Leading IT Across Vertical Businesses with Ellora Sengupta of EverCommerce

When Ellora Sengupta joined EverCommerce as CIO, she inherited the IT of over 50 acquisitions — multiple operating models, fragmented tech stacks, and business units that had zero reason to trust a central IT function. 

Most CIOs would have reached for a consolidation roadmap. Ellora reached for something better: earning the right to be plugged into, instead of just mandating it. In this episode, Ellora tells Yousuf how she's drawn the line between what actually needs to be standardized and what should be left alone so acquired businesses keep their edge. 

Key Moments:
[00:01:00] What Is EverCommerce — and What Makes 50+ Acquisitions So Unusual
[00:03:00] The CIO's Real Job: Standardize Some Things, Protect Others
[00:04:30] What Multi-Acquisition IT Looks Like vs. Organic Growth
[00:05:00] How Ellora Built Trust with Business Units That Didn't Ask for IT
[00:07:30] High-Growth SaaS DNA: Customer Obsession, Speed with Discipline, and AI
[00:09:30] Why AI Doesn't Get Its Own Budget at EverCommerce
[00:11:00] The Personal Story: Starting Over as an Immigrant with Zero Network
[00:15:30] How Her Leadership Philosophy Evolved — and the Family Myth She Unlearned
[00:17:30] Running the SVASE CIO Educational Fund and Giving Back
[00:21:00] The Skills That Actually Matter for Future IT Leaders
[00:22:00] Lightning Round

About Ellora: 
Ellora Sengupta is the CIO of EverCommerce, where she oversees enterprise applications, data and analytics, security, corporate IT, infrastructure, and enterprise PMO across a portfolio built through 50+ acquisitions. She brings a "General Manager" mindset to IT leadership, having scaled technology functions at high-growth pre-IPO companies and $50B+ enterprises alike — including stints at Procore, Samsara, Cisco, and Workday. Ellora was named Bay Area CIO of the Year in the 2022 ORBIE Awards (Large Corporate category). She currently serves as president of the SVASE CIO Educational Fund, raising scholarships and providing mentorship for underprivileged students pursuing careers in technology.

Guest Highlights:
"My success is not how fast can I standardize or make things consistent. My success is — are those vertical businesses ready to plug into the shared services that my team is creating because it makes them better."

"Your team is not your family. In a family, it's unconditional. But in a team you need everybody to perform. It doesn't help anyone if you are carrying along a non-performer — the rest of the team has to carry that slack."

"I don't have a separate budget for AI. I have a budget and I need to make sure that my tools are AI enabled."

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