IT Visionaries

Throughout his career, Arijit Mukherji (LinkedIn, Twitter) has been able to learn, innovate and lead. As the CTO of SignalFx, he gets to do all those things at once. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Arijit details his rise through the tech industry, including a number of years at Facebook in the midst of its massive growth. Plus, he explains why he wanted to take a risk and join SignalFx, and what it was like rising from Employee No. 1 to the role of CTO. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

After more than 20 years with Panasonic, Magnus McDermid (LinkedIn) has learned a lot about what it means to truly partner with a customer, and the types of innovations and advancements that can be born out of those relationships. Magnus holds a number of positions within Panasonic, including SVP of Panasonic North America and Panasonic Canada, President of Heartland Customer Solutions, SVP Mobility Solutions USA and VP Enterprise Solutions Canada. But regardless of what title he holds, Magnus explains that his success, and the success of the company as a whole, all comes down to the relationship with the customer. It is through those relationships that some of Panasonic’s most popular and important products have been created, and the partnership between company and consumer continues to be a well of innovation. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Magnus talks about all of that and more, plus he gives his advice on how to stick with and grow a company for decades. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Steve Comstock  (LinkedIn, Twitter) went from simply wanting to be an “uber-engineer” to the role of CIO of CBS Interactive, where he managed the media conglomerate’s entire digital enterprise. After more than eight years with CBS, Steve recently left the company to pursue new opportunities. On this special two-part episode of IT Visionaries, Steve generously shares all of his experiences working his way up the IT ladder, including how he first got into technology, what it’s like to be in charge of streaming multiple Super Bowls and other major events, the challenges of the role of CIO, the future of digital media and much more. For Part One, click here. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Steve Comstock  (LinkedIn, Twitter) went from simply wanting to be an “uber-engineer” to the role of CIO of CBS Interactive, where he managed the media conglomerate’s entire digital enterprise. After more than eight years with CBS, Steve recently left the company to pursue new opportunities. On this special two-part episode of IT Visionaries, Steve generously shares all of his experiences working his way up the IT ladder, including how he first got into technology, what it’s like to be in charge of streaming multiple Super Bowls and other major events, the challenges of the role of CIO, the future of digital media and much more.   IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Few people know disruption as well as Alex Mashinsky (LinkedIn, Twitter). Alex was one of the inventors of voice over IP, a technology that many people use every single day without a second thought to a time before when making calls was difficult, expensive and worked only inconsistently. With that experience in his back pocket — as well as many years and investments in a number of successful start-ups — Alex is at it again, and this time he’s hoping to disrupt the banking industry. His new company, Celsius Network, works on the blockchain and helps users grow their wealth with cryptocurrency. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Alex and Ian dive into how Celsius is working to build a world without banks, what advantages there are working on the blockchain, and how the future might look different thanks to this technology. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Nitin Gaur (LinkedIn, Twitter) has been with IBM for more than 20 years and currently serves as the director of IBM’s Digital Asset Labs. But, prior to that role, Nitin was instrumental in developing and running IBM’s Blockchain Labs. In this episode, he and Ian discuss all things blockchain, the challenges, and opportunities of the technology, and what blockchain means to enterprises everywhere. Best Advice for a first-time C-level exec: “Build a good team first. Have a human connection for the people and have empathy, and I think everything will fall into place.” IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper Salesforce just introduced Salesforce Blockchain, the industry's first truly declarative blockchain platform, integrated into your CRM. Learn more at https://sforce.co/2wl7IeO. -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

From Cisco Systems to SAP to GE Transportation, Wesley Mukai (LinkedIn)  has been building, selling and integrating new products and systems for huge companies and customers for a long time. He recently left GE Transportation after more than three years with the company to take some well-earned time off, and he was kind enough to spend some time with us at IT Visionaries. In this episode, Wesley discusses how he came up in the world of technology, what it means to find the right product at the right price at the right time, and all the challenges he overcame and innovations he helped lead as CTO of GE Transportation. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Graeme Thompson (LinkedIn, Twitter) grew up and first started his career in Scotland. When he moved to the U.S., he noticed a lot of differences in the mindset when it came to IT, but he also found a way to blend the practicality of those in the UK with the entrepreneurial spirit of American workers. Now, as the SVP and CIO of Informatica, he is using all of his knowledge and skills to bring real-time tech solutions to customers around the globe.   In this episode, he discusses what IT looks like at Informatica —including how IT has changed and where it’s going — plus he breaks down the need for real-time hybrid data management and some of the problems and solutions Informatica is seeing in that area of IT. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Uli K. Chettipally, MD, MPH, (LinkedIn, Twitter) is a physician, an author, a speaker, and an innovator, and on this episode of IT Visionaries, he joins Ian to discuss the role of A.I. and technology in the world of healthcare. Uli has worked in a number of high-level roles both as a medical doctor and a chief innovator at hospitals as well as medical centers and institutions such as Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, San Francisco. He has led a number of initiatives to bring technology into the medical field and he is on a mission now to inform and empower people with artificial intelligence. He and Ian discuss all that and more in this episode. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Phil Keslin (LinkedIn) first became interested in technology in the eighth grade and saw computers as a “great escape with interesting challenges.” He never lost that passion and today he is the CTO of Niantic, the lab behind the game that broke the internet — Pokemon Go. In this interview, Phil and Ian go through the painful launch of Pokemon Go and discuss how Niantic was able to scale its system when the game was massively more popular than anyone anticipated. Plus, Phil details what he loves most about AR, which is its ability to open up new avenues of discovery in the real world by getting people up, active and engaged in what is happening around them. IT Visionaries is brought to you by The Lightning Platform by Salesforce. The Lightning Platform is a leading cloud platform that makes building AI-powered apps faster and easier. With Salesforce, now everyone is empowered to build apps for their organization! Learn more at salesforce.com/buildmobileapps. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.