Tech Talent Today Jodi K Mayer

In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Curt Smith, a Senior Technology Executive with over 25 years of experience. Curt was the Chief Technology Officer at E-Trade for over 13 years, SVP Global Technology Operations at InterContinental Hotel Group, and SVP Global Chief Technology at Manulife. He currently runs his own partnership as a trusted and strategic advisor to firms specializing in infrastructure, internet, and cloud. Listen to learn more about his journey!
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Trekking for Trevor [03:27] Career advice on the trail [13:50] The transition from Wall Street to E-Trade [15:57] Journey to C-level [20:29] The changing culture of working locations [30:07] The future of the tech hiring market [36:24] Trekking for a purpose Curt is from North Georgia and has visited the mountains in Georgia and North Carolina for years. Back in his E-Trade days, he and a group of friends would have weekend trips where they’d hike for a few days, and on the last night, they’d go to their base camp and play poker all night. All of that was on the Appalachian Trail, which caused Curt to become interested in the history and the idea of a six-month hike through the whole trail. But with his family responsibilities and a job, even if he had six months, there would be something else to utilize his time better. 
Midway through the pandemic, Curt had the opportunity to retire from his corporate life. Suddenly, six months didn’t seem like such a long time. His family was settled and supportive of his adventure, so he started preparing mentally to go. The most challenging aspect of such an endeavor is the mental game. He needed to have a purpose. 
Curt’s youngest son, Trevor, has special needs. The family has been involved with an organization in Georgia called Families of Children Under Stress (FOCUS). FOCUS helps thousands of families through challenging situations, and Curt has worked with them to help run a golf tournament and raise funds. To have community support, Curt told the organization that he was planning on doing the six-month hike. That’s when he came up with the idea of Trekking for Trevor. The trek would become a fundraiser for the organization that has meant so much to Curt’s family.
Career and passion Along the trail, Curt found himself giving career advice to other trekkers in their 20s and 30s, though he tried to keep it light and not take away from the experience. One woman was a recent computer science graduate. Throughout their conversations, the woman mentioned not wanting to sit in an office all day. Curt’s advice was to find her passion and then match that passion to her skills as a computer scientist. 
Curt’s career went through a couple of phases before he was able to match it to his passion. He decided early in his career that he didn’t want to be on the selling side of a business. After having worked in sales, he moved to an advertising agency. But in the late 80s and early 90s, there wasn’t much tech being used. Also, the tech budget would be the first cut if the company lost a customer. That’s when Curt landed at Lehman Brothers on Wall Street. Tech then became mission-critical to stay ahead in the business. Curt did well there for years when he decided to have a family and move from New York. He then had the opportunity to move to E-Trade, which he loved.
Curt’s journey to C-level Most of Curt’s jobs were just above his skill level. While he had to scrabble, he wasn’t afraid to take risks. Many roles he had the opportunity to take were offered because the other person saw something in him. He found the offers confusing because he didn’t see those things and knew that the position he was offered wasn’t his specialty. When he started at E-Trade, his role was in operations. He quickly picked up engineering. Then slowly, architecture was layered on top of that. Then he learned quality assurance

In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m excited to be joined by Caroline Frith, the Chief Strategy Officer at cove, a commercial real estate technology company. Caroline joined cove with an impressive twenty-year background in CRE, investment banking, and technology and now leads product and partnership development. During her career, Caroline has spearheaded valuable technology partnerships, led enterprise product strategy, and delivered transformative results by consistently maintaining a strategic view of operational efficiencies and future revenue growth. Listen to learn from her experiences.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Caroline’s background [02:57] What is cove? [04:07] Hybrid workplaces [06:33] Why work for a startup? [10:49] Having a sounding board [16:10] Caroline’s career Most of Caroline’s background has been in investment banking. She worked on the trading floor for several international investment banks, built financial models, and rolled out messaging platforms. After she had her daughter, she wanted a schedule that didn’t start at 6:45 am, so she pivoted into real estate. Her first role at Cushman & Wakefield was in the valuations and advisory team, helping build financial models to value real estate assets. During the pandemic, she joined the asset services team because they needed someone with a strong analytics background. 
A few months ago, Caroline joined cove as Chief Strategy Officer. She looks for gaps in the market and how cove’s product can meet those needs. She spends a lot of her time building consensus and aligning everyone on what business the company is going after, what areas of investment it will make in product development, and which direction to take with partnerships. 
Joining a startup isn’t for everyone. There’s no place to hide in a startup because everyone is within sight of each other. If someone doesn’t believe in what they’re selling, the value proposition, or what the company is telling people, that working situation will not work out well. So before someone joins a startup, they must ensure they genuinely like the product and the team. Before Caroline started at cove, she liked the product, the culture, and the team, and she believed she had unique experiences she could bring to the table. That skill set and her entrepreneurial spirit ultimately led to her success in the company.
What is cove? Cove is a commercial real estate technology provider that began eight years ago in Washington, D.C. When the company started, it was running many co-working locations, and it still has some beautiful retail spaces where someone can use a desk for a day, a week, or a year. Cove built its own software to check people in and manage communications while running those facilities. The software was so good that people asked if they could purchase it separately. 
After the pandemic, the need for questionnaire-style apps that could be used for check-ins and manage tenant communications skyrocketed. With many employees working remotely, businesses needed less space. This situation still holds true as workspaces continue to be remote or hybrid.
The hybrid workplace Each company has different needs and policies for a hybrid workplace. At Cushman & Wakefield, consultants interviewed staff and found that happiness peaked around two or three days in the office. The staff also shared that they need flexibility with arrival and departure times. Culture has changed since the pandemic, and people expect a more family-friendly environment. They also want to ensure that their friends and people they work closely with will be there when they work on-site. People don’t want to show up to an empty office.
Cove helps build a sense of community by encouraging people to be more engaged again. The company does online programming like trivia contests, giveaways, and tenant spotlights, so people learn who their neighbors are. People get together for wi

There are a variety of problems large companies face when it comes to managing their workforce. From finding the right people to fill the positions on their teams to retaining them, the challenges are real. My guest on this episode is Amy Lackey, A Human Resources Executive who has spent the last 27 years of her career at Accenture. In 1995, Amy answered an ad in the paper for a project financial analyst at Anderson Consulting and was hired. In 1998 the company became Accenture and she moved into a role in Human Resources. There, she made her primary focus HR related to Accenture’s Technology practice. She was there until September of this 2022, when she left to pursue her next adventure.
Amy’s role in helping Accenture find the right employees - through innovative and groundbreaking new initiatives - and her years of experience helping team members find and implement the right resources for their career needs, makes her the perfect person for me to talk with on this episode. If you listen, you’ll learn how Amy has helped companies with issues relating to diversity and inclusion, women in the workforce, hiring and retention, and more.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Discovering a new source for experienced, needed employees [1:39] The Accent on Technology Women program Amy has spearheaded [11:20] Approaching the diversity issue in a fresh way (using data) [15:52] Mental health awareness and removing the taboos so we can move forward [19:10] HR as a safe and trusted advisor within the organization [22:08] How to navigate your career at a large company [26:30] Tapping an unrecognized source of personnel for needed positions While Amy served in her role at Accenture, the team there was having trouble finding qualified people to fill the roles they had at the time. Her team developed a program to address the issues with the help of a new company (at the time), iRelaunch. The program was focused on finding people who had been out of the workforce for a time but who were qualified and ready to re-engage their careers.
After identifying individuals that looked promising, they hired them as temporary workers, led them through a 12-week on the job experience program, and completed the track with a job offer, which was made to all nine of the original participants. 60% of them are still with the company today.
Diversity decisions through better data When addressing the need for greater diversity in the workplace, many companies make the mistake of not being clear about the problem they are trying to solve. Amy learned to use data to discover the real issues and then address them. Metrics can help determine if there is a discrepancy in the way that diverse individuals are being treated compared to other employees. This information in turn, can be used to make changes that result in fair treatment of all employees.
Besides utilizing data as a primary tool for addressing inequities in the workplace, Amy is a strong proponent of companies taking the extra step to invest in the culture of their organization. This allows not only the leadership, but also the employees, to take a stand and voice their opinions on issues like diversity, and to be the catalysts for positive change from within the organization.
Retention and job satisfaction can be facilitated through better HR practices In large organizations, employees can easily feel lost. They need a way to understand the company’s culture and procedures, and to learn how to chart their career path in the company. Amy refers to this as the effort to “make big, small,” and says it’s a matter of everyone, from the top down, being held accountable for their stewardship and their building of relationships within the company. Once established, those relationships need to be nurtured and maintained in order to truly make a positive impact on the company, long-term. It’s key to both hiring the right people in the first place, and retention of

In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Rob Diamond, VP of Security Architecture at Two Sigma. Before Two Sigma, Rob served as Chief Architect at SafeNet Assured Technologies through various incarnations of the company. He was the creator and lead product designer of the MDeX System, which was used extensively to protect the most sensitive and highly classified data of the U.S. government and other entities. Listen to learn how to be successful in the constantly evolving world of cybersecurity.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... What is Two Sigma? [02:40] Two Sigma’s hiring process [08:33] Advice to those new in cybersecurity [14:29] Rob’s journey to cybersecurity [15:43] Similarities between hedge funds and government security [20:12] Resources & People Mentioned Two Sigma Gyms for the Mind: Two Sigma’s Hacker Labs Hacker Lab Class Building a Home VPN Server Connect with Rob Diamond On Linkedin Connect With Jodi Kulek Mayer https://clearmonttech.com/about/meet-the-team/  Follow Jodi on LinkedIn Subscribe to Tech Talent Today on
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In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Mark Marshalek. Mark has worked in the insurance and financial services industry for over 25 years. During his tenure, he has held various roles ranging from claim representative, internal audit, finance, strategy, and risk management. Currently, he’s the Head of Data Governance, part of the Chief Data Organization at Farmers. Mark has followed a non-traditional path to the data space and firmly believes that self-development, curiosity, and willingness to take risks are crucial keys to success. Listen to learn how he continues to apply these principles to himself and his team.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... The education aspect [01:43] Improving skills through hackathons [07:31] Benefits for the presenter [11:51] Attributes Mark looks for in a team member [17:04] The most important aspect of data governance [26:17] Mark’s journey to data [32:04] The future of office environments [41:15] Resources & People Mentioned Data Strategy Training  ML Ops Engineering  Bella’s Instagram Page Connect with Mark Marshalek On Linkedin Connect With Jodi Kulek Mayer https://clearmonttech.com/about/meet-the-team/  Follow Jodi on LinkedIn Subscribe to Tech Talent Today on
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In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Heather Fitzgerald. Heather is an SVP of Business Intelligence and CRM Strategy for a large retirement and financial services firm. With over 20 years in driving innovative global solutions and data-driven insights, she has deep expertise in business automation, data technology platforms, digital transformation, sales, marketing, and storytelling. Listen as she shares her passion for providing holistic data, measurements, and insights to tie online and offline platforms for insight-driven storytelling.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Bringing everything together [02:34] What is a data storyteller? [04:37] Connecting business and technology [08:42] Insights in resumes [12:41] Heather’s journey to data science [16:21] Retention of employees [18:27] Resources & People Mentioned MSU RO: Academic Programs:Digital Storytelling Connect with Heather Fitzgerald On Linkedin Connect With Jodi Kulek Mayer https://clearmonttech.com/about/meet-the-team/  Follow Jodi on LinkedIn Subscribe to Tech Talent Today on
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