it has become a necessity to welcome these changes
with wide arms. The mortgage is one of the sectors that
wasn't wholly based on the technological aspect.
However, in recent times the views of industry experts
have entirely shifted towards implementing technology
to have a competitive edge over the cutthroat market.
Jason Bressler, the Chief Technology Officer at United
Wholesale Mortgage, is one of the early adopters of
technology and completely embraces this shift and has
helped micro-enterprises adapt and grow through their
technology for over two decades.
Jason has worked in every imaginable IT role in an
organization from the bottom-up over the course of his
career. This experience gives him the depth and
breadth necessary to lead and grow a large IT
organization inside the mortgage space to be an
industry leader.
Jason has had to overcome many obstacles in his
career, from starting out young and having to learn to
ropes of both the financial industry and teaching
himself the technology necessary to power it, to coming
into organizations where he was responsible for
overhauling and scaling entire IT teams to large-scale
enterprise IT organizations. He's proud of having failed
a million times because he's always made a point to
learn from each failure and never repeat it.
Under Jason's leadership, UWM has set the tone for
the entire mortgage industry by reacting to clients
quickly, efficiently, and with scale.
In an interview conducted between CIO LOOK and
Jason Bressler, we tried to gain insights into his career
and his passionate approach towards helping upcoming
businesses.
Below are the highlights of the interview.
mission and vision.
United Wholesale Mortgage is a wholesale mortgage
lender, which means we work exclusively with
independent mortgage brokers to offer borrowers
mortgages that are fast, easy and affordable. We are
committed to growing the independent mortgage
broker channel by offering elite speed and service to
their borrower clients and believe that the measure of
technology being effective is the time it takes to close a
loan. UWM leads the industry by closing loans in 18
days as opposed to the industry average, is between
45-60 days.
Technology Focused niche through your expertise in
the market?
I'm proud to be part of a team that makes a positive
impact on our clients and their borrowers every single
day by developing propriety software that addresses
their needs while helping them grow their business. I
believe very strongly in a "build vs. buy" mentality, in
part because I believe the only way to truly scale,
innovate and deliver a superior product is to grow it,
build it and enhance it as much as possible through user
feedback. That's just not possible to do successfully
unless it's yours so that you have the control and
flexibility to adapt and make immediate enhancements
to it. We'll deploy to a wide-ranging product suite for
both internal team members and our broker
community 5 or 6 times a day. Some of the coolest
innovations we've launched in the past 12 months
include:
UWM InTouch, a mobile app that provides the ability
for Independent Mortgage Brokers to navigate
everything from Underwriting until the loan is Cleared
to Close from anywhere they have their phone.
| November 2021 |
58

Jason Bressler
Chief Technology Ofﬁcer
Universal Wholesale Mortgage
| November 2021 |
59

Including document upload, e-sign capabilities, push
notifications, and more.
Blink+, an enhancement to the online mortgage
application launched in 2016, which includes the ability
to automatically pull credit, e-sign docs, and co-browse
screens with borrowers. Blink+ is a Point of Sale (POS),
Loan Origination System (LOS), and Customer
Relationship Manager (CRM) all-in-one package that
UWM makes available as one of its many partnership
initiatives to Independent Mortgage Brokers.
Ÿ Investment into machine learning and Robotic
Process Automation (RPA) to further advance our
operational excellence while driving down costs
Ÿ Investment in our technology platform and on-site
teams resulting in additional operational efficiencies
focused on reducing costs, reducing closing times,
and increasing loan processing speed
Ÿ Investments in the cloud, as well as technologies
that increase Underwriting efficiencies, such as
Automated Document Recognition and Optical
Character Recognition, have strengthened our
technology advantage while driving greater
efficiency and reducing both fixed and variable costs
Ÿ In 2Q21, we launched a proprietary document
management software platform that enables end-
to-end document management, making our process
more efficient. We expect estimated annual costs
savings of approximately $8M.
resourceful?
We measure the success of our technologies by the
time it takes to close a loan. UWM leads the industry by
offering the shortest closing times available while also
offering our clients elite service.
What, according to you, could be the next big change
in the application development industry? How is your
company preparing to be a part of that change?
A big change coming in the application development
industry-specific to the mortgage industry is likely how
the capabilities of artificial intelligence are
incorporated into what we do. We are continuing to
invest in this technology to ensure we have the ability
to include it in things we do not need human
intervention for in loan processing and eventually
allowing us to speed up the loan processing time.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for UWM?
I envision myself growing our technology team beyond
our current 1,300 team members so we can continue to
innovate for tomorrow faster, expand our current
technology offering even more, and thinking about new
ways to help our broker clients with new technology we
haven't even considered yet. At this point, it's about
innovation. How can my team not only innovate
internally, and not just how can we create better and
cooler products for the broker community, but how can
we reshape the entire FinTech space? I want to be a
leader in that, today and in the future.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the application
development sector?
Don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to take
risks—Gamble on yourself. There are so many
opportunities to get into the IT field, but it takes
courage and confidence to go after it. Know you're not
going to be an expert, but also know that if you ask
questions and have a tremendous work ethic, it'll come.
And it'll come much faster than you think it will.
A better
broker and
borrower
experience.
“
“
| November 2021 |
60

Jennifer Lauretta
Chief Technology
Innovation Ofﬁcer
360 HealthTech Pte. Ltd.
| November 2021 |
62

Jennifer Lauretta
Piloting "Tech for Good" Initiative to the
Community and Across Borders Globally
he recent technological advancements came at
Tsuch faster pace that it wouldn’t have if it wasn’t
for the unprecedented occurrence of pandemic.
Industry leaders are always trying to innovate and
improve upon existing technologies to provide better
solutions for any respective field. Jennifer Lauretta, is
one such leader who is committed, result driven and
innovative in the advanced technological industry.
With proven set of expertise, Jennifer Battles COVID
with AI and Data Science to control continuous
epidemic outbreak at 360 HealthTech. She is the Chief
Technology Innovation Officer working with
authorities, scientists & engineers pioneering the latest
innovation technology to infected regions.
We at CIO Look came across Jennifer in our endeavor
to find ‘The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in
Tech.’ We got into conversation with Jennifer to gain in-
depth insights about her fight to control the continuous
epidemic outbreak.
The Overview of 360 HealthTech
360 HealthTech was founded with a mission in mind to
connect the world via a collaborative platform
borrowing the strength of the most advanced
technologies from developed countries. It helps
address social issues and health issues at risk, facing the
majority at large through partnerships to achieve goals.
360 HealthTech promotes fostering and building
humankind's well-being and good health by using tech
and innovation to enhance health infrastructure and
industry to serve the aged population living more
harmoniously for future communities and sustainable
cities.
The company offers Artificial Intelligence Internet of
Things (AIoT) and customized designed solutions for
B2B & B2C clients. The AIoT products distribution
channels from the 360 HealthTech collaborative
platform were set up to meet the needs of various
countries worldwide, from APAC to Europe.
360 HealthTech is the mainstream distributor for many
China AI manufacturers and developers’ new AIoT
inventions. Initially, 360 HealthTech was incorporated
in the beginning of Year 2020 to address the silver
generation’s healthcare issues.
However, there was an upturn of event. Due to the
outbreak of global COVID19, 360 HealthTech becomes
an immediate contact point of platform in global aid to
deploy anti-COVID19 pandemic solutions for
humanitarian initiatives addressing world health risks
and emergency pandemic issues using Artificial
Intelligence, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big
Data technologies.
The challenges 360 HealthTech faces are the different
countries' governance compliances, adaptation to the
changing technologies into the countries' ecosystem,
customers' preferences, cultural differences, and
practices of the locals affect significantly how fast the
AIoT products are being adopted between countries. It
partners its technologies vendors, researchers,
scientists, manufacturers, and developers will continue
to adapt to comply with stringent regulations and to fit
into the worldwide.
Award-Winning Expertise
Jennifer expresses that the formula that determines
| November 2021 |
63

her success is the purpose, talent, culture, customer
trust and loyalty, customer-centric solutions approach,
and building a rapport and trust through friendship first
before business.
Jennifer believes that when people come together with
a common purpose, it delivers the perfect result, and
she is thankful for her teams' supports. She
understands that hiring the right people on board
strengthens the company to co-create the future by
building a culture that fuels innovation to reinvent
working methods.
According to Jennifer, building trust in a customer or
business relationship takes effort if company
management and representatives are willing to be
open, honest, and efficient when communicating with
customers. She develops a customer-centric approach
by learning what the clients do and thinks in-depth of
their surrounding circumstances. She analyzes their
problems and needs and offers them feasible solutions.
Jennifer states that the people she meets can choose to
give business; however, it is crucial to winning their
hearts. She says, "Business is not necessarily an open deal;
the best business deals are ones that are hidden. We can
only see this opportunity if that person allows us to, so it's
how they feel about us that can make them open doors for
us." Before she asks people for business, she starts a
friendship by giving value and building trust in them. In
time, generally, people feel the inclination to make sure
they repay us when opportunities arise.
Implying Innovative Technologies
Jennifer states that the industry ahead is full of
opportunities that solely depend on business leaders
embracing the transformation and performance
opportunities from data analytics and digitalization,
particularly the rapidly evolving AI, robotics, and
automation opportunities. Business leaders need to
invest in technology to transform the organization with
new mindsets and reimagine business models and
processes. Having an action plan to test, experiment,
learn and scale fast; digitalize assets and capabilities;
stay calibrated and invest in digital technological
implementation to transform; accordingly, combine
workers and machines integration to improve a new
focus on human capital.
Undeniably, 360 HealthTech's business operation is
also constantly evolving with changing times and
customers' market demand. It plans to expand its
operation in various dimensions to enhance its global
supply chain network's currently trending smart
technologies application. It will do this by bringing in
more partnerships through curated collaborative
opportunities in the healthcare industry, using different
omnichannel' strategies via technological integration
on its platform as a point of contact.
Goals for Fourth Industrial Revolution
Jennifer expresses that the business model of 360
HealthTech isn't the conventional global IT platform. Its
success is strategized accordingly to geographical
positioning to connect world distributors, country
managers, account managers, and business
development managers to reach out to their targeted
audiences within their own countries.
Jennifer states that in the fourth industrial revolution,
360 HealthTech plans to sell and distribute tangible
AIoT smart technologies products worldwide. AIoT,
import and export products, are regulated mostly in all
countries across the globe. However, there are still
challenges and gaps to build the full ecosystem to make
import and trading seamless. The company has
integrated electronic bank transfers and a digital
payment gateway to transact for import and export.
Valuable Guidance
Jennifer advises budding entrepreneurs aspiring to
venture into the technology sector to be courageous to
adapt to changes and uncertainty and be willing to
learn work on things that are out-of-your comfort zone.
"Work alongside with your counterparts to gain first-hand
perspective for better maneuvering of technological
directions," concludes Jennifer.
| November 2021 |
64

“A winning
strategy, powered
by insights from
data and AI when
executed at scale,
will speed up
certainty across
your enterprise.”
| November 2021 |
65

Kashif Dafedar
Design Technology Specialist
CallisonRTKL
| November 2021 |
66

Kashif Dafedar
Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Design Practices
or the past few decades, technology has been
Frevolutionizing the architectural design space. By
leveraging technology, many architects are
experimenting and pursuing new horizons in design.
They are harnessing emerging technologies to bring
transformational design solutions to the table. One
such tech-savvy architect is Kashif Dafedar, the Design
Technology Specialist at CallisonRTKL.
At CRTKL, Kashif is responsible for digital
interventions in design processes and works with
project teams to enhance and optimize existing
workflows. He has always been adept at most
architectural tools and their supportive programming
platforms. His passion and proficiency reflect in his
work.
We at CIO Look reached out to Kashif in our endeavor
to find Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech to know
more about his journey and how he has created an
impact in the AEC industry through his expertise.
leader until your current position at CallisonRTKL.
you are today?
Before I started working as a digital technology
specialist, I had the opportunity to work on many
planning and architectural projects. My exposure to the
diverse collection of project types was critical in my
current understanding of design and technological
interventions in the AEC industry.
While I have always been adept at digital technologies
and would easily understand concepts like BIM, visual
scripting, and programming, this affinity towards
digital, coupled with my experience on complex design
projects, pushed me towards a career in design
technology.
One of the critical factors in my reaching the level I
have today is the guidance and support of the CRTKL
leadership. While most design managers encourage
digital tinkering, very few understand translating
prototypical ideas into viable design delivery. We go
beyond that at our firm, and I have been fortunate to
work with enthusiastic mentors about digital
integration; here, I am encouraged to innovate and
push the boundaries of conventional design practices.
The journey here has been quite exhilarating, mainly
because these are relatively new sets of responsibilities
within the AEC industry and the frontier for digital
innovation is exceptionally complex. The learning never
stops, as opportunities to learn from one's failures are
balanced with occasional epiphanies and successes that
make it all worthwhile.
mission and vision.
CRTKL is a global architecture, planning, and design
practice, which began over seven decades ago and has
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67

evolved into a cultural agency to advance positive
outcomes in our communities.
Ours is a multicultural, multi-generational team
situated across 18 offices worldwide that work as one
bringing together a diverse range of skills that advance
project outcomes and improve their social and
environmental impact. As curious thinkers and
changemakers, we face the challenges of this world and
are ready to ask the questions that hold others back.
Development initiatives in the Middle East, Europe, and
the globe captivate our collective imaginations – we
know what is possible and seek to build a more
equitable future for our people and our planet.
We embrace digital transformation and all it can do to
enhance our design. With strong in-house capabilities
and pioneering research and development programs,
we harness its power with incredible speed and
efficiency to offer up the best solutions to meet our
clients' complex challenges.
Architecture & Planning niche through your expertise
in the market?
Data has become the most valuable commodity in the
world. It is no different in the AEC industry, with a huge
amount of data generated throughout the project's
lifecycle. Unfortunately, conventional design processes
are not built to leverage this data effectively.
Architectural design processes are very classical –
while we use computers, the overall process is still very
analog.
Where many in the industry still rely on conventional
delivery formats like CADs, PDFs, and in a few
instances, BIM models, at CRTKL, we are conscious of
the benefits of integrating design data into our projects.
Apart from the building data found in our BIM, we also
provide custom tools that help understand contextual,
climatic, and post-occupancy usage data. We are
fortunate to work with clients who understand the
importance of this insight and the potential value
gained throughout the entire lifecycle of their projects.
This is perhaps the best time to invest in integrated
practices. The plethora of tools available in the market
now can transform the AEC industry for the better and
it is up to us to seize the opportunity. I am proud to be
part of the team leading that effort at CRTKL.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring
to the Design Technology industry?
Technological advancements in the construction
industry have paved the way for us to undertake
increasingly complex projects and deliver them faster
with improved profit margins. Using advanced
modelling techniques, we can put together projects
that would otherwise be impossible to build.
What I would like to see now is the application of these
tools to target climate positive outcomes and greater
social impact. From improved operational efficiencies
to new construction methodologies and buildings that
feed and fuel their communities, l, I believe the
technology we have at our disposal can steer the AEC
Our team addresses the
imperatives of resiliency,
wellbeing, and
technology and their
influence in the built
environment through a
human-centric design
approach.
“
“
| November 2021 |
68

industry towards a greener future where our buildings
and cities are optimised and able to give back. My
mission is to help drive this; I want to apply my
knowledge to enable more responsible architecture.
and what are your future goals for CallisonRTKL?
CRTKL's vision provides a total commitment to
sustainability. It establishes a digital-ﬁrst culture where
technology and data empower our people, and
research-based insights enrich our internal processes
and client-facing solutions. I am very fortunate to be
working alongside individuals who align with these
values and are committed to improving the profession
and the way we live, work, and play with the help of
technology. The digital transformation initiatives at
CRTKL empower us with the tools and knowledge
needed to deliver on this and instill in us a desire to do
and build better.
I see CRTKL as a cultural agency that can provide
specialised design solutions that prioritise health and
wellbeing, without compromising quality, sustainability,
cost, or time. There is still much to be done to reach the
goals and ambitions we've laid out here and I see myself
as an integral part of this process and the ongoing
integration of digital technology in design.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the Design sector?
Good architecture and design are fundamental to the
health and wellbeing of our planet. The requirements
for conscious and responsible designs are incredibly
dire. Anyone aspire to work within the design sector
should take seriously the responsibility to correct
course and transform the built environment into a
vehicle for positive environmental and societal change.
Technology and digital innovation will be critical to this,
so upskill in these areas if you want to effect change
and future-proof your position in the sector. In short,
don't wait.
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69

A prosperous future for
America's workers depends
on a dedicated partner.
| November 2021 |
72

The 30 most influential business leaders in tech 2021.

The 30 most influential business leaders in tech 2021.

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