CIO Bulletin has published an issue of 10 Best CEOs to Watch

1. www.ciobulletin.com
10 Best CEOs to Watch 2019 . How to get that coveted corner office!
May 2019
Stephanie Tilenius | CEO | Founder
“We’re committed,
passionate, and data-driven”
–Stephanie Tilenius of Vida Health

2. T
he mobile smart devices
are playing a huge role in
running businesses today.
They have become critical
in winning new businesses and
improving the existing customer
relationships. The technology has
enabled companies to generate
more profit than ever before by
managing the smallest of expens-
es through the data collected by
these devices.
mobilityView is a company that
is helping organizations redefine
how they use mobile smart devices
to improve productivity and lower
costs. Headquartered in Toronto,
Canada, mobiltyView was found-
ed in 2014 by thorough industry
professionals with extensive expe-
rience in wireless and IT sectors.
mobilityView is a company that is
helping other companies manage
their mobile costs efficiently.
Relevance in
times of IoT
With the widespread adoption
of IoT in various industries,
real-time mobile data analytics
is becoming very important. The
data from these devices have
enhanced customer care/ in-house
productivity apps and has enabled
new kinds of interactions, business
models, and solutions crucial in
competing. But often companies
fail to realize how these devic-
es can contribute to profitable
business growth. Companies can
benefit from the structured data to
aid problem solving, adding a new
dimension to their businesses and
to become more customer-centric.
mobilityView’s Smart Business
Insight Platform delivers the data
that a company needs for both
internal and external business
use cases. This solution by
mobilityView is applicable for
businesses of all sizes be it a
small enterprise or a large
multi-national.
The mobility View
effect
Big Data companies are extremely
important in today’s world as they
move, process and maintain a lot
of data. Sometimes this data comes
from unstructured sources such
as social media and at times they
collect structured data which are
important to solve business related
problems. But often it is hard to
predict if this data is going to be
useful for the Business Intelligence
departments.
mobilityView’s platforms and
solutions deliver real-time mobile
mobilityView: Mobile Cost
Management for Businesses
mobilityView provides a clear view of how devices
can contribute to profitable business growth.
”
”
May -2019 | 2

3. Founder’s Corner
Thom Damstra, CEO & Founder
Mr. Damstra has spent over 20 years
with the wireless industry. In all his
time with the wireless industry he has
worked in partnering, sales channel
creation & business development with
the OEM, Operator, B2B, VAS, and
VAR/SI community. He has held various
leadership roles at multinationals like
Motorola, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone
Group, AMD. He is a member of the
exclusive Forbes Technology Council.
“We help organizations
redefine the role of
mobile smart devices
and help turn them
into powerful strategic
assets driving
measurable productivity
improvements and
lower costs for a leaner,
more competitive
business.”
Company of the
Month
Thom Damstra, CEO & Founder
3 | May-2019

4. T
housands and mil-
lions of people all
around the world
start their day with
coffee. And what better place
than Starbucks to buy your
daily dose of freshly brewed
caffeine? While Starbucks
is very famous for its cuppa
all over the world, not many
people know the man behind
its success- Howard Schultz.
His rags-to-riches story in
successfully making the most
thriving coffee company in
the world is absolutely note-
worthy.
“You have to have a 100%
belief in your core reason for
being,” says the former CEO,
who started off with nearly
nothing and is now a billion-
aire and caters to more than
300,000 jobs worldwide.
While there are so many
people working in Starbucks,
these people remain the most
valuable to him. Speaking
about his people, Schultz
says: “Treating employees
benevolently shouldn't be
viewed as an added cost that
cuts into profits, but as a
powerful energizer that can
grow the enterprise into
something far greater than
one leader could envision.”
The journey for the entre-
preneurial pioneer wasn’t an
easy one. But he wouldn’t
think of doing anything else.
He says, “Entrepreneurs must
love what they do to such a
degree that doing it is worth
sacrifice and, at times, pain.
But doing anything else, we
think, would be unimaginable.”
But that’s not all. Becoming a
CEO or an entrepreneur is a
challenging journey through-
out. “There are moments in
our lives when we summon the
courage to make choices that go
against reason, that go against
common sense and the wise
counsel of people we trust,”
he recalls. But do they stop
there? Nope! “But we lean
forward, nonetheless, because,
despite all risks and rational
argument, we believe that the
path we are choosing is the right
and best thing to do.”
So, how does he define his
achievement and success?
Schultz believes that success
should have an emotional
meaning. “Success is not
sustainable if it is defined by
how big you become or by
growth for growth's sake.
Success is very shallow if it
doesn't have emotional
meaning,” he defines it.
On a conclusive note, here’s
a piece of advice that Schultz
gives out to all dreamers and
budding entrepreneurs:
“If you dream small dreams,
you may succeed in building
something small. For many
people, that is enough. But if
you want to achieve widespread
impact and lasting value, be
bold.”
“I am convinced that most people can
achieve their dreams and beyond if
they have the determination to keep
trying.” –Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks
May -2019 | 4

5. Tech Talk
Howard Schultz, Former CEO of Starbucks

6. Helping South Dakota State University (SDSU)
South Dakota State University (SDSU) is one of the premier institutions in the country. It is the largest higher-education
institution in South Dakota and hosts students from every state of the country and also students from 83 foreign coun-
tries.
The content editors across the campus of SDSU were faced with a challenge of providing updated information to cur-
rent and potential students, staff, parents, and even the alumni. But the outdated CMS system was weighing them down.
Additionally, the marketing team also required constant assistance from the IT department to effectively update the CMS
system. This put particular stress on the university’s outreach efforts.
The university needed to move away from the university’s existing CMS platform. The team was determined to find a
solution that would be easy to use. Eventually, they decided on going with Drupal. Acquia became the natural choice,
considering their expertise with Drupal.
SDSU chose Acquia Cloud which helped them harness the power of Drupal and enabled them to manage many digital
experiences through a single platform. Acquia Cloud also allowed the team to increase their presence online without
having to worry about additional staffing. SDSU also chose to take the help of Acquia Lift to provide personalized digital
experiences to students.
With Acquia on board, SDSU has seen its mobile traffic increase from 19% to 39.3%. The Bounce rate has seen a drop
from 46% in 2015/16 to 35% in 2018/2019.
Michael Sullivan, CEO

7. D
rupal has changed the
web. It is undoubtedly the
best content management
system in the world which
helps global enterprises, governments,
and educational institutions all alike.
It has revolutionized web content
management and made it easier
for content editors to put their
content online. But after creating
Drupal, Dries Buytaert wanted to
start a cloud hosting service which
would leverage the power of Drupal
to help many more. This is how
Acquia came into being.
Founded in 2007, by Dries Buytaert
and Jay Batson, Acquia is a leading
digital experience company which
has been providing digital solutions
to the world’s most ambitious brands.
The company stands apart in the
industry because of its outlook that
focuses on community and empowers
its customers to build their futures
on their own terms. With the
founder of Drupal onboard as
one of the founders and doubling
up as the CTO of the company, the
company has the best expertise
in the digital experience space.
A company with a
human culture
Located across the U.S. and around
the world, Acquia’s solutions are
helping over 4,000 organizations.
Some of the world’s best brands like
Twitter, Warner Music Group and
Mercedes Benz use Acquia’s solutions
to succeed. The company has over 800
people on its payroll who work in a
highly collaborative environment from
the state-of-the-art offices towards the
common goal of delivering the best
digital experience for its customer.
Moreover, the company ticks all the
right boxes when it comes to caring
for its employees. From offering a
transition program to new parents to
offsetting the cost of legal adoption
fees, Acquia does not pull its punches
when it comes to showing that it is
a company that cares. The company
was also recognized as one of the best
places to work for women by one of
the leading job portals in 2018.
Recognition
Acquia was recognized as the fastest
growing private technology company
in North America by Deloitte in 2013.
And it has continued reeling in
numerous awards over the years
since then. Last year, the company
was named in the Forbes 2018 Cloud
100. It was the third consecutive time
Acquia was recognized as a leader in
Cloud by Forbes.
In 2018, the company was also
recognized for its leadership in WCM
by Gartner and Forrester. While
Gartner placed Acquia in its 2018
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web
Content Management report for a fifth
consecutive year, Forrester Wave gave
it the top marks for its WCM strategy.
The company’s leadership was also
recognized as the company’s CEO
Michael Sullivan was named in
Comparably’s top 50 Best CEOs in
2018. His enterprising presence has
helped the company increase its R&D
capacity by 90% and has helped the
company bring hundreds of global
brands aboard as new customers in a
short amount of time. Michael Sulli-
van rubbed shoulders with the likes
of Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and
Reed Hastings with this recognition.
Acquia: Experience Digital Freedom
Leading from the Front
Michael Sullivan, CEO
Mr. Sullivan came to Acquia in 2017. Before Acquia he served at Micro Focus. He played an important role in the merg-
er between Micro Focus and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business. Post-merger the combined company was the
world’s seventh largest pure-play software company. It was also the largest UK technology firm listed on the London SE.
He was responsible for information management and governance product portfolio both at HP and Micro Focus. Prior to
HP, he was at Autonomy where he led the Protect business unit.
He was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2000 and 2004. He holds a degree in computer
information systems from the Bentley University.
CIO Bulletin | 10 Best CEOs to Watch 2019
7 | May-2019

8. Meet the Magnate
Kumar Srikantan, President & CEO
Kumar was VP/GM of HW Engineering
for the Enterprise Networking Business at
Cisco where he was responsible for the HW
engineering execution of Cisco’s Enterprise
Networking portfolio. Kumar brings 25
years of diverse leadership and operational
experience in the technology industry that
spans development, marketing, and
engineering across computing, silicon,
and communications industries.
“The CEO job is a
marathon, not a sprint.
There will be highs and
lows, and you’re
accountable for all
outcomes.”
Kumar Srikantan, President & CEO
I
f you look up ‘Open Networking’ on the Inter-
net, you’re bombarded with a variety of an-
swers. With a focus on Software Defined Net-
works, open networking is defining how
you build and manage computing systems. There
are many companies out there who deal with
open networking. But the leader here is Pluribus
Networks. And leading this revolutionary company
is Kumar Srikantan, the President and CEO of
the Pluribus Networks.
Mr. Kumar Srikantan is ranked as
one of the best CEOs; here are the
excerpts of an interview with him.
Tell us about Pluribus Networks.
Pluribus Networks is a leader in open networking
and next-gen software defined networking (SDN).
We enable managed service providers, cloud
service providers, telcos, and enterprises to increase
agility. We help in simplifying increasingly complex
network operations as workloads move to public
and private cloud infrastructure and become more
distributed, moving data processing closer to users
and things.
What were the hurdles you
faced initially as a CEO?
When I joined, there was a founder-culture and it
was important to embrace this, but also recognize
that we would need to shift to a growth and execu-
tion culture. It’s a transition all growth companies
go through, but how and when you bridge this
chasm is important.
For me personally, joining from Cisco, I also had
to adjust my own mindset of how work is done and
the expectations of the CEO role. This is where agile
thinking comes into play. Being hands-on, but also
recognizing that I have a finite amount of time. All
our stakeholders look to me to set the pace and be
Pluribus Networks
is Redefining Open
Networking

9. accountable. Embracing that
responsibility, making decisions,
and driving the business forward
is what I’m focused on.
What do you think is
more important to your
organization—Vision,
Mission or Core Values?
Ultimately, vision, mission, and
core values are all important and
dovetail together. In our early
days, establishing a vision and
mission was very critical. Today,
we have crystallized our vision
and mission and executing on
our core values is most important.
What matters now is staying
disciplined and believing in
what we’ve put in place.
How do you motivate
creative thinking within
the organization?
In an emerging, high-growth
industry like ours, we encourage
employees to be open to new ideas
and new ways of doing things.
When everything is new and
exploratory, the linear path you
previously followed is no lon-
ger useful. If you reject the idea
of “this is how we do things” and
instead ask people to find a new
way forward, they rise to the
challenge. I’m also a proponent
of agile thinking and believe that
looking for ways to do more with
less inspires creativity.
Let’s talk more about
leadership. What according
to you are traits that every
leader should possess?
Having the right mindset and a
firm resolve. The leader sets the
pace for how the organization
functions and whether or not
people believe in the mission.
You also need to demonstrate
resolve. In a disruptive market,
the stakes are higher. You have
more to win if things go right, and
more to lose if things go wrong.
Leaders need to bring consistency
in approach, as well as temper-
ament, to help manage through
these waves. In trying times and
volatile markets, employees are
looking for a steady hand.
What other CEOs
inspire you?
I draw inspiration from CEOs in
our industry who faced hurdles
such as John Chambers, former
Chairman and CEO of Cisco,
and Jayshree Ullal, CEO, Arista
Networks. There is much to learn
from their successes, but most
specifically how they overcame
adversity. They made hard choices
and always had the best interest
of the company on their mind.
Where do you see the
company expanding or
focusing its efforts in
the coming years?
The emergence of 5G and
next-gen applications are going
to transform network infrastruc-
ture, triggering a movement from
a very centralized datacenter infra-
structure to more distributed sites
closer to people and things. This is
being driven by new, low-latency
applications such as VR, industrial
IoT, and video analytics that need
compute and storage closer to the
network’s edge. This market is set
to explode in the next few years,
and Pluribus is well positioned to
take advantage of this opportunity.
It’s an exciting time, and we look
forward to making a huge impact.
Scoreboard
As the President and CEO, Kumar Srikantan has a sense of accomplishment for the
work done early-on to synthesize the technology innovation the founders developed.
“This foundation has set us up for the success we’re having today,” he says. He’s immensely
proud of his team and its ability to deliver. The reward for this hard work was awarded
in 2018 when Pluribus Networks was named the 58th fastest growing company in North
America by Deloitte. “More than the number though, it’s the type of quality and highly-skilled
people we’ve been fortunate to add that has made all the difference,” he opines.