5 CTO Experts Every Facilities Manager Should Be Following
If you take a look around your home or office, it is sure to be filled with some of the latest and greatest in technological advances. As a facilities manager, your daily focus is on ensuring your workforce is armed with the latest (and greatest) tools, from software, to computers, mobile devices, and mobile applications. Behind every successful company is a team of individuals leading the charge, brave enough to make bold moves to produce real innovations. As we sort our way through all the options available to us today, we stand to gain valuable knowledge and inspiration from thought leaders in the technical industry. Here, we take a look at 5 Chief Technology Officers who have helped raise the bar in innovative greatness.
1- Cisco Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior
Padmasree Warrior, former executive vice president and CTO for Motorola, joined the Cisco team in 2008. Before moving into her role as Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, she served as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), where she led the organization in developing innovative solutions in security, cloud computing, and collaboration. Recognized by Forbes as one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women,” Warrior has proven her “warrior” status by helping Cisco realize multi-billion dollar growth through partnerships and acquisitions. She lives by her motto “be bold and be humble” in everything she does. @Padmasree has 1.58 million followers on Twitter, where she exhibits her passion for “helping women in tech.”
Powerful quote regarding innovative business solutions: “Increasingly it’s not about knowing all the answers but asking the right questions and figuring out how to get the right answer.”
2- HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO of HubSpot, has been a leader in innovation throughout his career. Along with founding the global company, Shah is also known for starting OnStartups.com, a blog for entrepreneurs. With over 350,000 members following OnStartups and 257,000 followers on Twitter, Dharmesh Shah has helped thousands of newly emerging business owners develop a business plan and achieve their goals.
When asked: “Would you rather be a great athlete, artist, or entrepreneur?” “The best entrepreneurs have the discipline of an athlete and the creativity of an artist.”
Shah’s message to innovative entrepreneurs: “It is great you are going your own unique way, but still wise to chat with fellow travelers along the way.”
3- iOffice, Inc. CTO Kenton Gray
Every FM should be watching Kenton Gray, as he is the architect behind our software. Gray joined the iOffice team in 2002 as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. He oversees a team of ten developers and programmers in the development, scaling, and management of our IWMS modules, currently used by nearly 2,000 companies worldwide. Kenton believes in full transparency and obtains some of his best innovation from our customers.
As our CTO, Gray turns visions into reality, developing new modules, applications, and major software upgrades and is a consistent contributor to the iOffice blog. Find him at our booth at IFMA this fall, where he will be available to answer any and all questions. More details about this event coming soon.
4- Go-Daddy CTO and EVP of Cloud Platforms Elissa Murphy
Elissa Murphy of GoDaddy made headlines in 2013 when she left her position as Vice President of Engineering for Hadoop and cloud services at Yahoo!. Utilizing her expertise in global-scale platforms, big data and predictive analytics she is now leading GoDaddy towards achieving their mission of providing a “powerful and unified platform for small business.” As an expert in distributed systems, cloud, machine learning, and security, Murphy currently has 15 issued patents, with an additional 19 pending.
Elissa on technological innovation: “What excites me about technology that no one has considered yet is using technology to solve a really hard problem.”
5- Apple VP of Technology Kevin Lynch
Kevin Lynch left his position as CTO for Adobe System in early 2013. At Adobe, he was responsible for overseeing cloud, social computing, and multi-screen technology, most widely known for bringing Creative Suite to the Creative Cloud. Upon joining the Apple Technologies, he was tasked with the project of developing an innovative device that “could be worn on the wrist.” Apple’s vision was to offer consumers a way to connect “that’s a little more human, a little more in the moment when you’re with somebody.” With no other guidelines, no prototypes, and zero related software, he has turned the Apple vision into a reality with the Apple Watch, set to launch April 24, 2015.
Lynch on developing the Apple Watch: “We didn’t want to have three variations, we wanted to have millions of variations. Through hardware and software, we could do that.”
What leading CTOs do you follow? Who is a rising star or primed for success? Which industry frontrunners are on your radars? Let us know in the comments.
