The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech April 2022

Leveraging Technical Expertise and
analytics to Improve Financial Health for All
TimConroy
VOL 04 I ISSUE 03 I 2022
The
Most
Influential
Business
2022
Embracing Changes
How is Technology Shaping
the Leadership for the Future?
Tech to Top
Innovative Leadership
in Tech Space

A Guiding Light
for the
Noble Future
ave you ever imagined how our lives would be different if
Hwe didn't have computers or smartphones? It isn't easy to
fathom life without them. When I wonder what keeps us
hooked is that the technology provides a better user experience
with consistent updates. The tech industry is evolving at a
breakneck pace, considerably changing our way of life. With the
rapid growth of tech professions, everyone opts to study tech to
stay in the race. It gives us the impression that technology is here
to stay and will continue to change how we live.
As a result of this progress, the number of technology leaders is
growing. There are tens of thousands of digital companies
worldwide, and many entrepreneurs are leading them by giving it
their sweat and blood to stay relevant in the tech world.
When we look at the leading tech companies, their founders are
some of the most inﬂuential leaders. A prime example of such
leadership is Elon Musk, a well-known entrepreneur who branched
out into various industries, taking the business world by the storm
with his innovative tech ideas.
What is it about leaders like him that makes them so noteworthy?
They have several characteristics that set them apart from the
crowd. With their tenacious and deliberate approach, they inspire
people around them. They face challenges head-on, looking at the
big picture, paying close attention to the details, and looking out
for everything that can help them achieve their goals.
EDITOR’S NOTE

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world changing quickly, the only strategy guaranteed to fail is not taking
risks," says Mark Zuckerberg. When great leaders take chances, they build confidence in themselves, and
confidence is the key to winning people over. And if you're a leader today, you must take opportunities to
produce something different than the rest.
In this edition of "The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech, 2022," CIO Look has identified influential
individuals who have disrupted the tech sector with their expertise.
Explore more similar and intriguing stories to learn more about the achievements of such exceptional
leaders in the tech sector. To acquire insight into the area, read the articles of our editorial staff and the
CxO viewpoints of some of the industry's leading executives.
Happy reading!
Sonali Dhiwar
Sonali
Dhiwar

TimConroy
10
ARTICLES
How is Technology Shaping the
Leadership for the Future?
Embracing Changes
20
Innovative Leadership
in Tech Space
Tech to Top
38

16
28
22
36
32
44
40
52
48
60
56
68
64
72
Angela Alvarez
A Proven Leader in the Corporate
Finance Space
Daniel Hofmann The Visionary IT Whizz
Jay Pasteris
The Heart of a Technologist with the
Vision to Transform Organizations
Kris Rao
Driving Remarkable Shifts in the
Transformation Space
Nick Miletich
One of a Kind Innovative IT Leader Committed
to Delivering the Best SAP Solutions with
Technical Expertise and Business Acumen
Rahul Bhardwaj
Building Security and Privacy
Conscious Culture
Zac Schindler
Assisting Clients in Reaching
their Business Goals
Rocco Pellegrinelli
Bringing Real Value to Fund Managers
with Innovative Solutions
Pat Jerding
A Reliable Leader Pioneering
Disruptive Solutions
Lily Ley
Driving Business Growth with
Adaptive Leadership
Kevin Steer
A Pioneering Leader Revolutionizing
the Finance Space
Ina Behrendt
Engraining Innovation for the
Next Generation
Carey Smith
A Visionary Trailblazer with
Focused Approach
Tim Hardcastle
Leading with Awareness and Innovatively
Bridging the Gap in the Insurance Industry

Brief
Company Name
Angela Alvarez
Founder &
Executive Chairman
Aglaia Capital
aglaiacapital.com
Aglaia Capital is an independent Corporate Finance advisory.
Featuring Person
Ajit Prabhu
CEO
QuEST Global
quest-global.com
QuEST Global has been a trusted global product engineering
services company.
Amir Arooni
CIO
Discover Financial Services
discover.com
Discover Financial Services strive to be the leading digital bank
and payments services company.
Aaron Gwinner
CIO
Reynolds American Inc.
reynoldsamerican.com
Reynolds American Inc. is a world-leading manufacturer that’s
transforming the tobacco industry through innovation
Carey Smith
CIO
Orchid Insurance
orchidinsurance.com
Orchid is a Program Administrator and Wholesale Broker that
is dedicated to serving property and casualty agencies.
Cindy Hoots
CIO
AstraZeneca
astrazeneca.com
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused
pharmaceutical company.
Daniel Hofmann
CEO
Hornetsecurity
hornetsecurity.com
Hornetsecurity is a leading global email cloud security
company.
Dennis Cahill
CTO
Wolters Kluwer
wolterskluwer.com
Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in information services and
solutions company.
David Reid
CTO
NOV
nov.com
NOV delivers technology-driven solutions to empower the
global energy industry.
Frank Weishaupt
CEO
Owl Labs
owllabs.com
Owl Labs is building the most revolutionary collaboration
technology the world has ever seen.
Gint Grabauskas
CTO
Offerpad
offerpad.com
Offerpad, the new way to buy and sell a homes.
Ina Behrendt
CIO
Miami Ad School
miamiadschool.com
M.AD, prepare students to face that reality and thrive.
Jay Pasteris
CIO & CISO
GreenPages
greenpages.com
GreenPages plans, implements, and manages secure, high-
performance digital operating environments for leading
companies nationwide.
Justin Foster
CTO
Cysiv
cysiv.com
Cysiv 24/7 security operations center-as-a-service helps reduce
cyber risk.
Kevin Steer
Founder & CEO
121advisor
121advisor.com
121Advisor is a visionary technology solution and consulting
services company.

Brief
Company Name
Kris Rao
CIO & CTO
HNI Corporation
hnicorp.com
HNI is a leading provider of workplace furnishings.
Featuring Person
Lily Ley
VP & CIO
PACCAR
paccar.com
PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture
and customer support of premium light-, medium- and heavy-duty
trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates.
Larry Cates
CEO
Global Learning Systems
globallearningsystems.com
Global Learning Systems provides security awareness, anti-
phishing & compliance training programs for employees.
Loris Degioanni
CTO
Sysdig
sysdig.com
Sysdig is driving the standard for cloud and container security.
Nick Miletich
CTO
Managecore
managecore.com
Managecore is a certified SAP Partner and the leading provider
of SAP Technical Managed Services.
Pat Jerding
CIO & Senior
Vice President
Univar Solutions
univarsolutions.com
Univar Solutions is a leading global chemical and ingredient
distributor and provider of value added services.
Rocco Pellegrinelli
Founder & CEO
Trendrating
trendrating.net
Trendrating is a global leader in the field of advanced analytics
and portfolio management technology.
Rahul Bhardwaj
Global Privacy &
Data Security
Kroll
duffandphelps.com
Kroll provides proprietary data, technology and insights to help
clients stay ahead of complex demands related to risk,
governance and growth.
Shamim Mohammad
CIO
carmax
carmax.com
At CarMax, our commitment to innovation and iconic customer
experiences have made us the nation’s largest retailer of used
cars.
Steve Palmucci
Global CIO
Covetrus
covetrus.com
Covetrus is a global animal-health company dedicated to
empowering veterinary practices.
Sandy Rapp
CIO
TravelCenters of America
ta-petro.com
At TravelCenters of America, we invite everyone to make
themselves at home.
Steve McGovern
CEO
Dubber
dubber.net
Dubber is the world's leading provider of cloud-based call
recording and voice AI.
Tim Conroy
CTO
Experian
experian.com
Experian unlocks the power of data to create opportunities for
consumers, businesses and society.
Tim Hardcastle
CEO & Co-founder
INSTANDA
instanda.com
INSTANDA operates exclusively through Software-as-a-
Service and is a radically different approach to insurance
product innovation.
Zac Schindler
Director
doeLEGAL
doelegal.com
doeLEGAL provides advanced information management tools
and elevated support designed to provide corporate legal
departments and law firms.

CONTENT
Senior Editor
DESIGN
Visualizer
Associate Designer Shyam Sonawane
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Amar Sawant
April, 2022
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Tim Conroy
Chief Technology Officer Decision Analytics
Experian UK&I
C O V E R S T O R Y

Experian
unlocks
the power of
data to create
opportunities for
people, businesses,
and society.
“
“
TimConroy

T
oday,manybusinessleadersbelievethatdata
isthemostimportantassetandmostvaluable
resource. Data can reveal the strengths and
weaknesses of businesses and help make
informed decisions. Passionate business
leaders believe in the power of data and are experts at
tapping the potential of data for achieving their organi-
zational goals. Tim Conroy is one such leader who
believes that data has the power to change lives. Seeing
an idea becoming a reality fascinates Tim, marking his
25th year in the industry. With Experian UK&I, Tim
implementshisexpertiseasCTO,UKDecisionAnalytics.
BreakingtheModelofTraditionalLeadership
Following an unconventional route, Tim spent seven
years studying Civil Engineering in Sheffield before
joining the UK's largest postal and delivery company as a
graduate software developer, focusing on Cobol, CICS,
andDB2.Timtoldhisparentsitwasaconsciousdecision,
and the synergies between construction and IT were
there for all to see - both include products being built.
However, the real reason was that Tim wanted to
continueplayingfootballforalocalteam.
Tim spent two years coding, realizing he wasn't the best
at it, but he managed to create an environment where
people worked well together, as told by several col-
leagues. Fortunately, he then did a role swap with the
team leader who wanted to go back to the technical side
of things, and with that, his obsession with working with
techteamsbegan.
Tim undertook seven years with the postal company
before being part of a large outsource to CSC. He was
fortunate to land his first prominent managerial role in
2003, never looking back. Tim actively looked to take
leadership roles across various domains as he wanted to
understand the pressures across the entire supply chain
–Sales,Technology,Delivery,andOperations.
One of the most significant challenges Tim faced was
probablytryingtobreakthemodelofatraditionalleader
in a corporate company. His primary advice to anyone is
thattosucceed,"Youmustbeyourselfandhavealaserfocus
onyourgreatestasset-thepeopleyouworkwith."
Timbelievesthattechisjusttechwithoutagreatteamto
turn into a product the industry craves and helps solve
solutionstheyface.
At Experian's inaugural Careers Week Tim was asked
howhemanagedtosucceedinthisandhispreviousroles.
He said, "It's a combination of things – having confidence in
yourself, recognizing I worked well with people, and building
onthatexperienceallhelptogetmetowhereIamtoday."
Enabling People to Thrive by Unlocking the Power of
Data
Experian is a global organization playing an important
role in the worldwide economy. Its mission is to unlock
the power of data to create opportunities for people,
businesses, and society. Its strategy has been to improve
financial health for all through its core products, social
innovation, and community investment schemes. By
investing in its people, technology, and innovation,
Experian responsibly harnesses data to transform
businesses, help communities prosper, and enable
peopletothrive.
We believe data
has the power to
change lives.
By helping people and
organisations make
the most of their
data, we can make a
positive difference
to our society
and communities.

EmpoweringConsumerstoTakeControlofFinances
The world is built on data. It's all around us, growing in
power and influence every day. But only by understand-
ingthatdatacanitbedeployedcorrectly.Experianworks
to turn that data into something meaningful. It gathers,
analyzes, and interprets data to help organizations of all
shapes and sizes achieve their goals – whether that
meansplanningforasecurefuture,gettingtoknowtheir
customers better, or helping them understand the
suitabilityoftheircustomersforfinancialproducts.
Experian empowers consumers to take control of their
finances and meet their ambitions, such as buying their
firsthome.Asanexample,intheUSandtheUK,Experian
haslaunchedExperianBoost,givingpeople–forthevery
first time – the chance to improve their Experian Credit
Score by adding additional regular payments to their
reports. By helping people and organizations make the
We unlock
the power of
data to create
opportunities
for people,
business and
society.

most of their data, Experian makes a positive difference
tosocietyandcommunities.
LeveragingTechnologicalAdvancements
Experian currently has 110 million consumers using its
free platforms to help them understand and manage
theircreditreports;since2013,Experianhasreached61
million people through its social innovation program. In
2021, it volunteered over 21,000 hours, focusing on
financialeducationandotherrelevantcauses.
Experian believes it is its responsibility as a leading
player to help consumers and organizations leverage its
expertise to improve financial wellbeing for all. Tim says
four key areas of focus where Experian is leveraging
technological advancements are: API & Microservice,
Comprehensive Automated Testing & Deployments,
AdoptingDevOps,andCloudMigration.
BeingMoreDiverseandInclusive
Tim would like the industry to be more diverse and
inclusive. He would like to see an industry accessible to
everyone and provides opportunities for people of all
backgrounds.
Experian is 20,000 people across 44 countries, compris-
ing94nationalitiesandspanningfivegenerations.Itfeels
it is vital that everyone feels supported to grow and
succeed. In 2021 it launched its first global Diversity
Equity and Inclusion reportto increase transparency
around its progress and goals. Tim would like to see that
become an industry standard, certainly for the largest
playersinthemarket.
Experian continues to invest in innovation, specifically in
leading-edge technologies where it can add additional
value to its customers. It is working with its wider
ecosystem of partners to bring this to life, sharing its
resourcesandexpertisetoinnovatetogether.
EnablingGreatThingstoHappenwithGreatCulture
It's hard for Tim to believe, but this year marks his silver
jubilee year in IT, and while he has always had support,
Experianisdifferent.
The culture of learnability, togetherness, and environ-
ment Experian operates in enables great things to
happen.Assuch,andit'sprobablynosurprise,hedoesn't
lookbeyondExperian.
In terms of future goals, two broad domains that come to
Tim's mind are obsessing about delivering value to
market by raising the bar in product development, and
constantlyhiringbrilliantpeopletojoinExperian.
Tim says, “We have an abundance of talent in Experian and
I’ve always felt it crucial when your fortunate to be in a
position of influence, that you make time for those who are
looking for support with their careers. Personally, it’s hard to
beatseeingcolleaguesunlocktheirpotential.”
SuccinctAdvice
Tim advises aspiring entrepreneurs in the innovation
sector, "Go for it! If you are passionate about what you do,
are driven to succeed, and believe in your cause, then the
world is your oyster. There has never been a better time to be
innovative due to the rate of technological change and the
global reach social media platforms are giving us. Surround
yourself with good people, work hard and grab the opportu-
nitywithbothhands.”

Angela Alvarez
t was the mission of mixing traditional Corporate
IFinance and the Financial industry with the new
digital world that inspired Angela Alvarez to found
AGLAIA CAPITAL. Her belief that technology and
human sciences can go together to face this new
technological world without losing humanity has taken
Angela to great heights. Her work reflects her passion
for decentralised technologies and cooperation
business models.
Angela envisages Aglaia Capital as a tool for a change in
the financial industry from the business and technology
perspective and also to imprint some codes of values
that are more present in technology.
Inspired by her virtues, we at CIO Look caught up with
Angela to learn more about her journey and how she is
contributing to the finance space through Aglaia
Capital.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position at AGLAIA CAPI-
TAL. What challenges have you had to overcome to
reach where you are today?
The path towards leadership can be various. Some
traits are present in you since you are a child, and those
traits appear when something triggers, and that type of
leadership is the most powerful because it comes from
the inner essence. It can be followed and copied, but is
unique in the essence, as it has a purpose that drives it. I
identify myself with that type who does not intend to
do what I have believed that has to be done; that belief
has also converted into a purpose, in a business, in a
mission.
I have faced many challenges, and I am still facing them.
Some are related to what implies innovation and the
creation of new infrastructure, and others related to
the values and interests around the business. I think
that this century should be a predominance of the
fairer business in finance and the alternative
investments world, and likely sooner or later will make
a difference for the preference of the consumers as it
happens in other industries.
Tell us something more about your company and its
mission and vision.
Aglaia Capital is a new generation of corporate finance
and alternative investments. It has a holistic approach
covering a traditional corporate finance discipline,
focused on Hotels, Real Estate, and Alternative
Financing, from lower to big deals, from simpler to
more complex deals. It is focused on digital assets as
well, considering them as a more evolved way of the
same reality. We cover the whole life of the digital
asset, advising on the full token generating event, also
covering the technological and legal part through
affiliates teams, also providing services for structuring
the funds and fund management through our trusted
providers. Besides, we cover the functionalities of the
cryptoassets through my newly developed Defi
Permissioned Platform Aglaia Capital DeFi Platform, a
new compliant financial infrastructure focused on
security tokens.
My vision is continually developing a new financial
infrastructure with blockchain, taking advantage of the
discipline of the investment banking world, but with the
efficiency, speed, and automatic trust, that provides the
blockchain, and with code of values based on consensus
and values behind that are the ethos of the company,
such as integrity, sustainability, diversity, and impact for
creating a better world.
Our mission is to transform and continue making evolve
our industry applying blockchain, to make it more
scalable, and imprint a code of values that we consider
that will make a difference also in our industry.
A Proven Leader in the Corporate
Finance Space
www.ciolook.com | April 2022 |
17

Aglaia Capital
is a new
generation of
corporate
ﬁnance and
alternative
investments.
Angela Alvare
Founder and Executive
Chairman
AGLAIA CAPITAL

Enlighten us on how you have impacted the corporate
finance and alternative investment niche through your
expertise in the market.
We have extensive experience and knowledge in our
industry as well as on the players, which makes a
difference for the investors and sponsors, and being
independent we don’t have the conflict of interest that
may have other firms.
Besides, my vision was to apply the discipline of
traditional corporate finance to the cryptoassets world.
We have a unique approach as we cover the whole life
of the cryptoassets since inception or
conceptualization, covering the whole token generating
event, the legal structuring, and, during its life, through
my newly founded Aglaia Capital DeFi Platform. It is an
authorized platform for cryptoassets using a protocol
of smart contracts for security tokens, and with several
functionalities.
We advise in the whole process of the token generating
event, covering also the legal and technical areas
through an affiliated team. We also cover the creation
of the legal structures and asset management, if that is
the case, through our trusted providers, or companies
under the same umbrella, as well as all the tokenization
process and the functionalities of the cryptoasset,
through Aglaia Capital DeFi Platform.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives your organization.
The ethos of Aglaia Capital is around integrity,
innovation, sustainability, diversity, and impact for
making a better world. The work culture is based on
these values, in consensus, and in a code of values
based on maximizing the unique qualities of the team to
contribute to the others. I consider uniqueness and
diversity as well as integrity a competitive advantage in
this new complex world and what is making the
difference.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
We have been pioneers in the industry using blockchain
technology for transforming our industry. My newly
founded Permissioned Defi Platform has been created
with a view of including the functionalities needed for
operating with cryptoassets as a more advanced way of
operating with the assets that are in the real world.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in the corporate finance and alternative
investment industry? How is your company preparing
to be a part of that change?
The financial sector is experimenting already with a
transformation of its financial infrastructure driven by
blockchain, and digital assets. I have been envisaging
that for years, and Aglaia Capital surges as an
expression of my vision on the evolvement of my
industry with blockchain, and with digital assets. The
new Aglaia Capital DeFi Platform is a tool to help in
using that new infrastructure and cryptoassets. We are
already one of the active actors in the transformation
of our industry contributing what we are doing, and
have made so far.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for AGLAIA CAPITAL?
I have already contributed to transforming and creating
a new paradigm for my industry. The future goals for
Aglaia Capital are the consolidation of the traditional
lines of business, the launching and growth of the new
Permissioned DeFi Platform, which is focused on
security tokens, and qualified investors.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the corporate finance and
alternative investment sector?
Resilience, and to help in creating a new generation of
business, supported also with values that facilitate a
more cooperative and fairer ecosystem.
19

U
nprecedented time calls for unprecedented,
innovative, creative, strategic, and thoughtful
solutions, and uncertain challenges and
contingencies require an innovative approach to
solving the problems. Today, an innovative approach in
the leaders is the most fundamental quality to sustain
the competency of their solutions in the market. In
times of unprecedented circumstances and rapid
globalization, the success of businesses is dependent on
keeping pace on a global scale by coming up with
innovative solutions. Technology trends in cloud
computing, social media tools, mobile devices are
driving global growth. Leveraging technology changes
for availing competitive advantage is essential in an
uncertain future. Business leaders need to observe and
realize the needs of customers and end-users and
deliver solutions accordingly using innovative
technologies.
Innovative business leaders strategize about creating a
culture that facilitates innovation. They recognize ways
to create an impact in the industry by coming up with
innovative ideas and innovative technologies or
products to meet the evolving needs of users and
customers and enhance their reputation as a reliable
solution provider. They responsibly plan to build and
deploy the technology to serve the needs of the users
and customers. They don’t want to stay behind in any
way that may hamper the business growth. Instead,
innovative leaders have a forward thought approach,
and their insights help them think ahead of the time and
be prepared to deliver innovative products to meet the
needs of the changing times.
Leaders are an extremely important part of any
business as they set the tone for the functioning of the
business. The right kind of leaders inspire employees;
they keep everyone focused on the right direction and
ensure that they overcome common challenges for the
sustainable growth of the organization they are leading.
While every leader has to face challenges from dealing
with conflicts in the office to supporting people from
different generations in the organizations, technology
leaders have to face additional and unique issues. In the
technology space, leaders have to be very up-to-date,
precise, innovative, clever, and move continuously at a
rapid pace to suit the changing marketplace trends.
They also have to ensure high levels of reliability, speed
with accuracy, and deliver continuously good
performance. Technology leaders have to manage many
more things than conventional leaders.
Today’s technology is changing rapidly, and because of
that technology, leaders have to face new challenges
related to managing their teams and supporting staff
effectively. They need the support of staff that is
competitive in understanding the need for upgraded
technology. They have to train their staff in operating
the latest software as well as hardware efficiently.
Leaders with special skills and expertise can help them
be more creative and more innovative in making sure
that they are leveraging technology effectively for the
growth of the businesses.
Succeeding in the technology sector means grabbing
opportunities as they appear and be prepared to
convert opportunities into success. Tech leaders should
be able to recognize and evaluate all the opportunities
related to their business, especially with a more keen
sense of optimism. They should install the latest
technologies for meeting regulatory and compliance
issues for organizations. They should be able to deal
I N N O V A T I V E
LEADERSHIP
IN TECH SPACE
Tech to Top
| April 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
20

with a rapid rate of pace and should also ensure precise
accuracy. They should be able to handle the pressure,
explore new concepts, and come up with innovations to
increase the affordability of their solutions.
Technology leaders should have conﬁdence and
decisiveness to take clever decisions in the interest of
the businesses. They should have an empowering and
collaborative nature to promote the cooperative spirit
in teammates for delivering good results to all
stakeholders. Innovative leaders should also have
excellent communication skills and be willing to
continuously learn and grow. Innovative business
leaders in technology can be highly successful if they
have great technical abilities, innovative approaches,
and shrewd business acumen.

Carey Smith
Chief Information Ofﬁcer
Orchid Insurance

CAREY SMITH
A Visionary Trailblazer with Focused Approach
rtificial Intelligence continues to advance
Athrough remarkable milestones that can be
utilized to change the way we do business. AI
can solve several business problems, and technologists
leverage it to prepare for the future. Carey Smith is one
such technologist and an evangelist of the
democratization of technology. He believes that placing
the power to make digital product changes into the
hands of the customer and internal business teams is
the significant change that can be an industry disruptor.
As the Chief Information Officer of Orchid Insurance,
Carey strives to deliver personalized, intuitive, simple
yet powerful digital solutions that allow easy self-
service no matter when, where, and how the customer
wants to engage.
The Initiation
With nearly 30 years of experience building and
delivering technology solutions and a reputation as a
progressive IT leader, Carey Smith has a long history of
driving transformational change at organizations within
the insurance, financial services, and manufacturing
industries.
Carey focuses on developing technology strategies and
delivering digital solutions that amplify the business,
which drives the achievement of the enterprise vision.
Instead of being constrained by the traditions of legacy
IT, Carey champions the use of emerging technologies
and modern delivery practices to transform business
models, drive extreme growth and achieve industry-
best results.
Carey began his technology career developing digital
solutions and expanded his roles covering all aspects of
technology. As a leader, Carey focuses on unifying
technology and business so that IT teams operate as
business units with accountability to business
outcomes. Carey has delivered transformational
change to enterprises large and small, established
market incumbents and startups spanning public,
private, and not-for-profit sectors.
Cultural change is the biggest challenge Carey always
faces, regardless of the organization. Changing
institutional IT mindsets to think strategically is key to
success from a business perspective. Instead of
focusing on traditional IT metrics and KPIs to measure
outcomes, Carey's technology organizations focus on
value delivered to the customer. Measuring value and
holding technology teams accountable to business
outcomes helps shape a different perspective and build
a stronger, trusting partnership between technology
and business.
The First Choice
Orchid Insurance is a unique and rapidly growing
Managing General Underwriter specializing in
distributing and underwriting residential and
commercial property. Orchid is committed to being
"The First Choice" for catastrophe property insurance
for thousands of independent retail agencies from
coast to coast. For more than two decades, Orchid's
products, processes, and people have consistently
delivered outstanding coverage solutions in the
insurance industry by offering customized solutions
23

with distinguishable ease of use and expertise. Orchid's
proprietary underwriting capabilities and strong carrier
relationships have led to a best-in-class historical
underwriting track record.
Carey asserts Orchid IT is pivotal in executing the
digital business transformation strategy delivering
innovative digital products, and improving enterprise
operational efficiency. Due to its recent technology
modernization, Orchid IT has achieved 32X efficiency
improvement, a 14X progress in delivering platform
configuration for new revenue-generating business
opportunities, and a 9X improvement in time-to-market
for delivering new digital capabilities. Allowing more
digital capability to be delivered significantly faster
with fewer resources has resulted in new digital
product delivery measured in days VS. months/years,
allowing for a substantial increase in value delivered to
the business. Most importantly, these significant
improvements were achieved while also reducing the
technology operational expense run rate. Orchid IT has
achieved the seemingly impossible by delivering
We need bright,
courageous
entrepreneurs, and
you are never too
young or too
inexperienced to bring
creative, tech-based
solutions forward.
“
“
| April 2022 |
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24

significantly more products, quicker to market, and
higher quality while reducing expenses.
Carey states that the contribution that technology
makes to Orchid is multi-faceted. Technology delivers
the digital business transformation, enabling the
achievement of the enterprise goal of tripling in size,
driving top-line growth, delivering an Excess & Surplus
marketplace, and re-imagining the digital customer
experience. These objectives are being achieved
through the technology organization's integral
engagement in top-line growth initiatives, new
ventures, and new emerging technology solutions
delivery. Additionally, bottom-line efficiencies are being
achieved through significant technology optimization
due to a comprehensive technology modernization.
The Technological Impact
Orchid understands its customers' needs and delivers
innovative products that meet those needs. The
insurance industry has traditionally been a laggard in
embracing technological change. At Orchid, leveraging
modern technology is a strategic cornerstone of digital
business transformation.
Orchid's aggressive enterprise goals require
technology to build a new digital ecosystem to support
the continuance of its strong growth. It fosters a shift in
its business model, supporting new consumer products,
national programs, market expansion, acquisitions,
partnerships, and new corporate ventures. Additionally,
Orchid is delivering a new industry-leading digital
experience for its agents that strengthens their ability
to focus on the needs of customers easily.
Constructing the new digital ecosystem required
modernizing a legacy technology organization while
delivering the digital needs of a transforming business.
Orchid is leveraging modern technology to amplify its
enterprise value-driving revenue growth, expanding
Orchid's scale in the marketplace, improving
profitability by optimizing how technology products
and services are delivered, and most importantly,
better serve its customers. Leveraging advanced
analytics in risk analysis, AI-based proprietary
algorithms for rating, customer experience bots,
contactless digital engagements, and intelligent
automation are just a few of the methods Orchid will
leverage technology advancements.
The Long Run
Carey asserts that the future is incredibly bright for
Orchid as it continues its journey as a market leader,
creatively solving the needs of its customers. Carey will
lead with continued unification of technology and
business, leveraging emerging technologies to solve
customer and business needs, driving a digital culture
across every enterprise facet, and accomplishing
strategic objectives.
Exploiting the opportunity to expand the deployment of
modern technology, such as the utilization of
blockchain and behavioral analytics to drive value to
the customer and Orchid stakeholders alike, are
exciting opportunities.
With data continuing to be the new currency of
business differentiation, using AI to drive informed
decision-making at the point of impact is a challenge
that keeps Carey motivated.
Valiant Advice
Carey advises budding entrepreneurs aspiring to
venture into the technology sector, or leverage
technology to address a consumer problem is to think
big, be bold, rage against the status quo, and most
importantly, be customer-obsessed. He says, "We need
bright, courageous entrepreneurs, and you are never too
young or too inexperienced to bring creative, tech-based
solutions forward. Focus your sights on solving the needs of
the consumer and your internal business partner.”
25

Daniel Hofmann
CEO
Hornetsecurity

T
he IT industry worldwide faces continuous
challenges in data storage and management,
security, rising costs, and operational
complexities. US-based cybersecurity solution provider
Hornetsecurity - guided by the skilled leadership of
their dynamic, visionary CEO, Daniel Hofmann - offers
a wide-ranging portfolio of solutions. Daniel Hofmann
correctly identified the industry's need, creating
versatile, cloud-based solutions that offer robust email
security and backup functionality, with a special focus
on security for Microsoft 365 business users. CIO Look
caught up with Daniel Hofmann to learn more about his
exciting success story and the company’s future plans.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
leader until your current position at Hornetsecurity.
I spent the first few years of my career in various
positions in the IT market, which gave me valuable
insights into various aspects of both business
operations and business needs.
During that time, I identified the need for a low-
maintenance solution that was easy to manage while
being capable of handling large amounts of data so that
it would be effective at detecting threats. I also wanted
it to be cloud-based as I saw great efficiencies in having
one central location from which to operate. A product
that could cover all these requirements didn't seem to
exist. That inspired me to start developing that solution
myself. This is how Hornetsecurity was born.
Since then, we have developed a comprehensive
portfolio of cloud security services. Our solutions
protect thousands of customers worldwide, thanks to
our global team of more than 350 employees. And I'm
proud to say we are continuing to grow and advance
daily, with vision, innovation, enthusiasm, and energy.
Tell us something more about Hornetsecurity.
Hornetsecurity was founded in 2007 and is today a
leading global cloud email security and backup
provider.
Daniel Hofmann
The Visionary IT Whizz
Hornetsecurity is a
leading email cloud
security provider,
which secures
companies and
organizations of all
sizes across the world.
Its award-winning
product portfolio
covers all important
areas of email security.
29

Our mission is to protect cloud-based communication
ensure business continuity and compliance by
deploying next-generation AI solutions for companies
of all sizes so they can focus on their core businesses.
Our product portfolio is not restricted to email security,
although it covers all important areas there, such as
spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing
and ransomware, legally compliant archiving, and
encryption. We also provide email, endpoint, and
virtual machine backup, replication, and recovery. We
focus especially on Microsoft 365, and we believe our
flagship product is the most extensive cloud security
solution for Microsoft 365 on the market.
Hornetsecurity has ten worldwide offices and is
headquartered in Hanover, Germany. Hornetsecurity
Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA, with other North
American offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal,
Canada.
We operate through a global network of 5,000+
channel partners and MSPs and 11 redundant, secured
data centers. Our services are used by more than
50,000+ businesses and organizations of all sizes and
across all verticals.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the
Cybersecurity niche through your expertise in the
market.
We've been in the cloud security environment since
2004, developing systems for the cloud before the
cloud was recognized as such. We aim to make an
impact with each of our services, identifying current
and future customer needs and addressing them.
We also publish monthly and annual reports about
updates and trends in the cybersecurity world, as well
as educational content. We use the specialization of our
worldwide team members and in-depth research to
keep at the forefront and protect our customers
through our innovations.
A recent example involves 365 Total Protection
Enterprise Backup, the first all-in-one security,
compliance, and backup suite for Microsoft 365 users.
As businesses increasingly move to the cloud and to
Microsoft 365, this offer satisfies that growing need.
Our award-winning 365 Total Protection comes in
different editions, which each provides Microsoft 365
users with a robust layer of security. To this, 365 Total
Protection Enterprise Backup adds data loss protection
for Microsoft 365 through backup and recovery for
Microsoft 365 data in mailboxes, Teams, OneDrive, and
SharePoint. It also backs up roaming and on-premises
Windows endpoints. If our customers lose data due to
system or human errors, malicious actions, or
ransomware, for instance, this allows them to restore
their data with ease.
It's also convenient as customers can handle all aspects
via a single platform and liaise with a single vendor.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
Yes, technology is always evolving and advancing.
Unfortunately, this also means that cyberattacks are
evolving too, becoming ever more sophisticated, with
the aim of extracting valuable information and vast
sums of money.
Training your employees about cybersecurity is
essential. However, that must be backed by the right
infrastructure in place to ensure secure usage and
safeguard the organization's data. This is essential.
Our mantra is that we should enable our customers to
focus on what they do best by providing the expertise
and professionalism needed in handling their email
security and data loss prevention. It is simply not
possible for them to keep up with the never-ending
developments in the world of cybercrime, be it in
business email compromise (BEC), phishing attempts,
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30

rights they have been granted. We're looking at
monitoring, alerting, auditing, and so on in a fully
automated way. We're truly excited about what we will
be delivering here.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the cybersecurity sector?
The software environment is unlimited, and there are
so many spaces where you can be active, introducing
new products and functionality and bringing great
value. There is ample opportunity. Roll up your sleeves
and go for it!
CEO fraud, or ransomware
and malware technologies.
You need experts in using
technology as a force for good
to counteract those using it
with nefarious aims, and
those experts must always
keep their eye on the ball.
This is why our team
incessantly conducts in-depth
analyses to gain ongoing,
comprehensive knowledge of
current cybercrime trends.
This is coupled with
identifying business
challenges and market
changes. I also like us to
question established
approaches without taking
things for granted. Both these
approaches allow us to cater
to emerging needs and develop trail-blazing services
and solutions to do a great job and set our customers'
minds at rest.
What are your future goals for Hornetsecurity?
We will continue building on our expertise in providing
robust cloud-based email security in the B2B space,
expanding our suite of services to meet evolving
customer needs.
Today's systems and setups bring many functionalities,
providing new ways to work with greater usability and
uniformity. This makes it easier for everyone to join in.
This is very powerful. Single users now have massive
rights to operate within a system, sharing ﬁles, folders,
and processes with others both inside and outside the
organization.
From a security perspective, this needs to be audited.
However, this is currently a blind spot – it is hard to tell
which user has what rights. One response is to restrict
this as much as possible, but this limits creativity and
productivity.
Our idea is to enhance this and make the whole thing
more transparent. We will provide 360-degree
protection around what each user is doing, whatever
31

Ina
Behrendt
H
umankind has come a long way from
lighting fire with stones to being a part
of the digital world. The only aspect that
continuously transformed our
adaptability throughout the centuries is
innovation. Today, much thought goes into innovation to
constantly embrace the digital transformation to
impact almost every industry worldwide. With such a
distinct approach, Ina Behrendt implies her expertise
to foster sustainable change by driving innovative
change with a strong focus on creative marketing and
mainly the education niche.
As the Chief Innovation Officer at Miami Ad School
Europe, Ina re-invents the educational system for the
digital age, helping current and future business leaders,
how to navigate, learn and stand out these days. She is
also the Chief Executive Officer of the new brainchild
of Miami Ad School Europe: Infinity Campus – its new
e-learning platform (infinitycampus.online).
Ina's thought leadership has always brought
transformative shifts making her an influential leader.
Her award-winning work over the last decades
symbolize her excellence in digital advertising, working
with world-renowned brands.
Engraining Innovation for the Next Generation
Ina Behrendt
Chief Innovation O cer at Miami Ad School Europe
& CEO at Infinity Campus
Miami Ad School Europe & Infinity Campus

Let us dive into Ina's journey.
Nurturing Impacting Innovation
Since Ina became part of the management board, 6
years ago, she shifted strategic tides from traditional to
more sustainable future strategies, encouraging three
crucial aspects:
Ÿ Listening, observing & learning, and using data to
inform strategic decision making to see, understand
and think.
Ÿ Inspiration and fostering a culture of creativity and
prototyping to do and make!
Ÿ Collaboration & networking to gain more diversity
in every kind of aspect to care!
Ina understands the importance of innovation as digital
has become the new norm. It drives organizations to
change products and services, tapping into the new
markets to stay relevant, further affecting the
educational field. Ina is leading with responsibility, to
create and design an educational system that breeds
future creative innovators right from the start or uplift
those, who are already professionals. She co-founded
recently Infinity Campus, a new and outstanding e-
learning platform, driving education and life-long
learning to the forefront of contemporary education.
Apart from being an innovator, Ina is skilled at solving
problems and thinking like an entrepreneur. She often
collaborates with numerous companies to bring the
much-needed innovation to life. She is as well a
frequent speaker at local and global tech/innovation
conferences and summits.
Becoming a Voice
Addressing the gender imbalance in STEM fields, Ina
co-founded the "Women in Technology" initiative in
Sydney, Australia. It is a comprehensive and innovative
program designed to nurture education and provide
women employment opportunities. The program aimed
to push for a culture change in the digital and tech field
through addressing digital industry gender issues with
a significant national program launch. The key pillars of
the program are education and employment with young
women in high school and tertiary institutions exposed
to panels, experts, workshops, and mentors. Ina says,
“It's important to give women more confidence and
opportunities in the industry, particularly when it comes to
knowing how to advance their careers.”
Ina wants to push boundaries at the intersection of art,
design, technology, and creative engineering. “I aim to
turn the back towards too tech nerdy perceived roles with
my goals to re-invent the definition regarding the needs in
the industry,” says Ina.
Real World Experience on campus
Miami Ad School is a network of 15 schools around the
globe and has built its reputation over 29 years as one
of the world's most awarded schools in higher
education in the creative and marketing industry. It is
well known for producing outstanding creative
graduates ready to work from the first day on the job.
With Infinity Campus, Ina and her co-founders, brought
I want to push
boundaries at the
intersection of art,
design, technology, and
creative engineering. I
aimed to turn my back
towards too tech nerdy
perceived roles with my
goal to re-invent the
definition regarding the
needs in the industry.
33

the advanced training and courses online, collaborated
with new partners, and developed formats that did not
exist. The platform aims to establish a unique campus
for special courses, training, summits, and boot camps
of an expansive network of mentors – available online
regardless of one's physical location by mixing even
more technology into its creative bloodstream, next to
people’s jobs.
Infinity Campus means Transformation – means
Movement – a Development of yourself, your
knowledge, and your Creativity. It means pulsating,
moving, pushing boundaries, and yourself to the next
level. It means to transform! Ina notes, "Be in a flow with
other like-minded people and receive inspiration – take
them, give them and evolve them. It's something with an
individual touch as well as a timelessness. You'll feel it &
you'll see it: a certain pulse – more than an impulse, which
takes you further – continuous and infinite! Be yourself and
express your power through knowledge, inspiration,
intuition, and creativity. For that, you'll need a
neighborhood – your neighborhood, a personal place to BE!
WELCOME to THE HOOD!”
With innovation, diversity, and mindset in its DNA,
Infinity Campus addresses specific needs to impact
people's lives positively and push their skills to the next
level.
Setting an Upward Curve for Future
Future holds many opportunities, but it is uncertain,
and innovation is the only effective way to adapt and
stand out to upcoming changes. It is essential to enable
creative minds to have outstanding ideas throughout
constant change and transformation to create future
leaders. With Ina's transformative ideas, Miami Ad
School Europe & their Infinity Campus platform strive
to instill the best for future creatives & marketeers,
strategic thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
Ina shares, "Infinity Campus is a network of endless
opportunities, where we foster collaboration and creative
solutions for existing challenges. We want to inspire and
push the boundaries, with passion for the inventor, rebels,
entrepreneurs and the visionary."
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34

Jay Pasteris
The Heart of a Technologist
with the Vision to Transform Organizations
s the CIO & CISO at GreenPages Technology
ASolutions, Jay is responsible for expanding
GreenPages' intellectual property and services
portfolio; overseeing systems security, compliance, and
quality assurance; and leading the technical pre-sales
and business advisory services teams. He is also an
executive sponsor and security subject matter expert
for the company's key enterprise clients.
But when Jay first started out in his career, his passion
was simply technology. “I got into tech originally
because it was cool, fun, and interesting! Of course, it
still is but along the way, I realized that to truly make
technology work for a company, I had to pivot to
become a business leader. While technology is at the
core of how every business is run today, being able to
translate technical concepts into meaningful business
conversations is key because that's the only way to
effectively grow and scale an organization.”
Cybersecurity: Combatting the Threat at the Board
Level
One of the biggest challenges that every tech leader
faces is making sure the business always stays modern
and can evolve in the face of ever-changing technology.
Says Jay, “It’s crucial not to let your tech become
antiquated or even mildly outdated because tech debt
is very expensive and hard to escape once you find
yourself in that situation. Instead of being an enabler,
technology can end up crippling a business—especially
when it comes to cybersecurity.”
Cyberthreats are a problem for every single
organization. Jay explains that a big mistake companies
make is thinking they don’t have anything hackers are
looking for. The fact is every company is a target. “One
thing—and I can’t stress this enough—is that there must
be cyber expertise at the board level; that’s where the
funding happens and where the big choices affecting
the entire organization are made. Security is no longer
one department in IT—it permeates every aspect of a
business, inside and out, and should be top of mind at
the board level.”
A Programmatic Paradigm: Automation & AI
In Jay's opinion, tech leaders need to stop looking at
security from a remediation point of view and change
their mindset towards a programmatic approach. And
they must do it every day they are in business. Security
is an inherent part of transformation, and automation is
the solution to carry out transformation efficiently.
Jay notes, "I was on a recent panel discussion and one
of the top three initiatives CIOs and CISOs cited was
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which is fantastic
because it performs repetitive tasks and minimizes
human error while letting humans focus on higher-
value work. The challenge is that, without proper
security protocols and processes, RPA can be a target
for hackers. So, tech leaders must have a
comprehensive security program in place—ideally
where machine learning and AI can help them achieve
true observability.”
Assess, Modernize, and Manage Digital Platforms
GreenPages is a nationally recognized MSP focused on
cloud, security, and digital enablement, offering its
large customer base a unique set of modern IT
services—not just technology toolsets. “Through
assessment-led interactions we gain an understanding
of what our customers are trying to achieve and where
they are on the maturity curve from a digital, security,
and risk perspective. Then we build a roadmap and
create a funding model to put them on the path of cyber
excellence.”
Every modern CIO and CISO must juggle different
pressures from all directions: to go faster, to do so
securely, and to drive digital innovation. Says Jay, “As
organizations move to the cloud, it’s hard for them to
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36

ﬁnd and maintain the technical talent necessary to
successfully make that crucial transformational pivot.
As an MSP with expertise in cloud and cybersecurity,
GreenPages is purpose-built to provide these
companies with that sought-after knowledge and
experience enabling them to focus on other business
priorities.”
Multiple Points of View Lead to Better Solutions
At heart, Jay will always be a CISO; it's in his DNA. And
while he continues to provide thought leadership to
clients and boards of directors, he also spends a lot of
time with younger people coming into the tech sector,
teaching them to be savvy and
collaborative. “Some engineers want
to go sit in a silo and master the tech.
While that’s important they also need
to be asking, ‘What business problem
is this tech trying to solve and for
whom?’ Not ‘Is the technology
working correctly?’”
Jay also advises aspiring
entrepreneurs to engage with
different people and understand their
motives. He’s a ﬁrm believer that
multiple points of view lead to better
solutions. "Be collaborative and value
others because at the end of the day;
technology is a relationship business.
Technology will always do amazing
things but you can't create
meaningful transformation unless you
have good relationships and sharp
perspective on what others are going through," Jay
says.
Since joining GreenPages, Jay is well on his way toward
his goal of ensuring the company—and its talented
team—is at the top of the list for any client looking for
cloud or cybersecurity help. “In the end, this kind of
work is my passion and what I love to do. It’s
challenging and rewarding when you can build the kind
of trust we have and get to work with so many smart
people—our employees, our partners, and especially
our clients.”
For more information you can visit
www.greenpages.com
Extensive
technology
expertise in
security, cloud,
and managed
services to enable
clients to compete
in the digitally-
driven economy.
“
“
Jay Pasteris
CIO & CISO
37

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
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38

How is
TECHNOLOGY
Shaping the
LEADERSHIP
for the FUTURE?

Kevin
Kevin Steer
APioneeringLeaderRevolutionizingtheFinanceSpace
e is a prominent name in the ﬁnance space. His
Hunconventional approach to the challenges in
InsurTech and FinTech industry has taken him
to great heights. He looks at the emerging technologies
and sees how they can be effectively applied to
Insurance, Takaful and Financial services. "We don't
follow trends, we pioneer them," he says.
Meet Kevin Steer, a pioneering leader and the Founder
and CEO of One Two One Advisor Sdn Bhd. He formed
a team of innovative professionals across Financial,
Insurance and Takaful sectors in the Asia region with a
successful record of serving clients for the past 20
years to start One Two One Advisor. Now, their goal is
to grow Disruptive FinTech and InsurTech solutions.
Kevin Steer
Founder and CEO
One Two One Advisor
Sdn Bhd
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40

We at CIO Look caught up with Kevin to learn more
about his journey at One Two One Advisor.
A Visionary Approach
One Two One Advisor was started with the mission to
empower Financial, Insurance and Takaful providers
with robust and innovative technology solutions
enabling generation of quality leads, secure sales,
building customer loyalty in a professional and
regulatory compliant manner.
The company struggled initially, but today, it has been
grown to a team of 20+ people. Altogether, they have
pioneered various revolutionary business solutions in
digital technology, internet and mobile platforms, social
media channels, and regulatory-compliant cloud
solutions for multinational and domestic clients.
Its broad range of solutions include:
Predictive Analytics with Machine Learning
The company is building Predictive Analytics Models
(PAM) for Banking, Insurance & Takaful with a focus on
predictive marketing & sales, customer service, new
business underwriting, personalization and claims
management.
Multi-lingual Chatbot for Financial, Insurance &
Takaful (FITbot)
Its Multi-lingual Robo Advisor and a chatbot utilizes
hybrid trees and natural language processing (NLP) to
engage with customers to offer a more personalized
customer experience and generate more referrals.
Web Portal Solution for Sales & Servicing (WebPoS)
Its Multi-lingual mobile responsive website and portal
solution enable clients to experience a unified,
personalized digital experience where content, sales,
marketing, and work management are consolidated
instead of siloed.
Referral Management & Marketing Automation
(ReMMA)
This solution is used for banks to effectively and
efficiently auto-assign leads, track and manage lead
referrals and conversions based on user-defined
workflows. Marketing automation results in
personalized content delivery targeted campaigns and
engagement.
Sales Activity Mobile App (SAMA)
This app allows agents to effectively plan and manage
sales activity to ensure all leads and prospects are
addressed, while managers can monitor real-time to
render assistance where necessary.
Community & E-worksite Marketing & Distribution
(CeMD)
Community portal solution allows organizations to
engage with members of their community to nurture
trust and create advocates thereby improving
customer retention. Recently launched u12know
knowledge portal.
Choices Online Store (COS)
This solution allows insurers and takaful operators to
provide direct purchase of products online. It can
integrate with Multi-lingual Chatbot for Financial
Insurance & Takaful (FITbot) robo-advisor services as
well as referrals via Referral Management & Marketing
Automation (ReMMA).
Takaful & Insurance Mobility Made Simple (TIMMS)
TIMMS is a cross-platform mobile point of sales
solution allowing agents to identify client financial
needs via Customer Fact Find, recommend products,
make presentations, generate quotes and e-submit
applications, in a regulatory compliant process. Its
solutions are available for IOS, Android & Windows.
Customer Service Portal
The Customer Self Service Portal is an on-demand
access point enabling the customer to view their
insurance/takaful account anywhere and anytime. This
enables the policyholders to view their policies and
certificate details via a simple internet connection. The
portal provides a safe avenue for customers to update
their personal information, pay a premium, switch
funds, print documents, update beneficiary details,
Weencourage
state-of-the-art
thinkingand
encouragegrowth.
41

request policy changes and engage in filing claims and
processing, which traditionally would take weeks to be
executed due to siloed lines of business. The platform
also supports automated workflows that are triggered
by certain customer activities, which are routed to
relevant departments, and customers are kept
informed via emails or messaging. Providing a portal for
your customers with the convenience of self-servicing,
customers can enjoy the freedom of doing what's
convenient for them when they want anywhere.
Enterprise Product Configurator (EPC)
It was built to rapidly set up product rates, illustrations,
a validation engine as well as an automated testing
module allows quick product deployment. It reduces
the time to market for insurance and takaful products.
Multi-channel Distribution Management Solution
(McDMS)
This solution is designed for general agencies, IFAs,
brokers, Agency Leader Corporations (ALCs) to simplify
operations by consolidating their diverse requirements.
With built-in performance management and
compensation computation, 121 Advisor's clients have
seen improved sales with reduced administration costs.
Bringing Much-needed Change
During the pandemic, the team at 121 Advisor saw the
need to offer financial services and health services
online with lifestyle financial & health advice and thus,
launched a knowledge portal called u12know ( ). The
portal provides lifestyle financial advice for single,
married, family, retired & their business.
Kevin expresses, "As most millennials in the Asia Pacific do
not understand financial planning and often max out their
credit cards and get into debt; there is a need to help
educate them on their lifestyle financial goals and
recommend products that they can buy online.With the
launch of u12know, we see that this will become a
disruptive knowledge portal offering advice on lifestyle
financial & (in future) health goals. This will help them
understand their needs and create a plan to help them build
their lifestyle & business financial plans. For each country,
this will be translated into the local language."
He further states that the portal will continuously
evolve and include lifestyle financial goals with
recommendations for financial and business products,
including its multi-lingual chatbot & Robo Advisor
(which provides advice on financial goals).
Besides, in the future, u12know will also include health
and wellness calculators. These calculators will advise
people on their health and how they can get healthy.
They will also include a "total health score", which will
indicate whether they are very healthy, healthy,
unhealthy, or at risk.
Expanding Footprints
Taking about the future, Kevin states that 121 Advisor
plans to expand to Singapore, Indonesia, as well as to
Europe & the USA.
In his advice to emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in
the insurance industry, he says, "Explore the Risks and
evaluate the potential ones, and then expand your
services into the Insurance Sector.”
| April 2022 |
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42

Kris Rao
Driving Remarkable Shifts in the Transformation Space
rue leadership exhibits an inclination towards
Tbuilding a learning culture that enables
disrupting the norms and setting new
benchmarks. A leader who has constantly
demonstrated this, in reality, is Kris Rao. Kris is a
business and transformation visionary who has led
digital success for enterprises through his expertise in
ideating, architecting, and championing digital
initiatives. He has evangelized the adoption of new and
emerging technologies— including Cloud, eCommerce,
Agile Methods, AI / ML, IoT, Blockchain, and AR / VR,
creating IT portfolios that deliver multimillion-dollars
business value at speed, increased business agility, and
competitive advantage.
For over two decades, Kris has played multiple
leadership roles in globally renowned companies,
becoming a highly accomplished executive who has
propelled both business and IT performance to the next
level. Currently, he leads the establishment and
execution of enterprise-wide IT & Digital strategy as
the Chief Information and Digital Officer at HNI
Corporation.
HNI is the leading provider of workplace furnishing and
residential building products. It has entrusted Kris to
ensure digital alignment with the enterprise's business
strategy and achieve business success.
A Journey of Developing Broader Perspectives
Starting his professional journey, Kris got into
consulting and collaborating with professionals from
the digital field. During his tenure at massive
corporations like Oracle and Motorola, Kris gained
various perspectives and enriched his learning curve
about technology, delivering high performance at speed
and building productive relationships.
During his stint at Hospira, he led a total IT
transformation project, considering the scope of
improvement across the organizational pillars.
Kris enhanced his knowledge of cloud, big data
analytics, and IoT with each leadership position he held.
This experience was applied aptly at Ricoh Americas, a
6-billion-dollar organization with operations spread
across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. As the CIO,
Kris drove digital transformation for the company,
including the manufacturing operation space,
visualization technologies for technical services, IoT,
and Blockchain.
For his current role at HNI, he is entrusted with the
responsibility of driving an expansive digital
transformation portfolio again that perfectly aligns
with the organization's vision of exceeding customers'
expectations. From lead generation, demand
generation, customer engagement models, digital
channels, visualization technologies, ERP
transformation, migration to the cloud, cyber security
effectiveness while helping people get into the agile
methods across both business and IT.
Emerging at the Technological Forefront
Kris firmly believes that technology assists us in:
1. Understanding customer journeys, personas, profile
propensities, gaining insights, and deploying HNI's
digital engagement channels to improve the top and
bottom lines.
2. Effectively penetrating the B2C and B2B markets
while leveraging the deep understanding of customer
behavior to integrate the upstream and downstream.
This integration enables complete digitization for
inventory optimization, ensuring availability at the right
instance and reducing wastage and write-offs.
3. Creating an impressive pipeline and enabling its
promotion, sales forecasting, and connecting it to the
supply chain and Sales and Operation Planning (S&OP).
45

he modern world needs businesses to be
Tconstantly upgraded to serve their clients with
evolved solutions with new and improved
technology. Understanding the needs of the modern
world especially that of an SAP customer by
incorporating business acumen and technical expertise,
Nick Miletich dedicates his unmatched efforts to
leading Managecore to the next level of success. As the
Chief Technology Officer of Managecore, Nick is
approaching nearly 20 years of IT, SAP, public cloud,
and infrastructure experience.
Since joining the Managecore team in 2017, Nick has
led the emerging technology efforts for Managecore,
including being the innovator and master mind of
Managecore Watchdog – the one-of-a-kind monitoring
platform and client portal. Managecore Watchdog gives
Managecore customers full transparency into their SAP
landscapes in real-time. His background in SAP
technologies, infrastructure services, and operational
leadership empowers him to lead the Managecore
delivery team to consistently provide the highest level
of customer service with customized, scalable, and
secure solutions.
Staying Up to Date with Latest Technologies
Nick holds the innovative leadership role he has today
because he always kept learning and thinking ahead of
what is to come next. Technology moves at lightning
speed, and if he did not stay up to date on the latest that
the cloud, SAP, and IT technology has to offer, he would
have been left behind and not obtained to a C-level role.
Nick feels that its vital in IT leadership continue to pivot
in the IT industry, or you will be left behind. First, he
learned how to optimally manage SAP systems on-
premise, he then built a thriving private cloud practice.
Now shifting his talents to build
world-class architecture to host SAP applications in a
hyperscale public cloud environments. This innovative
mind set has led Managecore to be at the forefront as
one of the first managed service providers (MSP)
globally to migrate and manage an SAP S/4HANA
production environment in Google Cloud.
Managecore Providing Transparent Delivery Model
Founded by partners with over 20 years of experience
in the SAP managed services market, Managecore was
created to disrupt the way Managed Service Providers
operate. Managecore is proud of its transparent
delivery model whereby all information related to the
support of customers is provided on its client portal -
Watchdog.
Managecore's key strength as an MSP is accountability,
which is one of the most important traits that set Nick
and its delivery team apart from other SAP technical
consulting firms. Managecore was founded specifically
out of a desire to restore accountability in the IT
industry and put customers back at the center of
everything they do.
Nick
Miletich
Miletich
Miletich
One of a Kind Innovative IT Leader Committed to Delivering the Best
SAP Solutions with Technical Expertise and Business Acumen
Managecore was
created to disrupt
the way Managed
Service Providers
operate.
53

Nick embodies this mantra in everything he does, from
leadership to delivery; he provides the very best in
customer service, which is proven time and time again
by Managecore's 100% success rate and 100%
customer satisfaction.
Consistently Delivering Best SAP Managed Services
Nick's expertise in the SAP technology space is bar
none. He approaches customer support with both
technical and business acumen, which helps him build,
architect, and deliver SAP solutions like no other
technical leader in the industry.
With close to two decades of IT experience, primarily
focused on SAP technologies and his sound knowledge
of infrastructure services, paired with an intuitive
business mindset, Nick is the ideal leader of
Managecore's delivery team and advocate for SAP
customers.
Nick is always up to date with technology and
understands how to adapt the same decades-long
methodologies traditionally used to manage SAP
systems – differently by delivering innovation and
transparency. For example, Managecore was one of the
first mid-market SAP consulting companies to support
SAP on Google Cloud. Nick says, "No one wants to pivot,
but as an IT leader, you must be able to, and have the
knowledge to do so for your customers this is the only way
to deliver the best SAP managed services consistently.”
It is important to understand that Managecore's unique
approach towards business relationships manifests
itself in three significant ways: focused on relationships
built on trust, and a deep understanding of clients'
business needs; delivering services transparently
enabling customers to see precisely what they see-so
clients understand what is being recommended and
why; and exceeding every aspect of what the clients
expect from an MSP.
Leveraging Technology to Its Fullest Potential
Nick states that technology plays a huge and vital role
in how Managecore differentiates itself as the number
one Managed Service Provider. It leverages technology
to its fullest potential, hiring the very best SAP, cloud,
and IT talent to implement and maintain enterprise
technology for its customers.
Nick notes, "One way Managecore does this is via its client
monitoring platform Watchdog. Watchdog is a deeply
Nick Mile ch
Chief Technology Officer
Managecore
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54

customer-centric solution and is the backbone of
Managecore's service model: a cloud-based monitoring
solution that integrates with customers' SAP environment
to give them full visibility into their own IT landscape."
Managecore believes that complete transparency
provides efﬁcient long-term SAP and IT managed
services support. Openness isn't a just choice it makes –
it is part of Managecore's DNA, just as much as its SAP
expertise and years of IT experience.
Accelerating the Digital Journey of Customers
Nick believes the next big thing for SAP customers will
be hosting their SAP workloads in the hyperscale cloud
platforms, and one such option will be SAP's solution
RISE with SAP. With Nick's strategic leadership
Managecore has prepared for such change as it has its
Managecore iQ+ RISE with SAP companion solution
offering to help customers attain instant value and
long-term success on RISE with SAP.
Nick's continuous focus is always in tune with what SAP
customers need in the market. Today Managecore's
RISE with SAP companion solution is one of the most
innovative services available in the industry. It helps
accelerate customers on their digital transformation
journey like no other MSP can.
Most importantly, Nick and Managecore are dedicated
to always staying abreast of the SAP industry to help
lead and navigate SAP customers to be prepared for the
next big thing in the SAP technology space.
Being at the Forefront of Technology
Nick envisions himself as a dedicated IT leader with the
ability and technical knowledge to connect all of the
available technologies for the customers' best interest
and acutely apply technology to business goals. Nick
wants Managecore to always be at the forefront of
technology and its approach to delivering SAP and IT
solutions by being recognized as providing the very
best support in the industry.
Thinking Outside the Box
Nick advises aspiring entrepreneurs to always think
outside of the box. He says, "To be successful, you MUST
stay ahead of learning the curve. Don't be afraid to be
innovative and forward-thinking for your business and your
customers. Clients always expect and look to you to know
and provide technical advice, so it is imperative that as an
IT leader you alway stay abreast of technology."
55

The Rise Through Hard Work
Pat believes that every journey consists of unique
routes that will quickly teach you that sometimes a step
sideways is the best way to move forward. When he
started his professional journey as an IT developer at
Lyondell, he climbed up the ladder through multiple
disciplines. He learned to expand his expertise within
different subject areas, realizing the importance of
having both depth and breadth of experience to be
successful. But what really made a difference in his
career growth was relationships. Developing and
nurturing relationships with other leaders allowed Pat
to land the role of Director of Technology at Nexeo
Solutions before eventually taking reigns as CIO.
The Above-Board Approach
Pat has made his mark in the tech space niche by
focusing on reliable operations and emphasizing the
total cost of ownership without sacrificing
performance. He was taught to do more with less
during his early career, which he made central to
establishing a framework to keep IT cost-efficient and
reliable, while uplifting performance at Univar
Solutions. Pat utilized his expertise in multiple systems
to harness and unlock the value of the latest digital
technologies to help serve customers, suppliers, and
employees, thereby delivering shareholder value.
Pat employs a straightforward approach to career
growth in the tech space; learning to move up by
knowing his strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. He surrounds himself with smart people who
are cutting-edge in the tech space, combining it with his
strength of implementation and reliability to impact the
company and the overall team positively.
T
he digital revolution drives significant
change, making itself a new norm of
modern times; embracing these changes is
an essential part of any forward-thinking
business's capabilities. Understanding the
potential of the digital world, Pat Jerding applied his
experience in anticipating significant growth
opportunities to the opportunities presented following
the merger of two industry titans.
As the Senior Vice President and Chief Information
Officer of Univar Solutions, Pat has influenced an
innovative and collaborative culture, mapping a
framework to pave the company’s upward path of
success and development as it navigates the digital
revolution.
Univar Solutions is a global leader in chemical and
ingredient distribution with a vast supplier network
and a world-class formulation with unparalleled
logistics know-how. It is focused on climate
action, resource use, release prevention,
sustainable supply chain, and sustainability
solutions.
A Reliable Leader Pioneering Disruptive Solutions
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56

Pat Jerding
Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer
Univar Solutions
Enhancing Your Growth
Univar Solutions is on a mission to Streamline,
Innovate, and Grow. It envisions redefining distribution
as the most valued chemical and ingredients distributor
globally. After 97 years of experience in the niche,
Univar Solutions' team serves as a global partner and
committed ally to its customers and suppliers by
supporting innovation, development, and
distribution of a massive portfolio of ingredients and
specialty chemicals. Touching upon every industry,
Univar Solutions leverages its expansive network,
deep bench of experts and high level of service and
technical expertise to help businesses in the
industries it serves run smoothly, while also
assisting them in recognizing and influencing
meaningful growth opportunities.
A Safe & Sound Work Culture
Pat states that Univar Solutions values safety
above all. Not only does it strictly adhere to all
global laws and regulations that govern its
operations, it embeds a safety mindset into the
culture by sharing a safety tip at the start of every
meeting. In this way, its teams consistently work to
prevent accidents before they occur.
Univar Solutions also values people, striving
to create an empowered environment for its
personnel, highlighting working together
to achieve common goals. It also
emphasizes accountability for
meeting business partner
commitments, which the
company sees as a way to earn
and maintain trust. Pat
notes, "We understand that
we are more than a
distributor and are
committed to a forward-
thinking and holistic

time deliveries and started addressing these goals
throughout all aspects of the business to make itself
available to the end-user through the front-end
commerce space.
Pat mentions that by using data as a strategy, Univar
Solutions empowers its Shared Services Organization
to help improve processes focused on the customer
experience and metrics that its customers value most,
such as responsiveness, inventory availability, and on-
time delivery. Pat notes, "Achieving these objectives all
while managing costs means we can keep innovation
moving forward as we continuously improve our model
while delighting our customers.”
Prized Pointers
Pat advises budding entrepreneurs aspiring to venture
into the tech space to prioritize having a logical
mindset, coupled with a good deal of initiative. He says,
"Hard work is rewarded, so use your drive to show others
that you want to be there." On a concluding note, Pat
mentions that seeking advice from your senior
leadership, and then following-through, will get you
noticed.
sustainability journey focused on our purpose to help keep
communities healthy, fed, clean and safe.”
Digital Ampliﬁcations
Embracing the modern business world, Univar
Solutions recently expanded its digital capabilities to
create a more seamless and tailored experience for its
customers. It launched enhanced e-commerce offerings
that allow buyers to search, source, and self-serve on
the products they need at the time that best suits them,
thereby streamlining the customer’s ordering
experience.
Additionally, Univar Solutions uniquely positioned itself
to maximize the leverage of its content and data,
centralizing business platforms, enabling optimal front-
end experiences and back-ofﬁce tools, and improving
the product portfolio and supply chain footprint to
leverage digital for growth.
Paradigm-Shifting Goals
Univar Solutions aims to help the chemical and
ingredient distribution industry transform into a digital
sector focused on the ease of conducting business for
suppliers, customers, and employees. It intends to focus
on the Customer Experience through in-stock and on-
| April 2022 |
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58

I
nformation is a tremendous boon when protected in
the digital age, but it can be exploited if it is not
private and protected. Having a security and
privacy-conscious culture is the most excellent shield
for protecting the most valuable information of
organizations. Building similar culture by solving the
challenging and complex problems passionately in the
information security industry is Mr. Rahul Bhardwaj.
From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Bhardwaj worked as an
information security analyst for Vertex Computer
Systems. He was active as a team manager for
Capgemini (Fromely Patni Computer Systems) from
2006 to 2009. He began his tenure with FinTech giant
FIS in 2009 as a security and governance manager,
rising to the post of Director - Information Security
Assurance Services in 2013; he also helped FICO set up
the Enterprise Risk Management Program serving as
Principal - GRC till 2019.
In 2019 Mr. Bhardwaj joined Kroll (Formerly – Duff and
Phelps), where he was tasked to design and implement
a Global Privacy and Data Security program for the
firms. Due to the business nature of acquiring mid to
small-size global firms in different geographies, and
some of these firms needed to upgrade their respective
robust privacy and data security controls to meet the
high standard of the firm.
Ensuring Success with Clarity
Mr. Bhardwaj was assigned to set up "Global Privacy
and Data Security, " a challenging and complex problem
to solve, but that is the only thing he has sought
throughout his career. He was tasked to provide
leadership, management, and strategy for all aspects of
global privacy and data security and liaison with other
executives. He also handled multiple functions like
COO, CIO, Global CISO, CCO, CPO, and operational
executives to have a unified strategy to set up a global
privacy program for the firm without business
distribution. His approach was to bake security and
privacy into Kroll's core operations and practices and
build a security and privacy-conscious culture. The
clarity in thought process and efficient planning
ensured success and brought in multiple accolades.
Being a Renowned Data Security Leader
Mr. Bhardwaj is renowned as an information
technology professional with more than 15 years of
specialty in data security and privacy.
He has been recognized among many global awards and
recognitions like:
Ÿ "American Business Awards – Gold STEVIE," in IT
Executive of the Year 2020
Ÿ Security Systems News' 20 Under 40
Ÿ Finalist for a 2017 Information Security Leadership
Award.
Fostering Faster, Smarter, and Sustainable Decisions
Kroll delivers global organizations' coverage to
anticipate and exceed the complex demands
surrounding risk, governance, operations, and growth.
The Kroll logo "Kroll Lens" represents the sharp focus,
forward-thinking, and long-term competitive
advantage to its clients through its proprietary data,
technology, and insights. Kroll's unique perspective is
forged by the diversity of its skill sets and backgrounds,
coupled with the geographic reach and experience of
being a market leader. It is a powerful filter that turns
question marks into decisive periods.
Across every shifting economic and regulatory
landscape, the Kroll Lens allows clients to stay ahead by
Rahul Bhardwaj
Building Security and Privacy Conscious Culture
| April 2022 |
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60

Kroll provides proprietary data, technology, and
insights to help its clients stay ahead of complex
demands related to risk, governance, and growth."
Rahul Bhardwaj
Global Privacy and
Data Security
Kroll
61

making faster, more innovative, and more sustainable
business decisions. Kroll's six values are at the core of
who they (team members) are and how they interact
with the company's people, clients, and partners at
work and within every community they serve. These six
values include excellence, ambition, courage, inclusion,
innovation, and unity.
Democratizing Innovation and Automating Processes
The only way to overcome the challenge of skilled
resources in the information security industry is by
proper usage of Technology. Mr. Bhardwaj believes that
all security leaders must leverage advances in
technology to future-proof their respective business or
security programs. Meaningful digital transformation
can be achieved by democratizing innovation,
integrating applications, automating processes, and
embracing the IoT.
One of the most common objectives and targets Mr.
Bhardwaj set for himself and all the leaders working for
him is that a particular portion of their daily operations
must be automated by applying solutions available in
the modern era. He also works with many startups and
problem-solving think tanks to find optimal solutions to
real-life problems and challenges faced by the industry.
He believes that as the competitive landscape
continues to evolve and grow more intense, success will
be driven by those who innovate by using technology to
disrupt and reimagine business models.
Identifying and Leveraging Innovation Earlier
Mr. Bhardwaj is a huge advocate of building open and
collaborating cyber security communities, which
defend the ecosystem as one big team. Strength in
number is key to hiring; retaining the best and brightest
cybersecurity talent will always be difficult for many
organizations, putting many mid to small-size firms
open to attack. As a community, everyone can benefit if
more people are working on a problem collaboratively,
with a broader data set and context, the better the
outcome.
From threat detection to incident response, bad actors'
tactics — and methods to thwart and resolve them —
are constantly evolving. Drawing from the lessons
learned and best practices of more than just a single
organization enables security professionals to be more
efficient with their time, reach maturity more quickly
and identify and leverage innovation earlier.
Staying Ahead of Challenges and Changes
New directives and regulations are adding complexity
to compliance operations across all industries every
year. Navigating the rapidly evolving regulatory
landscape is key to retaining a competitive advantage;
Kroll is constantly working on advanced alternative
approaches to compliance management to stay ahead
of new challenges and changes. Based on the global
trends building operational resilience is becoming
important in the compliance industry.
With the recent security incidents (like SolarWinds
etc.), and vulnerabilities impacting large-scale
industries, it is expected that regulators worldwide
impose more requirements on firms to strengthen the
industry's overall operational resilience when dealing
with cyberattacks. Kroll has reviewed its plans and
stressed testing the firm's cyber controls, educating
boards and employees on technology and cyber risks,
and reporting such incidents to the board.
Continuing to Strengthen Cyber Defenses
Mr. Bhardwaj will continue to challenge himself with
new projects and challenges at Kroll and look to
contribute to the overall firm's value by strengthening
the cyber defenses. He is also very passionate about
giving back to the community and is involved with
multiple Not-for-Profits dedicated to education and
skill development among students and disadvantaged
youth, which he intends to continue.
Being Focused and Dedicated
Mr. Bhardwaj advises aspiring entrepreneurs in the
Security Risk Management sector, "One must be
passionate about the Security Risk Management field as it's
constant learning. You must be focused and dedicated as it
only takes one incident to make or break your firm's and
your reputation. Know your business and its objectives,
build your security risk program which is aligned to your
organization's objective."
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62

Rocco Pellegrinelli
Founder and CEO
Trendra ng
| April 2022 |
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64

rom starting as a portfolio manager to founding
FTrendrating, Rocco Pellegrinelli, Founder and
CEO has come a long way. He launched Brain-
power in 1996 and established it as one of the top
portfolio management systems globally. Later, it was
acquired by Bloomberg in 2006. Then, he started a
research and development project to design a superior
model to capture price trends in listed equities. After a
few years of massive testing of 350 indicators and
thousandsofcombinationsacross25yearsofhistoryfor
20,000 securities he got what he wanted. It helped to
have the support of a fantastic team of experts, now part
of Trendrating, a leading provider of advanced analytics
andleading-edgetechnologyforequityinvesting.
“Many analytical tools make sense, but do they also make
money? It is time to bring real value to fund managers.”
Keeping this vision in mind, Rocco founded Trendrating
with the goal to provide innovative analytics and first-
class technology that deliver alpha in a measurable,
actionable,repeatableandunquestionableway.
Inspired by his unconventional thought-process, we at
CIO Look caught up with him to learn more about his
journey.
BelowarethehighlightsoftheInterview:
leader until your current position at Trendrating. What
challenges have you had to overcome to reach where
youaretoday?
I started my career as a portfolio manager, and soon, I
realized the many pitfalls and traps of being human in a
business that requires discipline and objectivity. There-
fore, I decided to develop models and a pragmatic
methodology capable of providing a sanity check to my
investment decisions. After long years of hard work and
having seen the benefits of this approach, I decided to
leverage my know-how and become an entrepreneur in
fintech to serve the asset management industry, which
badlyneedstoevolveandadoptnewgenerationtools.
What are the key challenges for asset and wealth
managersintoday’smarkets?
Performance is the main challenge. According to the
SPIVA reports (S&P), a large part of mutual funds
underperforms the benchmarks year after year. The
resultsofmanyassetmanagersandwealthmanagersare
not different. The stock markets dynamics changed and
old-school investment methodologies cannot handle a
fast-evolvingenvironment.
The price trend of individual securities is influenced by
new forces at work. Rapid economic developments,
social media influence, investors sentiment evolutions,
growingmomentuminvestingcontributetocreatingand
accelerating up and downtrends, and reduce the rele-
vanceoffundamentals.
65

| April 2022 |
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66

The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech April 2022

The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech April 2022

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