Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.
CIO Values: Gary Scholten, Senior VP And CIO At Principal Financial GroupCIO Values: Gary Scholten, Senior VP And CIO At Principal Financial Group
Big item on CIO Scholten's agenda: Using technology to educate employees about employer-provided benefits, and to control costs.
3 Min Read
Career Track
Gary ScholtenSenior VP and CIO, Principal Financial Group |
How long at current company: 27 years
Career accomplishment you're most proud of: I am particularly proud of establishing our CIO Working Group to take on the difficult task of enterprise-level IT governance. Our success in that area has led to much innovation and contributed to a competitive advantage in how we leverage IT.
Most important career influencer: There are many. One that stands out is Bob Delaney, a former CIO for The Principal. He demonstrated to many of us that it is possible to stay current on always-changing technology trends while staying close to our business.
Major decision you wish you could do over again: Several years ago, I proposed and championed a project related to an enterprise solution for marketer compensation that eventually was terminated without completing. In retrospect, neither our business nor the software vendors in that space at the time were ready to deal with the complexities and challenges that the project presented.
On The Job
Size of IT team: Roughly 2,200 globally
Three top initiatives for current year:
Support our work-site business initiatives. This includes technology to support mobility, data quality, and consistent customer experience.
Support our move from employer-centric relationship management to employee-level relationships. This involves service-oriented architecture, data management, and information security solutions.
Help customers who are employers to manage their benefits data with multiple carriers. This requires open standards and service orientation.
Key tech partners: We have many. In terms of the number of relationships, HP, IBM, Oracle, and SunGard top the list.
Vision
The next big thing for my business will be ... Increased employee choice/responsibility related to their employer-provided benefits. Technology will play a critical role in helping to educate and simplify the choices for employees and control costs for employers.
Best piece of advice for future CIOs: There is no way to control all the facets of your responsibility on your own. Surround yourself with strong, passionate IT experts who understand that they need to think and act as businesspeople and then create an environment in which they can influence business direction.
Personal
Colleges/degrees: University of Northern Iowa, BS in math and computer science
Favorite leisure activity: I'm an avid runner.
Best book read recently: 1491, by Charles C. Mann
Favorite presidential candidate: I don't have a favorite candidate right now, but am very interested in the Unity08 online political movement.
About the Author
You May Also Like
More Insights
