The Tech Trek

What we cover: Improving asynchronous communication Understanding where decisions are being made Establishing repeatable actions and rituals Leadership is about availability Part of the job of the leader is to tell the story and celebrate the team Meet: Mitch Trale is Head of Infrastructure at HackerOne -- the world's leading crowdsourced security platform. He is responsible for HackerOne's highly available, performant, and secure web application architecture. A hacker and startup technologist, Mitch has been building engineering teams and digital products for 20 years. If you have any questions for Mitch, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchtrale/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Growing and building your security capabilities Prioritizing the first cybersecurity hire Security tools and automation rather than shifting left Building relationships with security startups to expand capabilities Meet: Jonathan Jaffe, Lemonade Insurance's CISO. Jonathan's been practicing security since 1997. He has designed and installed the earliest internet-centric access control systems for airlines, banks, manufacturers, and tech companies. He has designed identity and access management systems for more than 45 companies since 1999. Jonathan is also a privacy attorney, taking a mid-career tangential detour to develop and prosecute the largest US privacy class action at the time against Facebook, protecting the privacy rights of billions of people and leading to the closure of Facebook's Sponsored Stories. Jonathan is a founding member of Silicon Valley CISO Investments, a group dedicated to advancing better security products for the benefit of all. Jonathan assists security start-ups by advising them on market fit and helping them improve their products. You can reach him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanjaffe/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Building resiliency into systems Failing and non-failing validations If failure happens, what’s the fallback plan? Creating SLAs with upstream teams Meet: Teresa Martyny is the Engineering Manager for the Data OS Infrastructure team at New Relic, an observability platform built to help engineers create more perfect software. If you have any questions for Teresa, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresamartyny/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: The extensibility of the Salesforce platform Growth and evolution of the platform Pushing Salesforce to do something that it shouldn’t Dealing with technical debt Meet: Hyung Lee started his career in finance software and really took a more focused route during his tenure at Salesforce. From there he had the fortune to work at some noteworthy technology companies. He has a passion for solving problems with technology, people and process and over the course of his career have grown to be a "people first" technology leader. Chi Ho is a platform-as-a-service champion with 13+ of years building applications on Salesforce. He is currently leading multiple teams in enterprise digital transformation for over 20,000 users with an emphasis on bringing intuitive design and consumer-like features into the workplace. If you have any questions for Hyung or Chi, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiwho/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hyungslee/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Building trust and transparency in the team Adjusting the structure of the 1-1 meeting for Zooms Replicating the ideation process while remote Meet: Zak Allen is the VP of Engineering at Shogun. Shogun, backed by 8VC and Founders Fund, empowers home improvement contractors with software products to help them manage their businesses such as Financing, Payments, and other tools. Zak was one of the first employees at Shogun and has seen it grow to over 100 people, serving over 10,000 contractors across the US. Prior to Shogun, Zak was the first employee at FlyHomes, a real estate tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, which has similarly grown now to over 250 employees. If you have any questions for Zak, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakallen I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: The power of being underestimated Being one of few females as an IT Director in the Massachusetts technology public sector Early exposure to technology had a very positive impact From liberal arts degree to leader in Infrastructure Get ahead by finding the work that nobody wants to do. Doing it. And doing it well. Meet: Kendra Rozett McCormick is Manager of Infrastructure Engineering at HealthEdge, provider of the industry’s leading mission-critical claims processing, care management, and payment integrity technology assets for payers. Kendra has a unique background combining a liberal arts education with proven technology leadership, first in the public/local government sector for 11 years, and now in the Healthcare software space, with a passion for leadership and promotion of women in technology. If you have any questions for Kendra, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmccormick916/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: The widening scope of IT Service Management Does ITSM need their own Service Management Officer? ITSM buy-in and the why behind it Meet: Carlis Ragland - Assistant VP Configuration Manager at Valley Bank - has over 25 years of IT experience, and 10 years of IT Information Library (ITIL) experience using IT Service Management (ITSM) platforms such as ServiceNow. He was formally the Configuration Management Leader for Becton Dickinson, ITSM Solution architect for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), and ITSM System Integrator/Service Manager and Architect for CompuCom Inc. on the Public Service Electric & Gas (PSEG) of New Jersey account for over 10 years. In addition, he is a retired Air Force Reserve Officer with 33 years of military experience. Carlis holds a Master of Science Degree in Information Technology with a Business Intelligence specialization from Kaplan University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University teaching Data Communications and Computer Networking courses. His hands-on and leadership experience with configuration management databases, data integration, automation, process, and workflow management have shrunk timelines, matured processes, provided financial transparency to reduced cost, and reduced the number of unplanned IT outages. If you have any questions for Carlis, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlisragland/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Finding the right skill set mix in growing your analytics team Interviewing tip: Trying to understand how a candidate’s problem-solving skills when there isn’t a clear cut outcome Modern analytics driving further advanced skills Meet: Krishna is a quantitative strategic leader with a focus on finding solutions to business problems through the use of big-data behavioral analytics and qualitative data. He places an emphasis on working directly and through his team with key stakeholders to translate both small and large data sets into actionable business solutions. With a primary focus on developing and scaling nascent ideas, Krishna brings a pragmatic but rigorous empirical philosophy to decision making and team leadership. Using his background in big-data analytics, data strategy, marketing, operations, finance, consulting, and psychology, he has applied novel and effective solutions to challenging business problems across a variety of industries, clients, and circumstances. Most recently, he has been focused on scaling the distribution side of the insurance marketplace at EverQuote. If you have any questions for Krishna, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishna-ramaswamy-analytics/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Proactive vs reactive problem management Managing the multiple touchpoints involved in a service incident Balancing needs vs the squeaky wheel Meet:  Kevin Recio is an Information Technology professional with 6+ years of experience across multiple companies and industries. His IT experience includes enterprise platform implementations, management of IT service operations roles, and development of SDLC processes. He is familiar with ITIL, IT Service Management, and ServiceNow. If you have any questions for Kevin, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-recio-59a04621/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

What you’ll learn: Work fast and iterate very quickly Try to think with a clear mind - communicate through writing over talking Shorten time to ideation Happiness of the customer as a measure of product quality Meet: David Ting, Vice President of Nylas, has over 20 years of leadership experience in mobile development, scalable architecture, cloud infrastructure, big data, and machine learning.  At Nylas, he is currently running the Engineer, Product, and Support teams to power the productivity layer of the software stack.  David has served as the Head of Online Production for Blizzard Entertainment, the General Manager of IGN Entertainment, and the General Manager of NetEase North America. David holds 6 patents and has received 2 IBM Outstanding Achievement Awards and the AltaVista Employee of the Year Award. If you have any questions for David, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dting I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.