What has been the key to IIS’ success?

We’ve always been in the middle of an ever-transforming industry. In this fast-moving market, we have to place the right bets in transformational technologies, make sure our company can restructure itself to serve a new set of customers with a new set of demands, without ever sacrificing our ability to serve our current customers. That’s our perpetual challenge and the key to our success: essentially, we constantly reinvent ourselves without losing what’s gotten us this far.

How has your experience at HP helped you at IIS?

I learned that there’s always risk involved with abandoning what’s driving your revenue today and looking towards tomorrow, so you’ve got to place your bets wisely. A successful company will place bets, take risks and win more than they lose. So the whole notion of “fail fast” – you might hear that in the market – is important. You place a bet, invest some money, and if it’s going to fail, you quickly decide to stop.

What is the most fulfilling aspect of your work?

I’m a technology junkie – a geek. I have the business development title, but I am an engineer – my degrees are electrical engineering and computer science. I have a voracious appetite for reading about technology, and I still get excited about new technology, even at my age. As I get older and know where technology has been, I have some insight on what’s changing – almost daily, it seems – and where technology is going. I’m able to step back and understand these new technologies in a broader context of use cases and business value. So, the most fulfilling aspect of my work is understanding the opportunities of these new technologies, onboarding them at IIS and seeing us and our customers succeed with them.

What advice would you give to those starting out in the industry today?

Lifelong learning. You must be a lifelong learner in this business and you have to really enjoy learning new things. If you get to a point where you believe you know it all, you’re done. You’re finished. You can see it in what we’re doing here at IIS, in terms of investing in new technologies: things change quickly and you must be able to learn and adapt so you stay relevant to our customers.