Innovation and the Digital Enterprise

Profound innovation has occurred across web-based communication technologies in the last decade, and truly accelerated in the years since the start of the pandemic. But David Heinemeier Hansson recognized a massively neglected arena, one we all use, every day: email. Bringing his experience as co-owner and Chief Technology Officer at 37signals (Basecamp, Ruby on Rails, and more), David launched HEY, an innovative approach to email that provides a modernized, user-first service. In this episode of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, David articulates a dedication to forging new paths in software and entrepreneurship.

The first day on the job sets the tone, which is why Dom Scandinaro, SVP of Engineering & Data at fan connection app Cameo, encourages new hires to deploy code to production on their very first day. As an experienced software engineer and technology leader, Dom fosters day-one collaborations when bringing on a new team member. Even during growth periods with competing priorities.

For retail businesses, being able to provide real-time, precise inventory is key to exceeding customer expectations. Ronald Blahnik, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy, Innovation, Customer Experience, and Retail Analytics of Hibbett Sports, knows that providing customers with what they want, when they want it, has been essential to Hibbett’s growth over the last six years.

Second City is an iconic Chicago institution training comedic geniuses across generations, but developing the talents of a Vice President of Technology is one of its more under-the-radar accomplishments. Arne Saupe, Vice President of Technology at Farmer’s Fridge, learned more than acting and improvisation when exploring this new arena. He discovered lessons in management, failure, team building, empathy, and communication that bolstered his years of experience as a technologist and growth-stage leader. 

Imagine you are a founder developing a physical product with incredible potential, but the space and resources to advance your product are out of reach and cost-prohibitive. Haven Allen witnessed this hurdle to introducing life-changing HardTech into the world and co-founded a solution: mHUB, a hyper-resourced innovation center in Chicago.

With a growing family, Tony Newcome took a major risk in returning to his software engineering roots after years in leadership—pay cut and all. Ultimately, the risk was rewarded. During his two decades of experience in the industry, Tony has held significant roles during critical growth moments at ExactTarget and Salesforce, and he currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer at ActiveCampaign, where he specializes in product development and software engineering. 

A distaste for the repetitive is a powerful motivation. Something Kevin Pogany discovered as a teenager writing code for his father’s pharmacy to automate their processes. An early experience that catalyzed a nearly thirty-year career across nine industries pushing for data-driven innovation. Most recently, he has found himself as a Chief Technology Officer within the aerial imagery industry encouraging transformation in this critical juncture of machine learning, robotics, and proprietary data assets.

“You don’t get a chance to be new twice.” Technology and business executive Andrei Girenkov embraces moments of great potential and offers essential advice for achieving success in 2023. Recent Senior Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer at Greystar, Andrei discusses speaking the CEO’s language, enterprise change management, and his journey to law school and beyond.

Today we’re sharing another insightful presentation from our most recent Innovative Executives League Summit, where Deepika Duggirala, former SVP of Global Technology Platforms at TransUnion, spoke about how focusing on your people and the developer experience leads to improved business performance.

Tasked with accelerating digital transformation at Allstate, Christopher Paquette recognizes the digital potential embedded everywhere. Reflecting on his first year as Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Allstate, Christopher shares essential lessons in collaboration, creating value for the customer, and transformation strategy.