Business Chief USA March 2020

The evolution of aerospace and defence technology 

HHH USA 

EDITION 

MARCH 2020 

www.businesschief.com 

Driving security 

benefits for the 

wider industry 

INTRODUCING 

DEVSECOPS 

AT SCALE 

Larry Maccherone on 

the growth of DevSecOps 

in media and tech 

City 

Focus 

NEW YORK

FOREWORD 

W 

elcome to the January edition 

of Business Chief USA! 

This month’s cover features Larry 

Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer of 

Comcast, who measures the influence 

DevSecOps has on one of the world’s 

biggest telecommunications companies. 

Other leaders that feature in this 

magazine include Alan Avakian, Senior 

Director of IT and John Jackson, 

Chief Information Officer at Aerojet 

Rocketdyne who - since we last spoke 

with in 2018 - discusses the company’s 

innovative digital transformation 

journey. As well as William ‘Bill’ Giard, 

Chief Technology Officer at Intel 

explaining the ways in which the 

company’s industry leading approach 

to security will benefit the wider 

industry, and Vincent Moorehead, 

Senior Director of Strategic 

Procurement and Supply Chain at 

Success Academy Charter Schools, 

discussing the institutes digital 

transformation in New York City. 

Elsewhere within the magazine, 

Calvin Carter, CEO of Bottle Rocket 

discusses how the technology and 

software industry is being disrupted 

by Generation Z. 

In addition, this month’s City Focus 

explores New York City borough-byborough 

to discover how each 

component works together to build 

its economic powerhouse, while our 

Top 10 takes a look at the top 10 

most valuable NFL franchises in the 

United States. 

Do you have a story to share? 

If you would like to be featured in an 

upcoming issue of Business Chief 

USA, please get in touch at georgia. 

wilson@bizclikmedia.com 

Enjoy the read! 

Georgia Wilson 

03 

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PUBLISHED BY

CONTENTS 

10 

36 

Technology and 

Software: riding 

the disruptive 

wave of Gen Z 

46

54 

64 

76 

City Focus 

NEW YORK 

86

102 

Aerojet Rocketdyne 

120 

Intel Corporation 

132 

Success Academy 

Charter Schools 

150 

Pura Vida 

Bracelets 

164 

CodeBlue

186 

Radius Bank 

200 

Plymouth Rock 

Assurance 

228 

DC Blox 

212 

Great Southwestern 

Construction

10 

Comcast: 

Introducing 

DevSecOps 

at scale 

WRITTEN BY 

SEAN GALEA-PACE 

PRODUCED BY 


MARCH 2020


11

COMCAST 

Larry Maccherone, Distinguished 

Engineer of Comcast, discusses 

DevSecOps’ growing influence 

on one of the world’s biggest 

telecommunications companies 

12 

A 

s a global leader in media and technology, 

Comcast is the parent organisation 

of three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, 

NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast has more than 

55 million subscribers, with Sky renowned as 

one of Europe’s leading entertainment companies 

operating in seven territories and Comcast 

Cable recognised as one of the biggest cable 

TV, high-speed internet, and phone providers 

in the United States. Sitting down in the new 

Comcast Technology Centre at its headquarters 

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Larry Maccherone, 

Distinguished Engineer of Comcast Cable, 

shared how the company is uniquely positioned 

for success in their agile approach to achieving 

a DevSecOps cultural transformation. 

Maccherone’s professional background heavily 

revolves around data analytics and Lean-Agile, 

and he started his first business while still an 

undergraduate at university. “I’ve been a serial 



13

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16 

“I believe that if you’re doing 

DevOps right, then the security 

part is just automatically 

included” 

— 

Larry Maccherone, 

Distinguished Engineer, Comcast 

entrepreneur throughout my entire 

career. My first business had 80 

employees and made US$20mn 

annually in sales,” explains 

Maccherone. “We were writing software 

that controlled a large portion 

of the world’s power generation, 

and it meant that if hackers exploited 

a vulnerability in the software, then 

it potentially brought down the 

world’s power grid. We got really 

skilled at writing software that didn’t 

have exploitable vulnerabilities.” 


DevSec 

CLICK TO WATCH | 2:07 

17 

Upon joining Comcast in June 

2016, Maccherone became responsible 

for overseeing the company’s 

DevSecOps transformation. “I have 

a love/hate relationship with the 

term DevSecOps. I believe that if 

you’re doing DevOps right, then 

the security part is automatically 

included,” he explains. “You don’t 

call it DevTestOps or DevPlanningOps, 

it’s just DevOps. However, what 

I do like about DevSecOps is the 

emphasis on security. My definition 

of DevOps and DevSecOps is 

essentially the same. I define both 

as empowered engineering teams 

taking ownership of how their products 

perform in production, including 

security. When you get development 

teams owning the problem, you 

get a fundamental difference in 

decision making.” 

Since its creation over a decade 

ago, DevOps has become a vital 

component of how companies operate. 

Building upon the foundations 

of the agile movement, DevOps leverages 

automation, for quality and 

security testing as well as for formerly 

manual deployment and 


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COMCAST 

operations activities, in a bid to introduce 

software into production at 

speed. The primary goal of any 

DevSecOps initiative is to enable 

development teams to change their 

mindset and adopt security practices 

into their daily activities. 

However, Maccherone believes 

it’s impossible without healthy collaboration 

and mutual trust. In order 

to achieve that level of trust, 

Maccherone introduced a trust algorithm. 

“The trust formula has three 

terms combined in the numerator: 

credibility + reliability + empathy 

which are all divided by apparent 

self-interest,” he explains. “It’s important 

that the apparent self-interest 

is as small as possible, with an 

emphasis on shared interests.” 

20 

EXECUTIVE PROFILE 

Larry Maccherone 

Larry Maccherone is a Distinguished Engineer at Comcast where he 

currently leads the DevSecOps transformation initiative. Previously, 

Larry served as the Insights Product Line Director at Rally, where 

he published the largest ever study correlating development team 

practices with performance. Before that, Larry worked at 

Carnegie Mellon with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) 

and CyLab conducting research on cybersecurity and software 

engineering. While there, he co-led the launch of the Build- 

Security-In initiative. He has also served as Principal Investigator 

for the NSA’s Code Assessment Methodology Project, on the 

Advisory Board for IARPA’s STONESOUP program, and as the 

Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Labs 

Fellow. He speaks and publishes regularly on 

DevSecOps, Lean/Agile, and analytics and he is the 

primary author of a dozen open source projects, 

one of which gets 400,000 downloads per month. 


21 

Maccherone believes that understanding 

and embracing each pillar 

of the trust algorithm is vital to success 

in DevSecOps. “Credibility 

means that you know what you’re 

talking about and it’s important that 

you’re not just saying things for the 

sake of it or repeating something 

you’ve read,” 

explains Maccherone. 

“Writing code has 

changed a lot 

in five years. 

DevOps was 

in its early stages back then and 

it’s fundamentally different now. 

If you come into a meeting with those 

old mindsets, make assumptions 

and use outdated terminology, then 

the development team will pick up 

on that and you’ll lose credibility. 

Reliability is the same regardless 

of the context; it’s the old business 

expectation of making and meeting 

commitments. It’s important to follow 

through and do what you say you 

are going to do. Finally, empathy 

is all about how much compassion 


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“If you come into a meeting with those 

old mindsets, make assumptions and 

use outdated terminology, then the 

development team will pick up on that 

and you’ll lose credibility” 

— 



you show, and the awareness of 

how challenging something is.” 

Following the foundation of the 

trust algorithm, Maccherone believes 

that it has successfully allowed for 

increased efficiency and has ultimately 

meant better decisions. 

“Lots of security groups at other 

large companies spend an inordinate 

amount of time cajoling development 

teams to do things,” he says. “The 

reason they have to spend such 

a considerable amount of time policing 

is due to a lack of trust. Showing 

empathy is crucial and it’s important 

to acknowledge how difficult something 

is to do. However, it’s also 

fundamental to explain why you’re 

trying to make the case that this risk 

supersedes all of those challenges 

and give the reasons why. It’s vital 

that you aren’t dictating them.” The 

importance of coaching rather than 

policing is a key aspect of Comcast’s 

strategy. The company also has 

23 


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WORKING@COMCAST 


25 

a programme in place that provides 

immediate feedback to the development 

team while also providing 

aggregated metrics to guide coaching 

efforts. “We created a workshop 

where we sit down with the development 

team, walk through the trust 

formula and the company’s 

DevSecOps practices and give 

them a chance to internalise what 

that practice means,” explains 

Maccherone. “When someone feels 

like they’re being forced into out-ofcontext 

practices, their natural 

reaction is to avoid them. That isn’t 

what we want; we want them to reach 

out and partner with us.” 

Change management is a key 

driver to Maccherone and Comcast’s 

strategy. “The traditional way of 

gathering a response was to produce 

surveys. However, we found that 

the behaviour didn’t change,” he says. 

“We decided on a framework that 

we can coach from and enable the 

developers to reflect on whether 

or not they meet the criteria. If we 

send an email to them then we get 

almost no response. However, if 

we sit with them and allow them 


to ask questions directly then they 

instantly start changing their behaviour.” 

With any successful transformation 

comes the challenge of recruiting 

and retaining top talent, and 

Maccherone believes it’s the most 

challenging part of any business. 

“It’s the key to any tech company,” 

affirms Maccherone. “The HR 

department that we have at Comcast 

is fantastic. They really understand 

the importance of exceptional talent. 

Candidates want to have work that 

is interesting, fun and challenging, 

1963 

Year founded 

$108.9bn 

Revenue in 

US dollars (2019) 

190,000 

Number of 

employees 

27 


COMCAST 

28 

“Three years ago, I started 

a Google alert on DevSecOps 

and would get one hit a week 

or even a month. 

Now, I get 10-20 every day” 

— 





29

LEARN MORE

Comcast Partners 


31 

in addition to working with peers 

they respect.” 

In a bid to achieve mutual success, 

Comcast Cable has established 

a number of key partnerships, such 

as with WhiteSource, Vulcan Cyber, 

Checkmarx, Go2Group, Contrast 

Security, Synopsys, Bugcrowd and 

Veracode. Maccherone recognises 

the value of forming strategic, business 

relationships in order to realise longterm 

success. “We’re at the forefront 

of DevSecOps, and lots of our vendors 

see that,” says Maccherone. “We’re 

constantly searching for vendors that 

are trying to design their products 

to fit in with the direction we’re going.” 

Maccherone believes that without 

developing such robust and longstanding 

partnerships, the challenge 

of reaching the level of success 

Comcast has achieved would have 

been significantly harder. “Our vendors 

are a key to our success and we’re 

extremely excited and happy with 

the current set we have,” beams 

Maccherone. “They align well with 

our values and that’s been the differentiator 

to finding ways to reduce our 

security risk.” 


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“When someone feels like they’re 

being policed, their natural reaction 

is to avoid the police. That isn’t what 

we want; we want them to reach out 

and partner with us” 

— 



DevSecOps has become a 

hot topic in the technology space 

in recent years and Maccherone 

has observed its rapid rise 

first-hand. “Three years ago, 

I started a Google alert on 

DevSecOps and would get 

one hit a week or even 

a month,” he says. “Now, 

I get 10-20 every day 

and we’re not even at the 

steepest part of the adoption 

curve for DevSecOps 

yet.” In 2019, Comcast’s 

goal was to scale the 

DevSecOps programme, 

the tech giant achieved 

that by tripling the number 

33 


35 

of teams onboarded to the programme. 

“By the end of 2020, 

we aim to double that number again, 

and I expect that will get us close 

to the saturation point of all the 

teams at Comcast. We’ve gone from 

essentially launching the programme 

to evolving, optimising and scaling 

it to the point of saturation. After 

we reach that saturation point, 

I anticipate that we’ll add more 

capability, tools and practices over 

the next few years.” 


LEADERSHIP 

36 

Technology and 

Software: riding 

the disruptive 

wave of Gen Z 

Business Chief sits down with Calvin Carter, 

CEO of Bottle Rocket to discuss how the 

technology and software industry is being 

disrupted by Generation Z 

WRITTEN BY GEORGIA WILSON 



37

LEADERSHIP 

38 

Mckinsey defines Generation Z as people 

born from 1995 to 2010. This generation 

is the first truly digital native generation 

exposed to the internet, social media and technology 

from an early age unlike Baby Boomers, Generation 

X and Millennials who remember a time before the 

internet was mainstream. Key traits of Generation Z 

include connectivity, inquisitive, entrepreneurial and 

brand-consciousness. Currently, Generation Z 

comprises 32% of the 7.7bn global population (2019). 

With this in mind, Business Chief speaks to Calvin 

Carter, CEO of Bottle Rocket, which provides 

end-to-end digital transformation services to improve 

connectivity between businesses and consumers. 

Carter discusses the changes, challenges and 

benefits this new generation entering the work 

environment will bring to the technology and 

software industry. 

WHAT ARE THE KEY TRENDS AND DISRUPTORS 

WITHIN YOUR INDUSTRY AT THE MOMENT? 

Within today’s evolving marketplaces, the brand 

differentiators that have proved successful in the 

past are no longer enough to set a company apart. 

This new era has been dominated by a new type of 

customer, emerging as a result of the digital literacy 

that is now fed from Generation Z through to baby 

boomers and beyond. The connected customer, 

who interacts with brands through digital means, 


“This new era has been 

dominated by a new 

type of customer, 

emerging as a result 

of the digital literacy” 

— 

Calvin Carter, 

CEO, Bottle Rocket 

39 


LEADERSHIP 

40 

is a new type of consumer who seeks 

immediate, frictionless, and personalised 

experiences. These demands make the 

connected customer a huge disruptor in 

any industry, and have spawned a host of 

trends that companies must pay 

attention to in order to grow their 

business in the long-term. Providing a 

seamless omnichannel experience, 

investing in digital channels of 

engagement, and tying such digital 

transformation strategies to core goals 

are now the basic expectations for any 

firm, and those that are achieving 

harmony between these aspects are 

becoming disruptors themselves. 

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE INDUSTRY 

IS CHANGING AS A RESULT OF 

GENERATION Z? 

While 40% of baby boomers are 

considered connected customers, 

Gen Z stands at 80%, effectively making 

any brand who wants to work with the 

generation invest in a brand experience 

that fits their connected lifestyle. Raised 

using the internet, Gen Z is placing great 

pressure on organisations to provide 

digital experiences that exceed what’s 

come before. Fundamentally, the way 

businesses interact with both customers 


70: The Origin of a Technology 

Visionary — Calvin Carter — Founder & CEO, 

Bottle Rocket Studios 


41 

and employees has been transformed 

in ways that leverage technology. 

Although deemed a difficult strategy 

to execute, 67% of consumers say 

they’ll pay more for a better experience, 

therefore there are great benefits to 

be reaped if businesses are willing 

to adapt. 

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FEEL THE 

INDUSTRY IS FACING AS A RESULT OF 

GENERATION Z? 

If a business is to demonstrate that they 

are harnessing the changing needs of 

their customers, they will need to invest 

in more than simply a digital presence. 

Yes, today’s Connected Customer 

wants simple and convenient user 

experiences but, in order to keep them 

delighted, businesses need to ensure 

these experiences are innovative. 

The resulting challenge is the anticipation 

of new needs and making them feel 

that the customer experience was 

designed just for them. For even the 

most established or successful 

businesses, failure to favour change 

could result in brands joining the 52% 

of the Fortune 500 that have gone 

bankrupt since 2000. 


LEADERSHIP 

42 

WHAT DO YOU FEEL COMPANIES NEED 

TO DO IN ORDER TO STAY AHEAD OF 

FAST EVOLVING TRENDS AND NEW 

GENERATIONS SUCH AS GENERATION Z? 

Anticipating needs and desires, and 

bringing them to market before 

competitors, is the underlying strategy 

all companies must have in place to 

maintain momentum and further reach 

the Generation Z market. With new 

technologies emerging on a regular 

basis, digital transformation is racing 

ahead and, to keep up, businesses need 

to purposefully blend each experience 

across digital interfaces to create 

a holistic journey. In order to provide 

that seamless customer experience, 

companies need to acknowledge every 

touchpoint and link them to flow from 

one device to another. This ultimately 

reduces, or even eliminates, the 

likelihood of Generation Z finding flaws 

and looking to competitors who fully 

accommodate their needs. 

To better premeditate the next set of 

needs to emerge, businesses inevitably 

need contextual data that allows for 

more personalised features. 53% of 

consumers are looking forward to 

artificial intelligence (AI) making brand 


interactions a better experience, 

therefore companies need to purposefully 

harness the technology to achieve 

meaningful connections with customers. 

By tracking data analytics and customer 

pain-points, businesses can build 

technology-enabled solutions that 

satisfy customers and in turn produce 

undeniable value for the company. 

“Raised using the 

internet, Gen Z is 

placing great pressure 

on organisations 

to provide digital 

experiences that 

exceed what 

came before” 

— 



WHICH INDUSTRIES DO YOU SEE BEING 

IMPACTED THE MOST BY GENERATION Z? 

In knowing exactly what they want, 

when they want it, and how, Generation 

Z do not judge brands against direct 

competitors in any specific industry. 

In fact, those who fail to receive a 

superior experience will not hesitate 

to switch to any other company that 

can fill that gap. It is impossible in 

today’s concentrated business 

environment to think of a sector that is 

immune to the ever-evolving demands 

resulting from digital disruption. 

HOW DO YOU FEEL WORK 

ENVIRONMENTS WILL BE AFFECTED 

BY GENERATION Z? 

Forming the newest wave of young 

professionals, 40% of the US workforce 

43 


LEADERSHIP 

44 

will be comprised of Generation Z this 

year, undoubtedly having an impact 

on company culture and internal 

processes. As digital disruption takes 

force, the need for immediacy and 

connectivity replicates in work settings. 

This demographic responds by seeking 

active engagement in conversations 

around culture and wanting to be a part 

of an immersive environment — both 

verbally and spatially. These employees 

take the time to understand ‘why’ and 

ask a lot of questions, which may be 

deemed a challenge for business 

leaders, but is needed to reduce churn 

and for the entire business to grow. 

WHY DO YOU FEEL IT IS 

IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESS TO 

FOCUS ON THIS GENERATION? 

Positioned as disruptors to the global 

workforce, it should be a priority for 

companies to harness the talents and 

expertise of Generation Z. In the same 

way that it is crucial to cater to the 

needs of post-Millennial consumers, 


“Forming the newest wave of young 

professionals, 40% of the US workforce will 

be comprised of Generation Z this year” 

— 



business leaders must also focus their 

resources on maximising the potential 

of this workforce demographic. 

Traditionally, team members are 

delegated tasks and are only deemed 

successful based on their ability to 

get as many tasks completed, or 

boxes ticked, as possible. Nowadays, 

Generation Z employees define 

success differently, and view career 

progression as a team effort. Within 

this, leaders should understand that 

what they build internally has an impact 

on the marketplace. Recognition, 

awards, and compensation rather than 

simply clocking-out invites long-term 

rewards and retention. 

come together to build amazing 

things together, regardless of their 

age, ethnicity, gender, background 

or belief systems. So you could say 

we are predisposed to being attractive 

to the Generation Z workforce. 

Gen Z and Millennials demand 

authenticity, transparency and 

vulnerability, which are all things 

most companies struggle with and 

make executives uncomfortable. 

We have had to become more and 

more transparent and vulnerable 

with our Rocketeers as our workforce 

continues to be filled more and 

more by more recent generations 

of professionals. The good news 

is that we already had this mindset, 

but we had to amp it up and get 

very real with our Rocketeers. 

45 

HOW HAS BOTTLE ROCKET BEEN 

IMPACTED BY GENERATION Z? 

Bottle Rocket’s culture has always been 

a place where the best and the brightest 


TECHNOLOGY 

46 


Cleansing 

the complex 

Cleansing CRM data doesn’t have to 

be an overwhelming task - it can be 

an easy, manageable and efficient 

process, as Oleg Rogynskyy, CEO of 

People.ai explains 

WRITTEN BY OLEG ROGYNSKYY 

47 


TECHNOLOGY 

48 

The origin of Customer Relationship 

Management (CRM) can be traced back 

to the 1990s, when companies such as 

Siebel helped gradually drive the evolution 

of contact management software towards 

CRM systems. Previously, CRMs were built on 

hierarchical databases, but these have since 

been wiped out by SQL (Structured Query 

Language) CRMs. Since then, the likes of 

Salesforce have moved SQL CRM into the cloud, 

but the problems that inhibited the platforms 20 

years ago, such as inaccurate, incomplete and 

untrustworthy data, still exist today. 

This is a problem that limits the true potential of 

CRM software. The technology was built for static 

data while today’s business data is, in fact, very 

dynamic. Information is constantly developing and 

so can quickly become outdated. The current use 

of CRM is like using flipbooks to try to watch a 

movie: the method has become obsolete and overtaken 

by newer, more efficient forms of technology. 

The main issue is that modern CRM platforms, 

despite their sophistication, focus primarily on 

processing and consuming data instead of collecting 

and keeping it accurate. According to Ben 

Horowitz, we have witnessed the demise of systems 

of record from the rise of AI. CRMs were built 

in the point-in-time sales world, meaning that they 

were built in the days of one-time sales, where 


“Today’s business 

data is, in fact, 

very dynamic” 

Oleg Rogynskyy, 

CEO and Founder, People.ai 

49 

activity data and the dynamic nature 

of contacts didn’t matter. Since then 

the world has transitioned into a continuous 

sales world, leading companies 

like Zuora and Gainsight to try to 

fix the point-in-time nature of CRM 

and successfully address data inaccuracy 

and duplication. 

SPECIALISED TOOLS 

A ‘CRM Scan’ can quickly identify 

data quality metrics and incorporate 

them into an overall metric called the 


TECHNOLOGY 

“We have witnessed the 

demise of systems of 

record from the rise of AI” 



50 

‘CRM Health Score’, revealing where 

efforts need to be focused. This 

assessment sheds light on CRM fitness 

and, when combined with a 

strong understanding of how sales 

and marketing teams are using the 

activity data, elevates confidence in 

prioritising efforts to improve the 

CRM system. 

Within this process, it is paramount 

to focus on three primary 

dimensions of CRM data quality to 

establish the baseline: 

1. Is the activity data complete? 

2. Is there a single representation of 

the activity data? 

3. Does the activity data correctly 

represent the real world? 

Although it is possible to create the 

metrics internally, this would take several 

weeks. Not only does this discourage 

teams who are investing 

significant time in this work, but it also 

paralyses them as they often don’t 

know where to start or whether their 

efforts are making a difference. 


How Cogniance 

Enables Their Sales Team 


51 

IMPORTANT FIRST STEPS 

Identifying data duplication is another 

hurdle that can undermine productivity. 

Duplication is typically due to a 

lack of standard and unique identifiers 

for companies and the people that 

work for them. Despite the use of 

common proxies, including web 

domain and email addresses, these 

are often not unique, as the names of 

companies and people can change or 

have variations. To tackle duplicates, 

businesses need to: 

1. DEFINE DUPLICATES 

The first step is to define what is considered 

a duplicate. For instance, in 

contacts and leads this can be email 

address matches, identical name 

matches and account associations. 

2. SET UP PREVENTATIVE DEDUPE 

RULES IN THE CRM 

Businesses should then use fea- 

tures established by Salesforce to 

block and prevent the creation of 

duplicate records. 


TECHNOLOGY 

3. IDENTIFY AND CLEAN EXISTING 

DATA DUPLICATES 

The ‘CRM Scan’ can be used to identify 

duplicates and clean them up. 

This requires some planning based on 

the CRM system in use. There are 

specialised tools that make this process 

easier, but in some cases it can 

be a good step to reinforce the process 

by taking it offline to use 

spreadsheet analysis. 

52 

4. IMPLEMENT ONGOING MONITORING 

FOR NEW DUPLICATES 

Once data duplicates have been identified 

and cleaned, it is important to 

set up preventative de-duplication 

rules in the CRM platform to monitor 

and repair duplicates. 

QUICK, VISIBLE RESULTS 

Specialised scan tools, custom 

reports and dashboards are used to 

identify, clean and enrich data. This 

focuses on finding invalid data, such 

as digits or special characters in 

contact names, email addresses, 

web domains and incomplete mailing 

addresses. This can be done by 

combining spreadsheets and simple 


“Organisations need to 

set targets that are tied 

to business priorities” 



scripts to build update files for a 

CRM loader, as well as using a database 

built for this purpose. 

The timescale of this process varies 

depending on data quantities, the 

number of duplicates and the amount 

of data that needs cleansing. With 

the right tools, reliable measurement 

and ongoing commitment, results can 

be visible almost immediately. 

In order to achieve this, organisations 

need to set targets that are tied 

to business priorities. This will enable 

businesses to communicate results, 

rebuild trust in the data and celebrate 

milestones to keep the momentum 

going. Benefiting from CRM data 

doesn’t have to be overwhelming, 

impossible or disheartening. It can be 

relatively easy, straightforward and 

more than satisfying. 

53 


SUPPLY CHAIN 

ADOPTING BIG DATA 

AND ANALYTICS 

54 

TECHNOLOGYIN 

SUPPLY CHAINS 

Business Chief speaks with 

supply chain experts to discuss 

the benefits and challenges 

of adopting Big Data and 

analytics in supply chains 




55

SUPPLY CHAIN 

56 

“P 

eople talk a lot about data being 

‘the new oil’, and cognitive supply 

chains are indeed making a huge 

impact, allowing businesses to use Big Data 

to drive themselves onto the next level. Using 

artificial intelligence and machine learning 

to process data makes it increasingly realistic 

for systems to make smart decisions without 

the need for human intervention,” says Fred 

Baumann, GVP for Industry Strategy at Blue 

Yonder. “When businesses are able to identify 

disruptions and act with immediacy and decisiveness, 

the effect will be transformational. 

Alongside the short-term problem solving, 

cognitive supply chains provide longer-term 

learned recommendations to enable businesses 

to stay ahead of the curve.” 

Agreeing with Baumann, Grant Millard, 

Director and Technology Services Specialist 

at Vendigital, explains that traditional data 

analysis methods are outdated and inefficient. 

“More often than not, companies are operating 

in a data vacuum. Analysis is based on 

static data sets which are created, and then 

recreated, from the ground up. Companies 

are continuously manipulating the data to 

get the insight they are after and then repeat 

this process every time insights are required. 

This is not only inefficient, but costly, and the 

result is reliance on systems that fail to deliver 



57

SUPPLY CHAIN 

“Government and 

regulators have 

a role to play 

to ensure that 

legislation is 

clear, to guide 

companies on the 

correct usage of 

this technology” 

— 

Raj Bawa, 

Operations Director, JBi Digital 

58 

clear and credible data-based insights. 

This is where Big Data and analytics 

can help so that the user is no longer 

required to analyse data. Rather, the 

system is telling them what action 

they need to be taking.” Kirsty Braines, 

COO at Oliver Wight EAME adds that 

“it is a proven benefit that advanced 

analytics for the supply chain industry 

increases yield, whether through 

improved production or reduction of 

waste. Advanced analytics can play 

a vital role in identifying issues that can 

impact yield, as well as help to reduce 

operating costs, manage inventory 

and create a more personalised customer 

experience.” 

THE CHALLENGES OF ADOPTING 

BIG DATA AND ANALYTICS WITHIN 

SUPPLY CHAINS 

“The world is becoming more complex 

as more business and consumer interaction 

channels migrate into the digital 

space. This complexity is evident in the 

amount of data these interactions 

create across an increasing number 

of channels,” says Jonathan Clarke, 

Manager, Statistical Modelling at 

LexisNexis Risk Solutions. As a result, 

when it comes to Big Data and analytics, 


59 

there are a number of challenges that 

companies can face including data 

manipulation, adherence to GDPR, 

credible data, talent and digital maturity. 

“Technologies such as AI, Industry 4.0, 

blockchain, Big Data and analytics are 

game changers for businesses, however 

it’s all advanced technology and 

the clue is very much in the name. 

A huge proportion of companies haven’t 

reached the maturity to completely handle 

data, with the technology not fully 

understood, let alone successfully 

implemented. If organisations don’t 

align technology with their business 

plans, they risk making a very expensive 

mistake in terms of time and money. 

This applies to data too. Unless organisations 

dedicate time beforehand to 

understand what information they want, 

what purpose it’s going to serve and 

how they’re going to manage it, analytics 

becomes an exercise in futility,” 

comments Braines. 

“Additionally, there is little point in 

importing this technology into the 


SUPPLY CHAIN 

60 

business if the data that exists is not 

credible, as this could lead to incorrect 

predictions,” adds Millard. “It is also 

important that business leaders import 

the right expertise. Sometimes, they fail 

to do this and either get a data scientist 

who doesn’t understand the business 

context or an industry expert who knows 

nothing about data science. Getting Big 

Data and analytics to deliver value is a 

multi-disciplinary activity.” Ultimately, 

Millard stresses that “for organisations 

considering investment in Big Data and 

analytics to improve their supply chain 

management, they need to understand 

that there is no one-size-fits-all. If these 

factors are not fully considered at the 

outset, any investment could deliver 

negligible value.” 

Contemplating the future of Big Data 

and analytics within supply chains, 

Baumann speaks of the potential of 

the technology, stating that “the use 

of Big Data and analytics in supply 

chains is rapidly increasing, with it 

being possible to achieve a near-autonomous 

supply chain 

in the 


Big Data Supply Chain 


61 

“When businesses are 

able to identify 

disruptions and 

act with immediacy 

and decisiveness, 

the effect will be 

transformational” 

— 

Fred Baumann, 

GVP for Industry Strategy, JDA Software 


SUPPLY CHAIN 

“Technologies such 

as AI, Industry 

4.0, blockchain, 

Big Data and 

analytics are 

game changers 

for businesses” 

— 

Kirsty Braines, 

COO at Oliver Wight EAME 

62 

future. However, for this to happen, 

businesses need to get to a point where 

they feel confident and can trust that 

technology can identify disruption and 

subsequently take action. Once this 

has been achieved, the effects will be 

incredible: just imagine the possibilities 

that will be provided by a self-learning, 

self-healing supply chain that is able to 

predict challenges and transform them 

into opportunities for growth.” Agreeing 

with Baumann, Peter Ruffley, CEO 

of Zizo, sees emerging technologies, 

such as the internet of things (IoT) and 

AI, having the ability to generate greater 

efficiency within the supply chains of the 

future. “Edge computing is also going 


to provide a much easier way for businesses 

to quantify and understand what 

they are investing in when looking at 

collecting data, processing it and moving 

it. It provides the opportunity to have 

greater agility and real time analytics.” 

Clarke does however comment that, 

in order to speed up the adoption of 

these technologies, “government and 

regulators have a role to play to ensure 

that legislation is clear, to guide companies 

on the correct usage of this 

technology. The significant benefits 

offered by the increased use of Big 

Data and analytics has to be balanced 

with the lawful, compliant use of data.” 

Raj Bawa Operations Director at JBi 

Digital adds that, “while the culture has 

improved significantly in this area,” he 

too believes that the need for impactful 

enforcement or policing of big companies 

is urgently needed to truly reap 

the benefits of the technology. 

63 


SUSTAINABILITY 

64 

Nine ways your 

business can 

better consider 

the environment 

Wilf Robinson, owner and co-founder 

of Certified Sustainable, offers his 

top nine tips on how businesses can 

be more mindful of the environment 

WRITTEN BY WILF ROBINSON 



65


66 

A 

new international study conducted 

by Unilever has revealed that a third 

of consumers now favour brands 

which they feel are doing social or environmental 

‘good’. Unsurprisingly, this trend is 

becoming poignant in the world of business 

too. Investing in companies with a vibrant 

green thumb has become an evident priority 

for potential clients, making this an important 

consideration for all businesses. 

However, despite the many benefits which 

follow businesses who decide to ‘go green’, 

CitySprint has revealed that whilst 90% of 

SMEs thought sustainability is an important 

aspect of conducting business, over half 

of these businesses are failing to invest in 

any sustainability goals. It seems there is 

an equal number of businesses that pride 

themselves on fulfilling a greener agenda, 

for example by selecting suppliers and 

contractors who are known for sustainable 

conduct (31%), and businesses who dismiss 

green-oriented goals altogether. Essentially, 

the world of sustainability is at a loss; 

businesses are overpromising and underdelivering. 

As influential companies continue to 

demonstrate an ‘all or nothing approach’, 



67


68 

changes must be made. Meanwhile, 

it has been concluded that SMEs 

don’t feel confident enough to pursue 

greener agendas; they simply don’t 

understand how their businesses 

can become more sustainable. As it’s 

been found that 51% of businesses 

lack critical information regarding how 

efficient methods can be developed 

and maintained, this failure becomes 

more understandable. 

To help you better understand how 

your business can successfully consider 

the environment, encouraging 

others to follow suit, here are nine 

ways that companies can better consider 

the environment. 

1. SET A MISSION STATEMENT 

If you want to determine whether a 

company is excelling sustainably, 

then the first thing to check is its 

mission statement. As a compilation 

of guiding principles, mission statements 

encompass the organisation’s 

values and goals. 

Any company hoping to improve its 

sustainability efforts ought to incorporate 

this into its mission statement. 

Discuss with your team how you’d 

like to become more sustainable, for 

example by saving water or reducing 

waste and incorporate your revised 

values, creating a short, concise mission 

statement which reflects your 

green priorities. 

2. BE MINDFUL OF YOUR ENERGY USAGE 

There are many ways by which you 

can become more energy efficient, 

having a positive impact on the 

environment in turn. For example, 

you can use alternative energy 

resources; solar and wind power 


“Certifications can 

support your 

sustainable image 

exponentially” 

— 

Wilf Robinson 

Co-Founder, 

Certified Sustainable 

69 

Wilf Robinson 


Wilf Robinson is the co-founder of Certified Sustainable. 

Providing accreditations to businesses in the sector which have 

made a clear and demonstrable commitment to best-practice 

sustainability and waste management, Wilf helps businesses to 

become more sustainable. He is passionate about the environment 

and the impact that unsustainable waste-streams are having on 

our planet. Many large corporations do not inform customers of 

how they dispose of their waste, which is something that needs 

to change. As a father, Wilf realised the importance of protecting 

the environment for future generations to enjoy and has taken 

a lead to revolutionise the waste management industry. 



70 

are just two examples of the many 

sustainable options which provide a 

greener alternative. 

Consider also replacing old appliances 

with more energy efficient 

ones. Cost-cutting rarely benefits 

the environment, contributing to 

unnecessary energy wastage which 

certainly doesn’t portray your company 

in a favourable light. By investing 

in energy-efficient alternatives, you’ll 

create a sustainable working environment 

that’s long-lasting. 

3. GET CERTIFIED 

Becoming more sustainable as a 

company is an admirable goal and it’s 

equally important that you showcase 

your achievements. Being seen as 

a sustainable business means you 

need to highlight this in your branding, 

PR and marketing strategies. 

Certifications can support your sustainable 

image exponentially. These 

accreditations demonstrate that 

your achievements are recognised 

externally, as your processes are quality-approved 

by experts. 


71 

For example, the ‘Certified Sustainable’ 

accreditation provides a clear and 

visible means for UK manufacturers to 

showcase the company’s commitment 

to best-practice waste management 

and sustainability. Started by a team 

of independent waste management 

experts, the certification encourages 

manufacturers to operate in a truly 

sustainable manner. By becoming ‘Certified 

Sustainable’, these businesses 

better communicate the sustainability 

efforts, sharing achievements with clients, 

partners and employees alike. 

“Going paperless is 

an environmental 

saviour, whilst 

it’s also been said 

to enhance 

productivity” 

— 

Wilf Robinson 

Co-Founder, 




72 

4. GO PAPERLESS 

Going paperless is an environmental 

saviour, whilst it’s also been said 

to enhance productivity. Findings 

suggest that employees spend 

one-third of their time looking for 

paper documents, an indisputable 

waste of their skill sets. Adopting a 

paperless strategy means that 

important information can’t be lost or 

misplaced easily, whilst allowing your 

employees to use their valued time 

more efficiently. Meanwhile, your 

business will proactively protect our 

trees, a commitment to be proud of. 

“Use your 

platform as 

a successful 

business 

professional 

to champion 

a local cause” 

— 

Wilf Robinson 

Co-Founder, 


5. INVEST IN SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS 

Companies that consider important 

causes are certainly favourable 

among consumers and clients. This 

purposeful image demonstrates your 

ability to support the wider world. As 

a consequence, you could consider 

investing in sustainable projects; for 

example, by supporting charities 

which proactively work to create a 

more sustainable planet, you’ll be 

seen as a ‘greener’ company, with 

the environment at the top of your 

priority list. 


6. ASSIGN A SUSTAINABILITY ADVOCATE 

Creating sustainable plans might be 

simple, but their maintenance requires 

commitment and monitoring. I recommend 

having a sustainability leader 

who can act as an advocate for your 

company’s sustainability practices. 

The individual will work to bring your 

goals to fruition, communicating these 

with the rest of your team. 

7. BECOME AN ENVIRONMENTAL CHAM- 

PION IN YOUR LOCAL AREA 

Where possible, use your platform as 

a successful business professional to 

champion a local cause, contributing 

to a project which makes a difference 

close to home. This will encourage fellow 

members of your team to embrace 

a more sustainable and supportive 

lifestyle themselves, using their expertise 

for good. In turn, your company 

will consist of passionate employees 

who aim to live sustainably both professionally 

and personally. 

73 

8. CONSERVE WATER 

There are numerous ways by which 

your business can conserve water. 

Start with a water audit; many compawww.businesschief.com


74 


nies underestimate how much water 

they’re using, however audits can help 

to uncover any leaks and unnecessary 

wastage. Once you know where your 

water’s being used, you can better 

educate your team. Encouraging them 

to become more water-aware will help 

to reduce the environmental impact 

your business is having, making gradual 

steps towards a more efficient and 

sustainable workplace. 

9. BE WISE WITH YOUR WASTE 

Every business will produce waste, 

regardless of how many changes you 

implement. It would be extremely difficult 

to avoid waste entirely. However, 

there are sustainable uses for your 

waste, putting your by-products to the 

best possible use. For example, you 

can reduce packaging, eliminate plastic 

water bottles, or contribute to local 

food banks. Above all else, ‘recycle 

and reuse’ should be values which lie 

at the core of your business. 

75 


CITY FOCUS | NEW YORK 

City Focus 

NEW 

YORK 

76YORK 


Business Chief explores New York City 

borough-by-borough to see how the 

components of this incredible city fit 

together into an economic powerhouse 

WRITTEN BY WILL GIRLING 

77 



78 

Frank Sinatra wanted to be a part of it, 

and, more recently, Alicia Keys called 

it the ‘concrete jungle where dreams 

are made’ - it’s the city so nice they named it 

twice: New York, New York. 

Founded by Dutch settlers in 1624 under 

the name ‘New Amsterdam’, the city received 

its more well-known moniker in 1664 when 

it was gifted to the Duke of York as an 18th 

birthday present. Now known as New York, 

the city had the honour of being the first US 

capital when the constitution was ratified 

in 1789. However, it was soon replaced with 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then finally 

Washington D.C. in 1800. Now home to over 

8mn citizens (one in 38 Americans call it 

their home), New York is comprised of five 

boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, 

Brooklyn and Staten Island. Demonstrating 

the sheer scale of New York, either Brooklyn 

or Queens alone would count as the fourthlargest 

city in the US if they were designated 

separate cities. 


8.623mn 

Population of 

New York 

1624 

Year founded 

3 

Airports 

John F. Kennedy International 

Airport ( JFK), LaGuardia Airport 

(LGA) and Newark Liberty 

International Airport (EWR) 

79 



“Tech companies 

have found 

compelling 

operational 

reasons to base 

their businesses 

in Brooklyn” 

With over 600 languages spoken, 

New York City is one of the most linguistically 

diverse places in the world. 

Ellis Island and Liberty Island are 

symbols of the city’s history of ethnic 

diversity and partnership with other 

nations - the latter featuring the iconic 

Statue of Liberty. A present 

from France to celebrate the USA’s 

centennial, the statue was officially 

dedicated in 1886 and was constructed 

from 350 separate pieces. 

80 

ECONOMY 

The Greater New York City region 

has a GDP of US$1.21trn, making 

it the second-largest metropolitan 

economy in the world after Tokyo, 

Japan. In 2012, it was recorded that 

New York City accounted for roughly 

8% of the USA’s GDP, although the 

city itself only uses about 1% of the 

country’s total landmass. Home to 

more than 380,000 millionaires 

and 78 billionaires, New York City’s 

Federal Reserve Bank possesses 

the world’s largest quantity of stored 

gold. Contained in a vault hidden 80ft 

beneath the earth is 7,000 tonnes of 

gold bullion, approximately 5% of all 

the gold that has ever been mined. 


What It’s Like To Be The Youngest 

Woman Equity Trader In The 

New York Stock Exchange 


81 

Home to the New York Stock 

Exchange and NASDAQ - the largest 

stock exchanges currently operating 

today - the city is a proverbial mecca 

for business, with each borough contributing 

to key economic areas. 

MANHATTAN 

The financial heart of New York City, 

Manhattan is a global leader in terms 

of the banking and communications 

sectors. Providing an estimated 5% 

of private-sector jobs and 8.5% of 

the city’s tax revenue, the borough 

which houses Wall Street is rightly 

regarded as an economic powerhouse. 

Containing iconic office-buildings such 

as the Empire State Building, which 

accommodates the corporate offices 

of Air China, LinkedIn, JCDecaux and 

more, Manhattan also facilitates New 

York’s role as an established media 

power from the advertising industry 

based on Madison Avenue. Real 

estate contributes significantly to the 

city’s economy; it has recently been 

estimated that the total market value 

of all New York properties is $1.8trn. 



82 

Manhattan has properties frequently 

valued as the most expensive in the 

world, such as the Times Warner 

Center and the Waldorf Astoria. 

THE BRONX 

Although it suffered a gradual decline 

following the Great Depression in 

1929, the Bronx has been experiencing 

an economic revival since the 1980s. 

Most notably, the area contains some 

of the city’s largest shopping centres, 

such as The Hub, Southern Boulevard 

and Bay Plaza. The Bronx Terminal 

Market, located in Concourse, just 

south of Yankee Stadium, is an almost 

1mn sqft retail space. Costing $500mn 

to construct, the market was opened 

in 2009 and currently houses wellknown 

brands like Target, Home Depot 

and Staples. 

QUEENS 

The borough of Queens has the 

second-largest (after Manhattan) and 

most vibrantly diverse economy in New 

York. Although the area’s main sectors 

are trade, transportation and utilities, 


Queens also has significant input from 

the healthcare, manufacturing, construction 

and media industries. A key 

contributor to the borough is the presence 

of the two major airports: JFK 

International Airport and LaGuardia 

Airport. Ranked as some of the busiest 

in the world, JFK IA alone handled over 

61mn passengers in 2018, placing it in 

the top 25 busiest overall. Long Island 

City, a residential and commercial 

district located in western Queens, 

is also one of New York’s most up-andcoming 

locations. 

“The city is a proverbial 

mecca for business, 

with each borough 

contributing to key 

economic areas” 

83 



STATISTICS 

84 

• New York City accounted for 

roughly 8% of the USA’s GDP; 

5% of all the gold that has 

ever been mined in Federal 

Reserve; Manhattan = 5% of 

private-sector jobs and 8.5% 

of the city’s tax revenue. 

BROOKLYN 

Traditionally the manufacturing epicentre 

of New York City, Brooklyn started 

to diversify its economy towards the 

end of the 20th Century. Now with 

thriving construction and services 

sectors, Brooklyn is also reported to 

have the second-largest growth rate 

amongst tech startups in the country, 

behind only San Francisco, California. 

Featuring alluring office space and 

lower rent costs than other boroughs 


like Manhattan, tech companies 

have found compelling operational 

reasons to base their businesses in 

Brooklyn. Notable companies in the 

sector include Vice Media, Makerbot 

and Kickstarter. 

STATEN ISLAND 

The least populated (approximately 

476,000 people) but one of the larger 

boroughs of New York City, Staten 

Island was originally known as the 

Borough of Richmond until it was 

changed in 1975. The economy of the 

area is primarily composed of the 

healthcare, retail and construction 

sectors and has a GDP of $14.5bn. 

More recently, Staten Island has experienced 

growth in real estate, finance 

and warehousing – the latter being a 

result of Amazon’s new $100mn fulfilment 

centre in Matrix Global Logistics 

Park in 2018. 

85 


TOP 10 

86 


Most 

valuable NFL 

franchises in 

the US 

87 

Business Chief takes a look at the 

top 10 most valuable NFL franchises 

in the US from Forbes’ Sports 

Money: 2019 NFL Valuations 



TOP 10 

MAJOR SPONSORS 

Anheuser-Busch 

InBev, American 

Airlines, Axalta 

Coating Systems, 

Banco Santander S.A., 

Coca-Cola, Comcast, 

Entercon, Lincoln 

Financial Group, 

MillerCoors, 

NovaCare, NRG 

Energy and Verizon. 

88 

10 

Philadelphia Eagles 

$3.1bn 

Established in 1933, the Philadelphia Eagles has been a franchise 

in its hometown since the beginning of its sports journey. In 1941, 

a unique swap happened between the Philadelphia Eagles and the 

Pittsburgh Steelers where both franchises swapped ownership and 

team players. In 1943, the franchises crossed paths again, combined 

for one season due to a manpower shortage and was known as 

Phil-Pitt and Steagles. Today, the Philadelphia Eagles has an operating 

income of US$150mn, and its home ground is the Lincoln Financial 

Field, costing US$360mn to build and has a capacity of 69,596. 


09 

Houston Texans 

$3.1bn 

Established in 1999, the Houston Texans is one of the newer franchises 

in the NFL. In 2002, the franchise’s debut game earned it its first victory 

against the Dallas Cowboys, making it the first time an expansion club 

had won an opening game since Minnesota defeated Chicagos in 1961. 

Today, the Houston Texans has an operating value of US$176mn, and 

its home ground is the NRG Energy Stadium which opened in 2002, 

costing US$449mn to build and has a capacity of 71,795. 

89 



InBev, BMW, Coca- 

Cola, Ford Motors, 

HEB, Houston 

Methodist, Hyundai, 

MillersCoors, NRG 

Energy, United 

Continental Holdings 

and Verizon. 


TOP 10 



InBev, M&T Bank 

Corporation, JetBlue 

Airways Corporation, 

Atlantic Health 

System, MetLife, MGM 

Resorts International, 

NRG Energy, PepsiCo, 

SAP, Ticketmaster, 

Toyota and Verizon 

91 

08 

New York Jets 

$3.2BN 

Established in 1960, the New York Jets started its on field journey as 

the Titans with reasonable success. However, in 1963, the franchise 

went bankrupt and was bought by Sonny Werblin and partners, who 

changed its name to the New York Jets. Today, the franchise has an 

operating income of US$82mn, and its home ground is the MetLife 

Stadium which opened in 2010 costing US$1.4mn to build and has 

a capacity of 82,500. 


TOP 10 

07 

Washington Redskins 

$3.4bn 

92 

Established in 1932, the Washington Redskins are one of the most 

dominant franchises in the NFL. The franchise has gone through 

several name changes over the years, starting its journey as the Braves. 

In 1933, it moved to Fenway Park (Boston, Massachusetts) changing 

its name to the Redskins, however, George Marshall (former owner of 

the Washington Redskins) wasn’t happy with Boston, and moved the 

team once more to Chicago, before finally settling in Washington D.C. 

in 1937 adopting the name Washington Redskins. Today, the franchise 

has an operating income of US$120mn, and its home ground 

is FedEx Field - owned by the team - which opened in 1997, costing 

US$250mn to build and has a capacity of 85,000. 



InBev, Bank of 

America, FedEx 

and PepsiCo. 



Advocate Health Care, 

Dr. Pepper, 

MillerCoors, PNC, 

Proven, United 

Continental 

and Verizon. 

93 

06 

Chicago Bears 

$3.5BN 

Established in 1920, the Chicago bears is one of the oldest NFL 

franchises, that started its sports journey as the Stanleys in Decatur, 

Illinois. After it won its first league championship in 1921, the franchise 

was renamed to the Chicago Bears. Today, the franchise has an 

operating income of US$62mn, and its home ground is the Soldier 

Field which opened in 2003, costing US$630mn to build and has 



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TOP 10 



InBev, Bank of New 

York Mellon 

Corporation, Dignity 

Health, Intel, Levi’s, 

NRG Energy, PepsiCo, 

SAP, Toyota, United 

Continental Holdings, 

VISA and Yahoo!. 

95 

05 

San Francisco 49ers 

$3.5BN 

Established in 1946, the San Francisco 49ers were members of the 

All-American Football Conference (AAFC), ranking second best 

behind the Cleveland Browns. In 1950, the franchise moved to the 

NFL following the collapse of the AAFC. However, it wasn’t until 1982 

that the San Francisco 49ers won its first league championship at 

the XVI Super Bowl. Today, the franchise has an operating income of 

US$93mn, and its home ground is the Levi’s Stadium, which opened 

in 2014, costing US$1.3mn to build and has a capacity of 68,500. 


TOP 10 


Allbertsons, American 

Airlines, Anheuser- 

Busch InBev, 

Cedars-Sinai Health 

System, Corona Extra, 

Hyundai, Pechanga 

and Unify. 

96 

04 

Los Angeles Rams 

$3.8bn 

Established in 1936, the Los Angeles Rams is also one of the NFL’s 

oldest franchises, that began its sports journey in Cleveland, Ohio. 

In 1946, Dan Reeves (former owner of the Los Angeles Rams) 

moved the team to Los Angeles, receiving its first NFL championship 

game in 1945. Today, the franchise has an operating income 

of US$30mn, and its home ground is the Los Angeles Memorial 

Coliseum which opened in 1923, costing US$950,000 to build 

and has a capacity of 77,500. 


03 

New York Giants 

$3.9bn 

Established in 1925, the New York giants are truly entwined into the 

history of the NFL. For the young league a franchise in the nation’s 

largest city was imperative to keep the league alive. Two years after 

its establishment, the New York Giants won its first championship in 

1927. Today, the New York Giants’ home ground is the MetLife Stadium, 

which opened in 2010 costing US$1.4mn to build and has a capacity of 

82,500. The franchise itself generates US$142mn in operating income. 


97 


InBev, Dell 

Technologies, 

PepsiCo, Quest 

Diagnostics Inc., SAP, 

Toyota and Verizon. 


TOP 10 

98 

02 

New England 

Patriots 

$4.1bn 

Established in 1960, the New England 

Patriots was given its name by a panel 

of Boston sportswriters in a contest. 

During its first decade, the franchise 

climbed the ladder to become a serious 

contender in the late 1970s. Today, the 

franchise has an operating income of 

US$240mn and opened its own stadium 

in 2002, the Gillette Stadium, which cost 

a total of US$325mn to build and has 



Anheuser-Busch InBev 

SA, Bank of America, 

BDSE, Dell 

Technologies, Draft 

Kings, Gillette, JetBlue, 

Optum, PepsiCo 

and Verizon. 


99 

Do Your Life: Duron Harmon 

The Life of an NFL Player and Parent 



TOP 10 

100 

Legendary Cowboys Players Celebrate 

60 Years of Football 



01 

Dallas 

Cowboys 

$5bn 

101 


American Airlines, 

AT&T, Bank of 

America, Ford Motors, 

Dr. Pepper, 

MillerCoors and 

PepsiCo. 

Established in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys 

won its first two divisional championships 

in 1966 and 1967. Despite not playing in 

the Super Bowl since 1995, the Dallas 

Cowboys still generate the most operating 

income compared to other NFL members, 

generating US$420mn in 2018. In 2009, 

the AT&T Stadium became the franchise’s 

home ground, the stadium cost US$1.2mn 

to build and has a capacity of 100,000. 


102 

Aerojet Rocketdyne: 

the evolution of 

aerospace and 

PRODUCED BY 

MIKE SADR 

defence technology 

WRITTEN BY 

GEORGIA WILSON 



103

AEROJET ROCKETDYNE 

After two years, Alan Avakian, 

Senior Director of IT and John 

Jackson, Chief Information 

Officer at Aerojet Rocketdyne, 

discuss the company’s 

innovative transformation 

journey since 2018 

104 

W 

ith 20 years’ experience within information 

technology, Alan Avakian, Senior 

Director of IT at Aerojet Rocketdyne, 

has spent most of his career in the aerospace and 

defense industry. “I started out as an application 

developer, working in technologies ranging from 

the mainframe to client/server and web. Other 

technical roles I have had include database administration 

and project management,” says Avakian. 

“After working with programmers and internal customers, 

I branched out into other more specialized 

disciplines including reporting and ERP. At a certain 

point, I had to make a career choice between 

technical and management tracks, and chose 

management in the end for the opportunities. With 

guidance from others, I went back for my Masters 

of Business Administration and transitioned to 

managing my own department before becoming 

a Director and Chief Technology Officer.” 



105


“Additive manufacturing, 

hypersonics, and solar electric 

propulsion are key innovation 

areas for Aerojet Rocketdyne” 

— 

Alan Avakian, 

Senior Director of IT, 


Avakian describes Aerojet 

Rocketdyne as “an innovative worldclass 

developer and manufacturer 

of advanced propulsion and energetics 

systems 

106 



Manufacturing B-Roll 


107 

for customers including the US 

Department of Defense, NASA and 

other agencies and companies, both 

in the United States and abroad.” Its 

vision is to further develop the brand 

and leverage its experience to provide 

the most cost-effective, on-schedule 

and reliable products in the industry. 

Over the last two years, 

Avakian has seen the aerospace 

and defense industry evolve 

significantly, with multiple new trends 

emerging fast such as: additive manufacturing, 

solar electric propulsion, 

cybersecurity and cloud technology. 

“Additive manufacturing, hypersonics, 

and solar electric propulsion 

are key innovation areas for Aerojet 

Rocketdyne. We are also developing 

propulsion systems to utilise highperformance 

‘green’ propellants. 

Green propulsion systems are an 

alternative to conventional chemical 

propulsion systems that use hydrazine 

propellants for a variety of applications, 

including next-generation 

launch vehicles and spacecraft,” 

says Avakian. 

John Jackson is the Chief Information 

Officer at Aerojet Rocketdyne and 



110 

Alan Avakian 


Alan Avakian is the Senior Director of IT at Aerojet 

Rocketdyne. In this role, he leads the 

organisation’s Business Alignment and 

Technology Management functions responsible 

for shared business service strategy and 

operations including Networking, 

Infrastructure, Applications, and End User 

Support services. He coordinates with line-ofbusiness 

leaders to understand their needs 

(including anticipated technology and 

product changes) and works with IT 

outsourcing partners for execution. 


111 

has extensive experience in cybersecurity 

and cloud technologies. In 

the Information Technology arena, 

Jackson mentioned that “there’s a 

much bigger focus on security and 

the new Cybersecurity Maturity 

Model Certification (CMMC) that was 

released in January. An accredited 

third party assessor will independently 

assess whether internal information 

systems of companies that perform 

DoD work (including suppliers) have 

the required cybersecurity controls 

in place to meet the assigned cyber 

maturity level.” With new levels of 

security in cloud, Jackson is also 

seeing companies shifting to this technology. 

“Cloud solutions now meet the 

stringent security requirements of our 

industry, so companies are now starting 

to pivot.” 

Further discussing data security, 

Jackson explains the company’s own 

efforts since 2018 to develop its data 

security methods. “Keeping up with 

the ever-increasing security threats 

for people who want to steal your data, 

while also meeting the new industry 

compliance standards such as the 

CMMC, are core challenges when it 



112 

comes to data security as it changes 

so fast.” At Aerojet Rocketdyne, 

the company has a threat hunting 

program which allows the company 

to proactively measure its security 

posture rather than only relying on 

traditional threat management measures 

such as firewalls. In addition, 

“we are currently embarking on an 

Enterprise Information Management 

initiative to establish a data governance 

program. This program will 

assist with the standardisation and 

integration of data and metrics 

across the enterprise.” 

When it comes to the innovative 

evolution of the company, Avakian 

explains that over the last two years 

the company has “pivoted from 

a traditional IT architecture which 

relies heavily on on-premise infrastructure 

to a hybrid architecture.” 

In particular, Avakian highlights the 

company’s adoption of cloud technology, 

microservices and robotic 

process automation (RPA). “Over 

the last couple of years we have 

transitioned our Product Lifecycle 

Management (PLM) system from 

an on-premise solution to a cloud 

provider. Our data is housed in a 

FedRAMP data centre with aroundthe-clock 

support.” In addition to 

the cloud, the company has begun 

conducting an RPA proof-of-concept 

with its Finance department. “This 

will reduce costs, eliminate input 

errors, speed up business processes, 


What Is Artemis? 


113 

John Jackson 


John Jackson is the Chief Information Officer 

and Vice President at Aerojet Rocketdyne. 

In this role, he leads the Information 

Technology organization focused on the 

development and execution of an IT strategy 

to help deliver on mission success. The goal 

of the strategy is to unlock greater value 

for customers and the business by enabling 

innovative, secure and compliant 

technology solutions. 


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115 

“Keeping up with the 

ever-increasing security 

threats while also 

meeting the new industry 

compliance standards 

such as the CMMC, are 

core challenges when 

it comes to data security 

as it changes so fast” 

— 

John Jackson,, 

CIO, Aerojet Rocketdyne 

and will be integrated with applications. 

Our hope is to expand the 

program once we have proven out 

the technology and business model.” 

At an operational level, Avakian 

also explains the company’s development 

of a business relationship 

management team, as well as its 

healthy transition towards a balanced 

outsourcing and in-house operations 

approach. “We started with realigning 

some of our existing talent as well as 

recruiting new people with 



1942 

Year founded 

$2bn+ 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

116 

5,000 

Number of 

employees 



117


118 

“An innovative worldclass 

developer and 

manufacturer of 

advanced propulsion 

and energetics 

systems for customers 

including the US 

Department of 

Defense and NASA” 

— 

Alan Avakian, 

Senior Director of IT, 


a background in IT and business liaison 

skills,” comments Avakian, who has 

seen huge benefits from establishing 

the team. “Our customers love the fact 

that they have an IT representative 

that is aligned to them.” When it comes 

to balancing its outsourcing and inhouse 

operations, Avakian highlights 

that “it’s a challenging opportunity as 

there are benefits and use cases for 

both methods. Our approach is to look 

at the IT area and then assess which 

approach or combination best meets 

our requirements in relation to levels 

of control, security considerations, 

cost model and growth.” 

With these developments, Avakian 

has seen “the ability of the company’s 

IT systems to grow with the business, 

enabling faster turnaround of 

key enhancements which were not 

achievable before without significant 

investment in time and money.” For 

example, Microsoft has been helping 

Aerojet Rocketdyne to “leverage 

Microsoft Dynamics for our CRM. 


119 

We will also be using Microsoft’s 

Office 365 and Azure for storage later 

this year.” 

Reflecting on the company, Avakian 

sees the company’s biggest strength 

being its people and drive towards 

innovation in everything that it does, 

particularly having seen the company 

expand its presence to drive innovation. 

Avakian concludes that the company’s 

“NASA Space Launch System (SLS) – 

America’s next-generation heavy-lift 

rocket, powered by Aerojet Rocketdyne 

– and the company’s propulsion which 

plays a critical role in SLS’s ability to 

successfully launch the heaviest, largest, 

and most valuable payloads to deep 

space” is an example of one of the company’s 

biggest successes to date. 


120 

Intel Corporation: 

Setting the stage 

for the year 

of security 

WRITTEN BY 

WILL GIRLING 

PRODUCED BY 




121

INTEL CORPORATION 

William ‘Bill’ Giard, Chief Technology 

Officer (CTO) Cloud and Enterprise 

Group, at Intel on how Intel’s industryleading 

approach to security will 

benefit the wider industry 

122 

F 

ounded in 1968 in Santa Clara, California, 

Intel Corporation began with a focus on 

computer memory. From the very start, 

the company prided itself on its agility and breadth 

of ability, as well as a customer-driven philosophy 

that ensured its popularity with consumers. When 

Business Chief last spoke to Intel in August 2019, 

the company stated that it was moving “from a 

PC-centric strategy to a data-centric one”. It was 

a big shift for Intel, which had spent the last 50 

years focusing on the former. However, realising 

that storage, memory, computing and data centres 

were all part of a larger, more exciting picture, 

it was determined to make the transition. 

Almost six months later, we spoke with William 

‘Bill’ Giard, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Intel, 

who talked about his vision for the company in 

2020. Part of Intel for over 20 years, having joined 

almost immediately after completing his studies 

at Portland State University, Giard has seen the 

evolution of the business first-hand. “I saw what it 

was doing in the industry and got really energised 

about working with computers and electronics,” 


1968 

Year founded 

$70bn 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

110,000+ 

Number of 

employees 

123 



124 

“Changing Intel 

is a big deal, 

but changing 

an industry 

direction is 

probably what 

excites me 

the most” 

— 

William ‘Bill’ Giard, 

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) 

Cloud Enterprise Solutions Group, Intel 

he explains. “For me, it was just a logical 

choice once I graduated.” Starting as 

an engineer and then working his way 

up to CTO, Giard says he has gained a 

lot of valuable experience in enterprise 

IT, including data management, product 

life-cycle management and big enterprise 

systems. “It really opened my 

eyes to what we’re doing for the wider 

industry. Changing Intel is a big deal, 

but changing an industry direction is 

probably what excites me the most.” 

Giard believes that embracing 

digital transformation, understanding 

system architectures and how to enable 

business processes is a pivotal 

strategy for the company. However, 

his primary focus is on understanding 

how Intel’s software can be used to 

enable hardware in such a way that it 

works seamlessly. “My role as CTO is 

about combining technical hardware 

and software implementations with 

the developments happening in data 

growth, analytics, infrastructure modernisation 

and security,” he says. “This 

is where my passion really lies.” Giard’s 

strategic vision for Intel is a trifecta of 

technological developments: hybridcloud 

solutions, analytics powered 


AWS re:Invent 2019: 

William Giard, Intel 


125 

by artificial intelligence (AI), and, most 

importantly, security. 

Security is of paramount importance 

to both customers and the tech 

industry as a whole. With ransomware 

incidents and insider threats 

infiltrating even the most hermetic 

of organisations, such as the US 

Federal Government, it’s becoming 

all too clear that traditional firewalls 

and perimeter-based controls can no 

longer adequately protect the digital 

world. Recognising it as, perhaps, ‘the’ 

central challenge of 2020, Giard has 

decided to make security solutions 

the keystone of Intel’s product development. 

“It can’t be bolted on after 

the fact; it’s got to be built in from the 

start. And enabling that work, where 

we’re trying to perform computing at 

the edge, I think is critically important 

to our business strategy.” 

Owing to the necessity for latencysensitive 

applications and the 

emergence of 5G, which is ushering in 

the possibility of real-time solutions, 

‘edge computing’ is a paradigm taking 

on great precedence in the industry. 

Instead of sending data from a 

device to a server where it can then be 



“Security needs to 

be at the forefront: 

it’s the number one 

growth potential in 

a number of areas” 

— 




126 

analysed, the analysis is conducted on 

the device itself. Common examples 

of edge computing include the biometric 

readers (fingerprint or facial 

recognition hardware) on smartphones. 

“This is where technology is 

shifting quite rapidly,” Giard explains. 

“It allows us to meet our customers 

where they’re addressing their challenges. 

Security needs to be at the 

forefront: it’s the number one growth 

potential in a number of areas, but 

security professionals will tell you 

it hasn’t gotten enough attention.” 

Intel’s efforts to tackle the issue have 

been bolstered by healthy relationships 

with its digital solution partners, such as 

Microsoft, Red Hat, IBM and VMware, 

which has enabled a productive ecosystem 

in which to develop solutions. 

Intel’s more than seven-year partnership 

with Lockheed Martin, one 

of the top security providers in the 

world, on a project for the Federal 

Government is a demonstration of 

its commitment to delivering worldclass 

security capabilities. After all, 

Giard explains, there’s no better way 


to develop an awareness of security 

than by working with a security company. 

“In the federal arena, security 

is the first conversation you have 

instead of the third or fifth. When 

Lockheed Martin asked us to assist 

them in that effort, it helped us not 

just develop our Xeon processors, 

but also to develop our understanding 

that integrated security has got 

to work from the moment the system 

turns on.” Intel’s collaboration with 

Lockheed made it clear that building 

security from the most nascent level 

up meant a vastly improved level of 

protection, which, nonetheless, didn’t 

compromise performance in any way. 

Intel Select Solutions for Hardened 

Security with Lockheed Martin 

resulted from this partnership. The 

company recognised that the problem 

lay in security occurring at different 

layers of the computing process: the 

operating system, the application 

layer, virtual machines, etc. The traditional 

approaches to protection can 

leave customers open to threats in 

multiple areas and a more rigorously 

127 

William (Bill) Giard 


Bill has over 20 years of experience in designing 

enterprise architectures and developing software 

solutions to support mission-critical systems across 

supply-chain, product development, and enterprise 

infrastructure segments. Prior to joining DPG, he led 

the software development efforts within Intel IT to 

modernize the application and computing 

environment, delivering secure and usable 

solutions across multiple client computing 

platforms utilizing cloud technologies to 

enable new business models. 



128 

consolidated structure was required. 

Constituted from Xeon hardware and 

Security Runtime Environment (SRE) 

software, the solution is designed 

to address fundamental challenges 

experienced by CIOs and CISOs 

daily, delivering comprehensive protection 

across the entire computing 

process. The solution is able to provide 

an organisation with a new and 

comprehensive security method that 

will help it safeguard its most precious 

asset: data. 

“Our approach is about enabling 

data creation, consumption and 

insights not only across data centres 

but also the public cloud environment. 

Our rich portfolio of technologies 

from Intel Xeon Scalable processors 

to Intel Ethernet to Intel Optane 

memory and storage are key to 

achieving that,” Giard states. In addition, 

as a leader in the industry, Intel 

has a long and established history 

of collaborating with partners of all 

sizes to optimise software in Intel’s 

architecture. Customers benefit 

from a high-performing cloud platform 

that easily integrates into their 


129 

“We take the philosophy 

that growth and speed of 

execution helps everyone” 

— 






130 

“In the federal 

arena, security 

is the first 

conversation 

you have 

instead of the 

third or fifth” 

— 




existing environments. “We take the 

philosophy that growth and speed of 

execution helps everyone,” he says. 

Reinforcing this point, Mike Gann, 

Director of Business Development, 

adds that this is what helps Intel distinguish 

itself from competitors. “The 

coolest thing that I’ve seen at Intel is 

how we partner within that ecosystem 

to really make an impact. As a 

company, we want to deliver innovative 

technology that will change how 

we all work, play and live. We want to 

change the world.” 


It’s a noble idea, but one that can’t 

succeed without a solid, customercentric 

strategy to back it up. 

Fortunately, Intel has and always will 

be about providing an easy, ‘out of 

the box’ experience for consumers 

of its products. “Part of our value 

comes from providing that flexibility. 

No matter where the data resides, 

we’re helping customers put it in 

the right place so that they can take 

appropriate action. From a security 

perspective, that means making it easy 

for them by just incorporating it into 

the infrastructure, giving them peace 

of mind,” Intel explains. This arrives 

at the crux of the matter for Intel: as 

cyber-attacks get more sophisticated 

and old defences lose their potency, 

a comprehensive and fundamental 

reimagining of the whole concept is 

required and that is what Intel believes 

in. “After all,” Giard says, “if you get the 

foundation right, you can act fast and 

solve the problem very quickly.” 

131 


132 

S U C C E S S 

A C A D E M Y 

D I S R U P T I N G 

T H E 

E D U C A T I O N 

S P A C E 

WRITTEN BY 

SEAN GALEA-PACE 

PRODUCED BY 

DENITRA PRICE 



133

SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS 

Vincent Moorehead, Senior 

Director of Strategic 

Procurement and Supply 

Chain at Success Academy 

Charter Schools, discusses his 

organisation’s transformation 

journey in New York City 

134 

S 

Success Academy Charter Schools is 

the largest and highest-performing free 

public charter school network in New 

York State. It’s the size of the seventh largest school 

district in the state. 

Founded in Harlem in 2006 by former New York 

City Council Member Eva Moskowitz, the organisation 

now operates 45 schools, enrolling 18,000 

students in grades K-12, most of them low-income 

children of colour, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, 

and the Bronx. In a city where only one in three children 

of colour can read or do math at grade level, 

Success Academy’s scholars have excelled. On the 

most recent state exams, 99% of Success students 

passed mathematics and 90% passed English 

Language Arts. With ambitions to operate 100 

schools and enroll 50,000 students over the next 

decade, Success Academy is driven to innovate in 

the realm of pedagogy as well as procurement. 


135 

2006 

Year founded 

HQ 

New York, NY 


2,500 

Number of 

employees 


We Can Build It: 

Success Academy Charter Schools 


137 

Overseeing the organisation’s 

procurement arm, Vincent 

Moorehead, Senior Director of 

Strategic Procurement and Supply 

Chain, believes that Success 

Academy is differentiated by a culture 

of excellence: “Excellence is ingrained 

in our culture. Our customers are our 

scholars and their families,” explains 

Moorehead. “Our work is extremely 

high stakes. To us, it’s all about consistently 

raising the bar for what is 

possible in public education. We need 

to always be thinking about how we 

can deliver a great education to our 

“Our work is 

extremely high 

stakes. To us, it’s all 

about consistently 

raising the bar for 

what is possible in 

public education” 

— 

Vincent Moorehead, 

Senior Director of Strategic Procurement 

and Supply Chain, Success Academy 




138 

“If you look at charter 

schools generally, 

we are one of the 

few that has a 

procurement team” 

— 





scholars and how we can use each 

dollar to make the biggest impact in 

our classrooms.” 

Operating efficiencies are critical to 

Success Academy. With public funding 

that’s about $5,000 less per student 

than what district schools spend each 

year, the network prioritises strong management 

of its resources. Moorehead 

has been instrumental in delivering 

savings. “The role of management is 

undervalued in public schooling,” says 


139 

Moskowitz. “Educators everywhere 

acknowledge the impact of effective 

teachers, but what is less often 

recognised—yet essential to creating 

and sustaining excellent schools—is 

the need for operational excellence. 

When the administrative and business 

aspects of schools are well managed, 

teachers and principals are freed up 

to focus entirely on student learning. 

Vince has been important in helping 

us achieve this.” 

A graduate from Howard University in 

Washington, D.C, Moorehead worked 

for several different companies such 

as United Technologies Corporation, 

Kearney, and the FBI before joining 

Success Academy in August 2018. 

Upon his arrival, the organisation 

decided to centralise the entire 

purchasing area across the board. 

“When I first started, we had so many 

conversations about what a centralised 

procurement model would look 


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like,” he says. “If you look at charter 

schools generally, we are one of the 

few that has a procurement team. The 

first thing we had to do was map out 

an ideal purchasing process for our 

network of schools. It was vital that we 

had the right tools, systems, and processes 

in place for our team to be able 

to imagine how streamlined this new 

process could be for our school staff.” 

Subsequently, Moorehead set about 

updating several outdated and broken 

processes, which led to the implementation 

of Coupa and a centralised 

approach. He focused on making the 

programme as streamlined as possible. 

“I wanted something that was 

very user-friendly because our users 

are educators, not procurement specialists. 

They should be able to focus 

on their scholars, not on purchasing 

orders,” says Moorehead. “I wanted 

a system in place where they could 

make requests for classroom supplies 


Vincent Moorehead 

Vincent Moorehead currently leads procurement at Success 

Academy Charter Schools, the largest and highest-performing 

free public charter school network in New York City. He leads a 

team that manages contract negotiations, supply chain, 

tactical and strategic sourcing in order to secure every 

thinkable material (from chapter books, furniture, to 

interactive whiteboards) for 18,000+ students in the 

NYC area. Vincent’s background is primarily within 

Supply Chain Management focusing on Operations 

and Procurement. Prior to joining SACS in 2018, he 

worked in management consulting at Efficio 

Consulting and A.T. Kearney, global sourcing at 

United Technologies, with unique experience 

in government contracting at the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

141 



142 

“Educators everywhere 

acknowledge the impact of 

effective teachers, but what 

is less often recognised — 

yet essential to creating and 

sustaining excellent schools 

— is the need for operational 

excellence” 

— 

Eva Moskowitz, 

Founder and CEO, 

Success Academy Charter Schools 


in a way that they’re used to, similar to 

buying something on Amazon. On the 

backend, our procurement team still 

has the control, and we can now see 

what the needs of each classroom are 

in real time, as our teachers and school 

leaders make purchase requests. With 

this knowledge, we’re better prepared 

for our next school year. We better 

anticipate what we’ll need to stock in all 

of our classrooms based on what our 

educators request this year.” 

Having overseen many ERP implementations 

over the years, Moorehead 

affirms that this was one of the least 

troublesome he’s dealt with. “It was 

one of the smoothest transitions 

that I’ve ever been through and we 

implemented the system in just eight 

months,” he explains. “We phased out 

the launch and were able to trial the 

system before implementing it fully 

across our network. I’m pleased to say 

that after the initial hurdle of learning a 

new system, Success Academy staff 

members regularly stop me in the hallway 

and tell me how much easier the 

new platform is to use.” 

Success Academy places significant 

value on its partnerships. The network 

143 


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145 

“I’m looking for 

a partner that 

understands 

the mission and 

wants to help 

us get there” 

— 





has formed several key strategic relationships, 

such as with The Advance 

Group, CrossCountry Consulting, KI, 

and OpenText. Moorehead believes 

that any prospective partnership must 

have the right drive and mentality to 

succeed from the start. “I’m looking 

for a partner that understands the mission 

and wants to help us get there,” 

says Moorehead. “The suppliers that 

we currently work with understand 

the challenges that we go through. 

However, it’s important that there’s 

mutual benefit and I’m constantly 


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thinking about ways we can help make 

our suppliers’ jobs easier. By doing this, 

we can support them not just for the 

immediate future, but long term too.” 

Moorehead affirms that each 

partnership plays a critical role in 

ensuring Success Academy runs 

efficiently. “CrossCountry Consulting 

was brought on board as our implementation 

partner to help us roll out 

our new purchasing system, and they 

have been outstanding. The team, 

led by Harpreet Narula, Partner at 

CrossCountry, had in-depth knowledge 

of the purchasing system, 

managed the entire implementation 

including working with our internal 

and external technical teams, and was 

able to help reduce the change management 

impact on the organisation,” 

he explains. “OpenText has a digital 

platform that helps us protect our 

data — which is critical for us because 

we’re protecting student privacy. All 

of our integrations use a partner for 

error management and manage data 

as it flows from system to system. 

OpenText is at the heart of that and 

has data that flows through it from our 

Human Resource Information Systems 

(HRIS) to our financial systems and 

to our purchasing platform.” 

147 



COMPANY FACTS 

148 

• Last summer, Success 

delivered over 300,000 

items per classroom across 

our 45 schools. 

• On the most recent state 

exams, 99% of Success 

students passed 

mathematics and 

90% passed English 

Language Arts. 

• For the 2019-20 academic 

year, Success Academy 

schools received more than 

17,000 applications for 

about 4,000 open seats. 


“KI has helped with providing innovative 

furniture and has been suggesting 

and updating products to ensure 

that our school design is as efficient 

as possible,” says Moorehead. “The 

Advance Group is our logistics partner. 

They deliver and install all the furniture 

in each classroom. Last summer, 

Success delivered over 300,000 items 

per classroom across our 45 schools. 

The Advance Group truly understands 

the critical nature of our mission and 

they are a reliable partner in making 

sure each of our classrooms is ready 

for scholars on the first day of school.” 

With a vision to operate 100 schools 

in New York City, Moorehead has a 

clear idea of how to achieve such ambitions. 

“I’m very optimistic and I believe 

we will get to 100 schools comfortably. 

By then, we’ll likely be serving over 

50,000 students across New York,” 

says Moorehead. “That’s the size of the 

Boston or Atlanta school system.” 

149 


PURA VIDA BRACELETS 

ARTISANAL 

150 

SUPPLY 

CHAINS 

WRITTEN BY 

WILLIAM SMITH 

PRODUCED BY 

DENITRA PRICE 



151


ERIKO BAILEY, VICE PRESIDENT, SUPPLY 

CHAIN AT PURA VIDA BRACELETS, 

DISCUSSES HOW AN ETHICAL 

APPROACH TO THE SUPPLY CHAIN 

DEFINES THE BRAND 

152 

P 

ura Vida Bracelets was founded by Griffin 

Thall and Paul Goodman after a trip to 

Costa Rica and an encounter with two 

artisan bracelet makers by the name of Jorge and 

Joaquin. After originally requesting 400 bracelets 

to take back to San Diego, 10 years later the company 

is now worth over $100mn dollars. As Eriko 

Bailey, Vice President, Supply Chain, explains, the 

artisanal connection has not been lost along the 

way. “Our artisans have been able to scale with the 

brand and, today, Jorge and Joaquin are the sole 

owners of the manufacturer that produces 75% of 

the products which we offer to the marketplace.” 

That connection is an important part of the company’s 

identity and attracts the demographic with 

which it is most successful. “Where we really hit it 

off is with that millennial, Gen Z core customer,” she 

explains. “Being socially and charitably conscious 

is the life vein of the brand. We’ve also been able 

to highlight that through things like Instagram and 

Facebook where we use the social media aspect 

to really showcase Pura Vida as a lifestyle brand 

outside of just being a product.” In pursuit of this 



153


154 

“BEING SOCIALLY 

AND CHARITABLY 

CONSCIOUS IS 

THE LIFE VEIN OF 

THE BRAND” 

— 

Eriko Bailey, 

Vice President, Supply Chain, 

Pura Vida 

and alongside supporting artisans, 

Pura Vida partners with select charities. 

“We’re creating products that an 

end consumer can purchase and know 

that a portion of that dollar amount is 

given to charity. As a brand, our biggest 

focuses right now are mental health 

issues, animals and anything that has 

to do with the environment. Those are 

the three key things that our customers 

are demanding.” 

Of course, a focus on sustainability 

runs far deeper than just burnishing 

the company’s reputation. As Pura 


Pura Vida — Live Free 


155 

Vida expands the product categories 

in which it is active, it is ensuring that 

an ethical approach is built into its 

operations, and the operations of 

those with which it works. “We try to 

stay as authentic as possible to the 

artisan and charitable messaging that 

we have,” Bailey explains, “whether 

that be working with manufacturers 

that are Fairtrade certified, finding 

the cotton farmers that are working in 

organic fields, all the way through to 

the mills that are producing the fabrics 

that we’re going to be using.” Bailey 

has had a personal hand in ensuring 



156 

that such intentions are translated into 

reality. “I’ve been spearheading our 

overall sustainability initiative. It started 

with social compliance auditing of the 

factories of our vendors and manufacturing 

partners, then getting them up 

to a baseline; ensuring that fair wages 

are being extended to individuals at the 

ground level, that these facilities are at 

code, and that there’s a safe working 

environment overall.” 

The reliance on artisanal products 

does present its own problems. 

“Everybody has this idea of what 

artisan means, but in essence anything 

that’s being made with two hands is 

artisanal. The biggest thing is focusing 

on transparency within all of our 

artisans and vendors. We work with 

them with regards to capacity planning 

and what our demands are going to 

be. That helps them to scale up as the 

business continues to grow.” In many 

other ways, however, dealing with 

artisans is not so different from conventional 

mass production. “Just like 

regular manufacturing, communication 

and transparency are the two biggest 


157 

Eriko Bailey 


Eriko Bailey is Pura Vida Bracelets’ Vice President, Supply 

Chain. An innovative supply chain leader, she has proven 

success in transforming both forward and reverse 

supply chain operations to Best-in-Class, while reducing 

expense and improving customer satisfaction. With 

over 10 years of supply chain experience, Eriko also 

possesses a BS in Retail Management / Marketing 

and a Minor in Entrepreneurial and Emerging 

Enterprises from Syracuse University and a 

Professional Designation AA focused in 

Merchandise Product Development from 

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. 


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159 

things that help production overall,” 

Bailey says. “You have to provide 

foresight on those annual plans you 

are looking to produce and also work 

with the teams that you have in terms 

of where they are today and where 

you need them to get to in six months, 

or a year from now. That visibility and 

transparency ignites the possibilities 

and the production capabilities of any 

manufacturer, whether they’re artisans 

or mass producers.” 

Culture is another important consideration. 

“Culture’s a big thing for our 

“CREATIVITY AND 

COLLABORATION 

ARE THE TWO 

BIGGEST 

COMPONENTS 

TO OUR CULTURE 

OVERALL” 

— 

Eriko Bailey, 


Pura Vida 



160 


2010 

Year founded 

$108mn 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

35 

Number of 

employees 

161 

communities, but also in the supply 

chain as well. This is made up of the 

people that are working for our brand: 

the individuals in the team. But then it’s 

also the wider supply chain. They’re 

an extension of our team - they may 

not have Pura Vida in the name, but 

they are still a part of us.” To a certain 

extent, that culture has been guided 

by the relative youth of its workforce. 

“Within the department specifically, and 

in the wider team as well as our vendor 

partners, creativity and collaboration 

are the two biggest components to 

our overall culture. I think the beauty of 



“VISIBILITY AND 

TRANSPARENCY 

IGNITES THE 

POSSIBILITIES AND 

THE PRODUCTION 

CAPABILITIES OF ANY 

MANUFACTURER, 

WHETHER THEY’RE 

ARTISANS OR MASS 

PRODUCERS” 

162 

— 

Eriko Bailey, 


Pura Vida 

working with a company that is very 

young from an employee standpoint - 

probably 85% millennial to Gen Z - is 

the thought process of: ‘I’m going to 

take this process, but I’m also going 

to try to improve it.’” 

Processes are also being improved 

by technological means. “We’re 

bringing in a product lifecycle management 

(PLM) system this year from 

Visual Next, which is going to help 

centralise our design and development 

processes overall,” Bailey 

says. “Now that we’re growing into 

these additional categories we need 

to bring all of our vendors into one 

centralised database of information. 

Being able to have a partner plug 

into a software program that can 

then provide information in real time 

means we don’t have to wait a full 

day for the information to come back.” 

Pura Vida also relies on partners for 

distribution, with different third-party 

logistics (3PL) firms in domestic and 

international markets. 


163 

Those international markets are just 

one of many focuses for this rapidly 

growing business. “We’ve just opened 

a fulfillment center in Canada to help 

facilitate that growth as well as in 

Hong Kong for the APAC region overall,” 

says Bailey. “We’re very excited 

about our international growth.” 

Traditionally both a direct to consumer 

and B2B brand, Pura Vida is bolstering 

those relationships while also 

exploring new methods of reaching 

customers. “We’re embarking on our 

first branded Pura Vida retail store, 

opening in May 2020, with more on 

our radar,” Bailey explains. “We’re firing 

on all cylinders to ensure that we 

have a footprint on multiple levels so 

that the customer can really experience 

the Pura Vida brand.” 


164 


CodeBlue: 

Leading an 

industry 

165 

WRITTEN BY 

AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS 

PRODUCED BY 

ANDY TURNER 


CODEBLUE 

Jason Manns, COO of CodeBlue, 

details the rise of insurtech 

as CodeBlue leverages science 

and cutting-edge technology 

to meet industry challenges 

166 

T 

echnology is transforming every industry, 

and insurance is no exception. The 

landscape is rapidly evolving and with 

this, insurance companies are challenged with 

managing change. The transformation toward 

digital solutions creates an opportunity to have 

a better understanding of customer behaviours 

and to provide immediate customer solutions. 

When harnessed successfully, these newly 

acquired technologies improve policyholder satisfaction 

while reducing costs for insurance carriers. 

Jason Manns, COO of CodeBlue, has over 25 

years’ experience in the personal and commercial 

lines insurance industry. As a transformational 

change leader, he has led claims and operations 

for a number of insurance carriers with a passion 

for delivering best-in-class performance, while 

ensuring that the customer experience is at 

the heart of decisions. 

As an insurance executive, Manns has seen the 

insurance industry begin to slowly shift with technological 

adoption advances and, consequently, 

sees three of the most significant challenges 



167

CODEBLUE 

168 

“The insurance industry is paying close attention 

to the technological advancements of other 

industries but continues to significantly lag 

behind in the adoption rate of the innovations 

that exist today in the marketplace” 

— 

Jason Manns, 

COO, CodeBlue 

currently faced by insurance carriers. 

The first is the effective management 

of labour and the expenses associated 

with insurance carrier workforces. 

“This is particularly important because, 

in today’s low unemployment rate 

economy, there are shortages of 

qualified and technically proficient 

insurance staff. I expect the virtual 

technologies that are now available 

will significantly change traditional 

insurance carrier staffing models,” 

he says. 

The second challenge insurance 

carriers face is the embedded inefficiencies 

in the claim handling process 

from inadequate initial claim damage 

evaluations. “For example, it is common 

for insurance carriers to experience 25% 

to 40% supplemental claim payments 

due to inaccuracies in the initial 

damage evaluation process.” Today, 

technology is available to provide 

real-time digital capture of damages 

at the policyholder’s initial loss report, 

reducing supplemental work. 

Lastly, policyholder engagement 

presents a new challenge. The expectations 

of customers have increased 

to the point where an Amazon-like 

standard of service, with same-day 

turnarounds between orders and 

deliveries, has become the norm. 

“This level of service with regards 

to policyholders seeking immediate 

same-day property claim inspections 


Join the CodeBlue Revolution 


169 

and contractor on site arrivals is typically 

unheard of across the insurance 

industry,” says Manns. “There is a massive 

potential for insurance carriers 

to catch up to what other industries 

are doing.” 

Early in CodeBlue’s inception, 

Manns — while working at an insurance 

carrier — was involved in the 

development of CodeBlue’s proactive 

claims management model, which 

was and continues to be significantly 

different than all others in the industry. 

Today, Manns leads the operations 

at CodeBlue, an industry-leading 

insurance claims management provider 

with full scale customisable 

solutions. Drawing from his experiences 

in the insurance carrier industry, 

he focused on immediate policyholder 

actions at first contact and the continued 

development of proprietary claim 

management software with digital 

technologies. This included virtual 

inspections strategies that provided 

solutions for insurance carrier staff 

to view loss damages real-time and 

remotely. “Insurance carrier staff 

can now view initial damage inspections 

from their office in a few hours 


Let us 

grow 

together. 

Bamboo is a newly formed insurance organization, 

backed by some of the largest carriers in the 

industry, and established on the principles of 

customer advocacy and transparency. We aren’t 

looking to reinvent the wheel, but to add some 

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CODEBLUE 

CodeBlue Join the Revolution #2 


172 

after claim notification as opposed 

to having to be physically present at 

the site, removing the additional costs 

incurred with travel time and fleet 

vehicles,” says Manns. In addition, 

virtual damage inspection solutions 

reduce vehicle usage, promoting environmentally 

friendly carbon practices 

and are a strategy that can be used to 

protect staff against exposure to airborne 

viruses and contaminants often 

found at loss locations. 

While it remains an industry standard 

to use call centers to interact 

with policyholders during the initial 

reporting of claims, CodeBlue has 

advanced this by providing a 24-hour 

service, available 365 days a year, 

for first notice of loss claim reporting 

with virtual damage inspections and 

contractor integrations that provide 

immediate actions for policyholders. 

This approach maximises the accuracy 

of initial damage inspections 

while driving high levels of policyholder 

engagement. In addition to 

this, says Manns, “insurance carriers 

include policy language that stresses 

the policyholder’s obligation to prevent 

additional damages at the time 


of the loss by taking the needed 

actions. However, policyholders often 

need greater levels of assistance in 

the claim process than they typically 

receive.” This is where CodeBlue’s 

combination of technology, staff with 

property subject matter expertise 

and contractor network, are leveraged 

to ensure insurance carriers 

and policyholders receive immediate 

actions that translate to sciencebased 

outcomes. Manns explains, 

“because of this advanced approach, 

we no longer refer to our process 

as “First Notice Of Loss” claim reporting, 

but instead, we call it “First Notice 

And Response” with immediate actions 

for policyholders.” Vault Insurance 

Chief Claims Officer, Peter Piotrowski 

stated, “by partnering with CodeBlue, 

we can leverage best-in-class technology 

to respond quickly with the right 

resources and skills to policyholders. 

Together with CodeBlue, customers 

will always receive efficient, empathetic 

and personalised assistance, 

leveraged by technology in order 

to deliver the best repair services. 173 

Jason Manns 


Jason Manns is the Chief Operations Officer at CodeBlue, an industryleading 

insurance claims management provider servicing North 

America. Jason has over 25 years of experience in leading claims 

and operations at insurance carriers at the executive officer level. 

At CodeBlue, Jason is responsible for overseeing and scaling 

company-wide operations, including the continued development 

of proprietary claim software with digital applications that 

support virtual damage inspection strategies for insurance 

carriers. He is passionate about working with personal and 

commercial lines insurance carriers to provide property 

claim solutions that assist in making technology 

transformation easier. 


CODEBLUE 

DID YOU KNOW? 

174 

Facilities That Embody 

The CodeBlue Culture 

CodeBlue is headquartered in 

Springfield, Ohio, USA, with two 

additional offices in Hudson, Ohio, and 

Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Much like the 

company itself, CodeBlue’s 

headquarters in Springfield, Ohio, is a 

blend of history and innovation. 

CodeBlue is located in the historic 1893 

Bushnell Building, where the Wright 

brothers patented their design for the 

airplane. The building renovations since 

its erection have achieved Platinum 

LEED (leadership in energy & 

environmental design) Certification by 

the U.S. Green Building Council 

(USGBC). 

The CodeBlue Flood 

House Experience 

In the CodeBlue flood house, 

they train and certify (IICRC S500) 

CodeBlue staff, insurance carrier staff, 

and contractors to be subject matter 

experts on the science of drying. The 

Springfield OH, CodeBlue flood house 

has been flooded with 1,500 gallons of 

water over 200 times since being built 

in 2011. “In this live water damage home 

environment, we demonstrate and 

teach the science of drying with 

participants using industry water and 

fire mitigation equipment to 

understand what is possible using 

today’s technology. Participants witness 

the ability to dry and restore wet 

materials such as carpet, hardwood 

flooring, cabinets, trim, and drywall 

versus replacing materials. This enables 

CodeBlue to return policyholders to 

pre-loss condition in the fastest and 

least disruptive manner.” CodeBlue has 

a 2nd flood house used to train and 

certify staff, built in 2007 in Eau Claire, 

Wisconsin. 


Classroom teaching session with Ed Jones 

in the CodeBlue Flood House 

175 

Vault Insurance and CodeBlue are 

united by the same ethos: excellent 

customer service.” 

“The insurance industry is paying 

close attention to the technological 

advancements of other industries but 

continues to significantly lag behind 

in the adoption rate of the innovations 

that exist today in the marketplace,” 

Manns notes. “We are seeing innovations 

ranging from automotive loss 

avoidance capabilities and self-driving 

vehicles, aerial photography 

and the use of drones, to IoT 

smart-connected homes and buildings 

that measure the inside environmental 

conditions. These emerging technologies 

provide insurance carriers with 

missing data points and consumer 

behaviors to better predict underwriting 

risks, loss frequency and all of the 

costs associated, as well as the ability 

to take actions to avoid losses through 

virtual real-time policyholder interactions. 

The opportunity exists for 

insurance leaders to challenge the 

status quo in their organisations, 

embrace available technologies, 


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spirited, passionate, and fulfilled lives, and we’re deeply committed to 

creating an unrivaled experience for our agents and our customers. Our 

mission is to create the perfect balance between living life and protecting 

it, and where the status quo doesn’t cut it, we’re rethinking insurance. 

Easier to do business with. 

Insurance should feel intuitive and direct. At Vault we work obsessively to make this a 

reality. We’re constantly reinventing how the technology we build saves customers time 

-- from how our bespoke insurance plans are generated to how we’ve redesigned the 

billing process for a more intuitive, less cumbersome process. 

The luxury of support for all. 

Simply put, Vault is protection done in a new way -- the broadest coverage on the 

market today, with real humans, prioritizing real lives in the background. Customers will 

feel supported by Vault before a claim is ever filed. After all, we’re here to make their 

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contact us at 844 36 VAULT (82858)

CODEBLUE 

178 

INDUSTRY FACTS 

According to US Housing 

Study and Chubb Water 

Survey, 1 in 12 homes 

experience a plumbing leak 

each year with more than 

2.5 million US homeowners 

experiencing water damage 

(excluding flooding) 

annually. US$10bn is paid 

annually by US insurance 

carriers to repair water 

damage (excluding 

flooding) each year. 


and to become champions for change 

to improve existing insurance models.” 

To add to this, Manns asserts that 

the fast emergence of startups in the 

insurtech space supports that there is 

evidence of insurance carrier sectors 

dedicated to financially supporting 

this evolution. We are seeing insurance 

carriers use emerging technologies 

in the claim process to evaluate damages 

to the exterior of houses and 

buildings, but often overlook using 

available technologies in the evaluation 

of damages to the interior of the home 

or building. This is where CodeBlue has 

become an industry leader, differentiating 

itself from its competitors by 

having the best-in-class interior virtual 

damage inspection solutions. 

For example, insurance carrier staff 

can typically drive to inspect five to 

eight claims in a day, yet with the utilisation 

of digital technologies, the 

same staff member can virtually 

inspect between 15 to 20 claims 

a day. This approach maximises the 

accuracy of initial damage inspections, 

reduces expenses and delivers 

high policyholder satisfaction. 

Another CodeBlue advantage is 

its proprietary claim software specific 

to each property line of business: 

water and fire mitigation, reconstruction, 

contents and inventory. These 

are digitally connected to photo and 

video chat technologies that give 

the insurance carrier staff the ability 

to confirm the cause of loss, verify 

179 


CODEBLUE 

180 


181 

Policyholder Video 



CODEBLUE 

182 

coverage and evaluate damages in 

real-time at the loss location. At the 

same time, personalised assistance 

is provided to the policyholder so that 

immediate action is taken to avoid 

additional loss damages and to start 

the repair process. Manns comments, 

“In the world of insurance property 

claims, one of the most frequent 

losses are water-related damages 

caused by broken pipes and leaks. 

According to the Insurance 

Information Institute, this averages 

out at a cost of US$9,633 per claim.” 

“Here is a pipe break example. The 

insurance carrier directs the policyholder 

to report the loss to CodeBlue,” 

says Manns. “Through targeted questions, 

CodeBlue identifies loss 

specific details and uses a scientific 

algorithm in our proprietary database 

of 3,100 certified contractors to 

select the best contractor for the job. 

The chosen technology enabled 


contractor arrives at the loss location 

within four hours. CodeBlue staff 

complete a virtual damage inspection 

video chat with the contractor and 

policyholder on-site, which provides 

insurance carrier staff the needed 

information — such as measurements, 

materials, and a sketch document — 

to be able to evaluate the loss 

damages from their office.” After this, 

CodeBlue’s certified IICRC staff use 

the proprietary software with the science 

of drying to proactively create 

a water mitigation drying plan with 

the on-site contractor to restore wet 

materials instead of replacing them. 

This keeps the focus on returning the 

policyholder to pre-loss condition 

in the fastest ,most efficient and and 

least disruptive manner possible. 

To deliver the highest level of detailed 

loss documentation, CodeBlue uses 

a combination of 3D cameras, digital 

applications and video chats to capture 

the loss in a virtual environment, 

which allows insurance carrier staff 

to tour the site from their computer 

or mobile device. “Our virtual damage 

inspection solutions vary and are 

determined by the type of loss and 

“We’re highly customisable 

to insurance carriers 

and provide a suite of 

property claim solutions 

and virtual damage 

inspection strategies 

that insurance carriers 

can choose” 

— 

Jason Manns, 

COO, CodeBlue 

insurance carrier field staff coverage 

locations,” he says. “Our success 

is driven by our ability to identify the 

best virtual inspection solution for 

each specific claim, with inspection 

methods including policyholder selfservice, 

contractor dispatch, and the 

deployment of CodeBlue W2 staff. 

All virtual damage inspections utilise 

our proprietary claim software and 

digital technologies to meet a policyholder’s 

specific needs. This assists 

insurance carriers with the effective 

management of labor and the expenses 

associated with large workforces, 

while reducing the inefficiencies of 

supplemental claim payments.” 

Bamboo Insurance founding member 

183 


CODEBLUE 

184 

“Our success is driven by 

our ability to identify the 

best virtual inspection 

solution for each specific 

claim, with inspection 

methods including 

policyholder self-service, 

contractor dispatch, 

and the deployment 

of CodeBlue W2 staff” 

— 

Jason Manns, 

COO, CodeBlue 

and Chief Advocacy Officer, Stann 

Rose, explained: “Code Blue’s partnership 

and technology has enabled 

Bamboo Insurance the ability to scale 

operations from a startup into a high 

growth company by providing immediate 

information gathering, coverage 

identification and faster claim handling 

which has translated to high 

policyholder satisfaction.” 

CodeBlue partners with companies 

throughout North America, including 

three of the top 10 insurance carriers 

in the US, regional insurance carriers 

and insurtech-like startup companies. 

Since no partnership is the same, Manns 

emphasises the importance of listening 

to partners to understand their 

desired operating model and individual 

needs. “We’re highly customisable 

to insurance carriers and provide 

a suite of property claim solutions and 

virtual damage inspection strategies 

that insurance carriers can choose. 

Insurance carriers like to partner with 

established companies with a history 


2004 

Year founded 

$63mn 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

455 

Number of 

employees 

185 

of success, while simultaneously 

providing innovative services with 

technology at the core. CodeBlue 

has been providing property claim 

solutions to insurance carriers since 

2004 and is leading the way in making 

technology transformation easier 

for insurance carriers that choose 

to embrace innovations.” While Manns 

and the CodeBlue team provide 

industry-leading property claim 

solutions centered on virtual inspection 

strategies inside the home and 

building, they continue to focus on 

the next innovation to achieve best 

-in-class performance levels for policyholders 

and insurance carriers. 


186 

WRITTEN BY 

SHANNON LEWIS 

PRODUCED BY 

SHIRIN SADR 



187

RADIUS BANK 

Joe Mancini, Chief Information 

Security Officer at Radius Bank, on 

how the company made a shift to 

digital five years ago and what that 

has meant for its cybersecurity 

188 

T 

he American digital banking space has 

historically fallen behind the wider world’s 

innovations. Radius Bank seeks to correct 

that. It specialises in partnering with fintechs to 

provide industry-leading consumer and commercial 

offerings. Recently, it was named Best Online 

Bank by Bankrate.com. Headquartered in Boston, 

Massachusetts, the company has provided financial 

services for customers across the nation since 

1987, when it was still called First Trade Union Bank. 

The business assumed its current name in 2014, a 

decision that coincided with a major transformation 

that closed every brick-and-mortar branch except 

one and evolved it into a digital-first organisation. 

Joe Mancini has been at Radius since 2016, 

overseeing information and cybersecurity across 

every facet of the bank and working closely with 

business lines, managing external partners, and 

ensuring appropriate protection on networks and 

assets. Mancini’s lifelong interest in cybersecurity 

has resulted in him working everywhere, from frontline 

protection at banks to interning at a local police 

department. With a special focus on cybercrime, 

Customer Service Team 

in Boston, MA 


189 

1987 

Year founded 

$100mn 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

121 

Number of 

employees 


RADIUS BANK 

190 

“You find a 

vulnerability; you 

patch it before 

it’s exploited. We 

come at it from a 

more investigative 

background” 

— 

Joe Mancini, 

Senior Vice President, Chief Information 

Security Officer, Radius Bank 

he brings a unique perspective to his 

role. “My viewpoint tends to be ‘what 

is the visibility from a malicious actor 

standpoint, and how can we work from 

there?’,” Mancini explains. “Often, it 

tends to be a cat-and-mouse game. 

You find a vulnerability; you patch it 

before it’s exploited. We come at it 

from a more investigative background.” 

Mancini’s role includes a business enabling 

approach, seeking opportunities 

to help Radius grow. His team works 

closely with the virtual banking team 

to assess acquisitions and potential 

SVP, Operation Excellence; SVP, CISO; SVP, Treasurer; 

SVP, Customer Experience 


Radius Bank: 

Why Work at Radius Bank? 


191 

partnerships, while also keeping an 

eye out for emerging technologies 

such as cryptocurrency. 

By partnering with fintechs, Radius 

drastically reduces its time to market 

and was able to rebuild its entire digital 

platform in a mere four months. “Our 

digital banking strategy is built around 

fintech driven technology,” Mancini 

explains. “Push products, gain customers 

and create a frictionless experience. 

The biggest challenge is speed to market 

and flexibility. Aligning with partners 

that provide the high-tech platforms 

allows us to offer these industry-leading 

products and services to consumers 

and businesses.” Some partners play a 

major role in Radius’ risk prevention programmes; 

Alloy operates heavily within 

Radius’ fraud prevention space. Together, 

the two companies rebuilt the model by 

which Radius judges the risk of potential 

customers, integrating a risk waterfall 

with seven to eight checkpoints. With 

the help of partners like Alloy, Radius 

Bank has been able to significantly 

decrease its fraudulent account openings. 

The financial benefits have also 

been high, while the technology costs 

of opening a new account decreased. 


RADIUS BANK 

Radius Bank Security Team 

192 

Trust and shared values are at the core 

of Radius’ partnerships. “Speed to 

market is critical,” Mancini says, “but 

we also need to understand there is risk 

in the digital space. It’s about finding 

the right balance.” 

To ensure the highest standards of 

cybersecurity, Radius Bank embeds 

risk management into every stage of 

development. Banking is already a 

highly regulated industry, but Radius 

goes further. “The risk team is involved 

from day one in all these projects and 

partnerships,” Mancini states. “It’s 

about building a business enabling 

approach rather than having risk seen 

as the roadblock.” This allows the 

risk team to catch problems before 

they happen, aligning with business 

partners while ensuring security 

compliance. “Proactively identifying 

potential risks and vulnerabilities is 

a critical component to the project 

lifecycle.” Mancini continues, “there 

is significant pressure to build and 

release products as quickly as possible 

to remain competitive. Radius’ 

speed to market is industry leading, 

but we won’t roll out a product that 

poses a risk to our customers.” 


The key to implementing such a new 

system has been mutual trust between 

employees and executives. “It all goes 

back to culture,” notes Mancini. “You 

can have the best strategy in the world, 

but if your culture isn’t in line with that, 

you’re in trouble.” Team building starts 

from recruitment. Radius seeks out 

individuals whose values and mentality 

align with the bank’s, offering in turn 

a high-benefits, high-energy work 

environment. In order to attract talent, 

Radius ensures its offerings are 

193 

Joe Mancini 


Joe Mancini is the Senior Vice President, Chief Information 

Security Officer at Radius Bank, an industry leading digital first 

bank, headquartered in Boston, MA. In his role, Joe develops 

and implements a forward thinking, business enabling 

approach to information and cybersecurity that supports 

Radius’ fast-paced, tech driven approach. Prior to his role 

at Radius, Joe spent 10 years at East Boston Savings Bank. 

Joe is an experienced banking leader having held 

roles in fraud prevention, information and cyber 

security. Joe’s specialties include data security, 

business continuity and disaster recovery, 

emerging technologies such as digital currency 

and blockchain, along with privacy and 

compliance requirements in the digital world. 


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RADIUS BANK CASE STUDY 

Radius Bank is a forward-thinking community bank offering personal and business products and services. 

In an effort to become a digital-first, 21st century bank, Radius decided to create the best possible digital 

experience for its customers by using the best-in-class and most innovative fintech products on the market. 

Our partnership with Alloy is transformative and means that 

we can now scale our digital retail bank ad-infinitum. 

- Mike Butler | CEO 

OVERVIEW 

Radius partnered with Alloy (in partnership 

with another fintech, Mantl) to transform 

the bank’s online consumer application 

process. By integrating APIs and data-driven 

workflow management tools into Radius’s 

digital banking platform, a superior customer 

experience was delivered while generating 

enormous cost savings for the bank. 

? CHALLENGE 

With an increasing number of online 

banking applications, Radius’s onboarding 

process couldn’t meet customer demands. 

Applicants abandoned their applications 

or were denied in manual review resulting 

in significant back-office costs and huge 

delays in account opening and funding. 

Online banking is fraught with fraudulent 

account openings; a more sophisticated 

approach was required to combat fraud 

while letting in good customers. 

SOLUTION 

Alloy overhauled the entire KYC/AML 

process in Radius’s digital banking 

platform. By combining multiple data 

sources, fraud scores and authentication 

tests into a single rules engine, customer 

onboarding decisions were optimized, 

transparent and made in seconds. 

Most powerful of all, Alloy’s solution is 

customizable. This flexibility enabled 

Radius to create a risk decision scorecard 

that can be tested and modified in real time. 

RESULT 

The strategic partnership has equipped 

Radius with a best-in-class digital 

application platform and has transformed 

it into a recognized digital banking leader. 

Radius is now efficiently and automatically 

validating users’ identities and onboarding 

customers. Where users did have to go 

through manual review, the wait time 

was significantly lowered by having one 

place to review all application data and 

documents. Furthermore, the transparency 

of the Alloy platform gives Radius full 

digital paper trails when audits take place. 

Together with Alloy, Radius is empowered 

to capture more value from their online 

channels, delivering a far superior digital 

experience to their clients, all while 

lowering fraud. 

50 % 

95 % manual 

review 

30 % application 

to account 

conversion 

fraudulent 

account 

openings 

applications 

alloy.co

RADIUS BANK 

196 


COMPANY FACTS 

• Recently, Radius Bank 

was named Best Online 

Bank by Bankrate.com 

• With the help of partners 

like Alloy, Radius Bank 

has been able to half its 

fraudulent account 

openings 

substantial and competitive with the 

standards of the best tech companies 

and that employees have flexibility and 

perks, such as the ability to work from 

home. “We want to incorporate a fun, 

hard working experience, while at the 

same time acknowledging the need 

for a cross functional, open-minded 

approach from all of our employees.” 

Security compliance comes down 

all the way from the executive team 

and board of directors. To this regard, 

Mancini emphasises the importance 

of leadership setting the example that 

others should follow. 

Security is a high priority to modern 

consumers, but so is a frictionless 

experience. Ultimately, it comes down 

197 


RADIUS BANK 

198 

“Speed to 

market is 

critical, but 

we also 

need to 

understand 

there is risk 

in the digital 

space. It’s 

about finding 

the right 

balance” 

— 

Joe Mancini, 

Senior Vice President, Chief Information 

Security Officer, Radius Bank 

to providing customers with the 

best experience possible in an allencompassing 

single platform. Part 

of engaging with new technologies is 

acknowledging contemporary cybersecurity 

needs. “Today’s cybersecurity 

landscape presents a complex array of 

risks with a growing list of technologydriven 

tools to help combat those 

threats,” Mancini says. The biggest risk 

continues to be the human element. 

Employees are still the main target of 

malicious actors. “Phishing attempts 

aren’t going away anytime soon.” 


199 

Mancini adds, “It’s about educating 

employees and customers about these 

potential risks.” 

Partnering with fintechs puts Radius 

Bank at the cutting edge of the industry, 

meaning it becomes the company that 

sets the precedent. Mancini states, 

“rather than looking at it as a challenge, 

we welcome the opportunity.” This is 

particularly important moving into the 

future, as the banking industry evolves 

and becomes increasingly digital. Over 

the next five years, Radius Bank intends 

to continue being a leader within the 

emerging technology sphere. It turns 

towards international waters for inspiration, 

absorbing concepts from the 

advancing global technology. “We will 

continue to strategically incorporate 

high-tech driven initiatives,” Mancini 

concludes. “We are an industry disruptor 

and are excited for what the future 

holds for Radius and our customers.” 


WRITTEN BY 

SHANNON LEWIS 

PRODUCED BY 

SHIRIN SADR 

200 

Plymouth Rock 

Assurance: 

building up 

from within 

DECEMBER 2019


201

PLYMOUTH ROCK ASSURANCE 

We speak to Bill Martin, who 

leads the Home Insurance Group 

at Plymouth Rock Assurance, 

about how being willing to 

take risks for the sake of the 

customer experience can lead 

to sustainable growth 

202 

P 

lymouth Rock Assurance, founded in 

1982, is an insurance provider that had 

historically focused on providing auto 

insurance for the Northeastern USA. However, the 

last two years have seen its Home Insurance Group 

growing extraordinarily, all thanks to a decision by 

the company to embrace homeowner’s insurance 

as a growth strategy. “Our values are helping customers 

solve their problems.” Bill Martin, who leads 

the Home Insurance Group at the company, says, 

“We go a little further than most companies are 

willing to in order to do a better job.” 

Martin was brought on to turn home insurance 

at Plymouth Rock into a self-sustaining business 

in 2016. “Coming into the home insurance business, 

we already had established relationships 

through our auto insurance connections, so we 

had an embedded advantage. Our independent 

agents and our distribution partners were already 

committed and enthusiastic marketers of our 

products,” he explains, “but it also provided us with 

MARCH 2019

203 

1982 

Year founded 

$1.5bn 

Revenue in 

US dollars 

2,400 

Number of 

employees 


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Plymouth Rock: 

Celebrating 35 Years 


205 

“What happens in the 

background might be 

very complicated, but 

for you sitting on the 

other end of the chatbot, 

or our website, or the 

phone, it looks like three 

small steps” 

— 

Bill Martin, 

Head of the Home Insurance Group, 

Plymouth Rock Assurance 

an opportunity to do something more 

dramatic and sophisticated than what 

was being done.” 

The goal at Plymouth Rock was to 

streamline the customer experience. 

Traditionally, acquiring home insurance 

is a complex process with dozens of 

lengthy questionnaires full of “gotcha” 

questions that either hike up the price 

or justify denying the customer. “We 

did something similar to what a startup 

does,” Martin says. “We wiped the slate 

clean.” This allowed the company to 

establish a clear goal. “We wanted to 

start with something very simple: what 



206 

was the absolute ideal way for a customer 

to buy and maintain their home 

insurance policy?” Martin continues, 

“Everything we do is built around that 

specific experience.” Internally, the 

quest for innovation saw the Home 

Insurance Group completely remodel 

its product manager role, following a 

technology industry model. Historically, 

product managers in the insurance 

industry focus primarily on product 

pricing. Plymouth Rock gave product 

managers direct oversight for a variety 

of employees, from data scientists to 

technology IT professionals, user design 

experts to business process engineers. 

The resulting tool is called @Home. 

While the average competitor takes 

20-30 minutes to quote a home insurance 

policy and find coverage, @Home 

by Plymouth Rock Assurance can 

do it in under five minutes. The quote 

itself takes less than 30 seconds. “The 

only way we can do that is by doing 

our homework first,” says Martin. “We 

try to answer all the questions about 

the people and the houses that need 

insurance before they even ask us for 

a quote. We pre-rate all the homes 

in our territory and figure out what it 

MARCH 2019


207


T 

Plymouth Rock: 

The future of Home Insurance is landing 


208 

costs to insure them for a basic coverage 

package.” Everything delivered at 

Plymouth Rock works alongside the 

advent of technology. It is a learning 

process, with customer experience 

at the forefront. “What happens in the 

background might be very complicated, 

but for you sitting on the other end 

of the chatbot, or our website, or the 

phone, it looks like three small steps,” 

Martin says. With Plymouth Rock’s new 

tech platform, customers can submit 

photographic evidence for simple 

claims with the potential for instant 

payments. While this isn’t possible for 

every customer and every case, data 

and analytics help the company define 

when loss scenarios can be streamlined 

like this. Customers can also 

take pictures of their home and submit 

them through an app developed by 

Plymouth Rock when initially seeking 

a home insurance policy. This removes 

the need for inspections and allows 

policies to be in force more quickly. 

Plymouth Rock also focuses on the 

importance of partial loss claims such 

as ruined carpets or fire-damaged 


kitchens. “Most home insurance companies 

practically expect you to be 

a general contractor, able to know how 

much it’ll cost to rebuild your home 

two years from now,” Martin says. 

“Yet the majority of claims you make 

aren’t total loss claims.” 

The approach taken by Plymouth 

Rock has had such great success that 

it has started bleeding into other business 

lines of the company. Plymouth 

Rock’s home business has exceeded 

internal expectations in terms of 

both growth trajectory and business 

profitability. While the insurance 

industry grew around 3% last year, 

the Home Insurance Group grew 57%. 

Rapid growth is not the main challenge; 

competitors can grow rapidly 

by under-pricing the product. What 

sets Plymouth Rock apart from the 

many fast-growing insuretechs is how 

it keeps growth in line with profitability. 

Aside from a competitive market, the 

company has had to face detractors 

who operate traditionally and criticise 

new methodologies. “There’s a lot 

of mischaracterisation in what we’re 209 

Bill Martin 


Bill Martin leads the Home Insurance Group at Plymouth 

Rock and also oversees Plymouth Rock’s reinsurance 

program. He joined Plymouth Rock in September 2016. 

Bill has more than 30 years of experience in the property/ 

casualty insurance industry. He has held senior positions 

at several companies including Farmers Insurance, 

Progressive and Travelers. He has been involved in four 

home and auto start-ups, most of which continue to 

thrive today. Prior to joining Plymouth Rock, Bill was 

President of Bankers Insurance in St. Petersburg, 

Florida. Bill has a B.A. in political science from 

Stanford University. He is an avid sailor, skier, 

trombone player and sports fanatic. 



“While it takes a 

little bravery to 

do something 

that’s dramatically 

different, with 

us, we’re less 

brave than we 

are strategic” 

210 

— 

Bill Martin, 

Head of the Home Insurance Group, 

Plymouth Rock Assurance 

doing,” Martin says, “but you make 

yourself vulnerable to that whenever 

you disrupt a market.” 

This rapid growth has had its challenges. 

Being at the forefront of 

innovation means presenting unknown 

processes to partners that might have 

to change their workflow to accommodate 

new systems. Meanwhile, finding 

in-house talent to perform at the level 

needed is an obstacle faced across 

the industry. But it’s worth it. Plymouth 

Rock’s quick processes allow agents 

to spend more time talking to customers 

about types of coverage instead of 

price, ultimately selling more and more 

often. “While it takes a little bravery to 

do something that’s dramatically different, 

with us, we’re less brave than we 

are strategic.” Martin explains, “We use 

a lot of data, advanced modelling, and 

process technology behind the scenes. 

MARCH 2019

211 

It would be difficult for other companies 

to replicate and deliver the results 

we’re delivering.” 

According to Martin, the industry 

is on the cusp of major change. 

“Five years from now, there will be 

a shakeout of people who have 

good technology but don’t have a 

sustainable profit margin, leaving 

only companies that are ‘doing it’ 

rather than talking about it.” Martin 

concludes, “I think that will set us as 

a market leader. Internally, it will be a 

rollercoaster of making mistakes and 

learning from those. Externally, for the 

customer, it will be a lot more enjoyable 

to buy home insurance.” 


212 

WRITTEN BY 

DANIEL BRIGHTMORE 

PRODUCED BY 

TOM VENTURO 



213

GREAT SOUTHWESTERN CONSTRUCTION 

How Great Southwestern Construction 

is training its teams to offer expertise 

in EPC project delivery across a 

range of substation, transmission 

line and distribution system projects 

214 

S 

ince 1977, Great Southwestern (GSW) 

has successfully completed hundreds of 

substation, transmission line and distribution 

system projects throughout the United States. 

During the 1980s company founder and Vietnam 

War veteran Robert Martinez established the 

company’s reputation on a series of power delivery 

projects, securing government contracts with 

the Western Area Power Authority and Bonneville 

Electric while performing a substantial role in 

the Central Arizona Irrigation Project. Expanding 

into utilities projects, GSW became an operating 

subsidiary of MYR Group in 2000. MYR Group 

provides management expertise, resources and 

financial backing that has allowed GSW to achieve 

new levels of performance and the ability to take 

on larger and more complex projects. This led to 

GSW’s involvement in MYR Group’s largest single 

project to date – the 235-mile, 345kV Cross 

Texas Transmission Line, part of Texas’s US$7bn 

Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ). 


1977 

Year founded 

$1.6bn 

MYR Group revenue 

in US dollars 

600+ 

Number of 

employees 

215 



216 

“We want our employees 

to feel as though they’re 

part of a large team, 

in a family where their 

interests are looked out 

for, that they’re valued” 

— 

Brandon Lark, 

President, Great Southwestern Construction 

“The acquisition by MYR helped 

out a lot because it added the capital 

resources needed to grow, supporting 

the ability to buy equipment and bond 

projects with capital backing,” recalls 

President Brandon Lark. “Shared 

resources throughout the group gave 

us the opportunity to grow rapidly from 

being a project focused organisation 

that bounced around the country 

focusing on single projects all won 

through competitive hard bid, to an 

organisation that is now regionally 

focused with long-term MSA agreements 

in multiple different regions 

across the US.” Lark explains GSW is 

focusing on overall market saturation 

from a regional aspect and keeping 

crews local to an area. “In the past 

our crews would travel nationwide, so 

this helps with our recruitment and our 

employee development.” 

RECRUITMENT & TRAINING 

Since 2005, GSW has focused 

on increasing the pace of its EPC 

(Engineer-Procure-Construct) delivery 

method. “We’ve prioritised developing 

project management skills and capabilities 

throughout our organisation,” 


Great Southwestern 

Construction, Inc 


217 

confirms Lark. “We have an in-house 

development programme to develop 

solid project managers across the 

board. This has paid dividends in our 

ability to communicate in a timely and 

effective way with our clients. We 

really like to have a very transparent 

approach and, in order to do that, you 

have to have a solid means and methods 

of communication through project 

management practices.” 

Training is a key part of the process 

at GSW where new hires will go 

through a week-long orientation to give 

them a grounding in the values and the 

foundation of GSW and the organisation’s 

expectations. Employees receive 

industry training through MYR Group 

going through the OSHA (ET&D) best 

practice course to ensure safety is 

paramount across all of GSW’s sites. 

The continuous improvement of its 

employees is important for GSW. 

“Our employees have the opportunity 

to take three paid Department of 

Labor Bureau-accredited apprenticeship 

programmes,” adds Lark. 

GSW’s Transmission Lineman and 

Distribution Lineman Apprenticeship 

Programmes are provided through 


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“When we’re working towards 

turnkey delivery methods 

with our clients we want to 

have sub-contractors, vendors 

and staff that are working 

with us repeatedly rather than 

going out for the lowest bid 

on every project” 

— 

Brandon Lark, 


T&D Power Skills, and are geared to 

instruct electric utility line workers 

with up-to-date, safety-related work 

practices and technical skills related 

to the installation, maintenance and 

removal of transmission and distribution 

systems. The company’s 

Substation Technician Certification 

Program is provided through the 

Northwest Lineman’s College 

(NLC) Power Delivery Program, is most 

commonly used as the curriculum 

component of apprenticeship leading 

to journeyman certification, and is ideal 

for adoption or endorsement by utility 

company associations and state-wide 

organisations. A third course focuses 

on distribution alignment. 

“Despite the fact we’ve grown tremendously 

since the 1980s, we’ve 

tried to maintain a family feeling, we 

do that through our people first focus,” 

says Lark. “We want our employees to 

feel as though they’re part of a large 

team, in a family where their interests 

are looked out for, that they’re valued. 

We do that by ensuring everybody has 

a voice and understands it’s not only 

a right, but an expectation, that if they 

have questions they get the support 

they need. We’re committed to helping 

them improve their skill set to move 

forward and grow as employees from 

one day to the next.” Lark believes this 

approach has helped GSW develop its 

reputation as a solid organisation to 

work for. “The transmission distribution 

industry is a relatively small one, 

word is spreading and people are 

seeking us out.” 

TURNKEY SOLUTIONS 

GSW’s clients are increasingly looking 

at outsourcing for the kind of specialised 

expertise unavailable elsewhere 

or over-committed in-house. “We must 

be prepared to deliver turnkey solutions 

to answer their call,” pledges Lark. 

219 



Great Southwestern Construction: 

Apprenticeship Program 


220 

Delivering these turnkey solutions often 

comes in the form of EPC agreements, 

prevalent on more complex projects. 

EPC agreements allow owners to share 

more risk and lower overall costs by 

transferring a project’s engineering 

design, procurement of equipment and 

materials, and construction activities to 

a single contractor. 

To achieve this, Lark explains that 

GSW takes an approach of partnerships 

across the board. “When we’re 

working towards turnkey delivery 

methods with our clients we want to 

have subcontractors, vendors and staff 

that are working with us repeatedly 

rather than going out for the lowest bid 

on every project. The best way to show 

steady improvement over time with a client 

is by having a complete team that’s 

all in and understands their key drivers.” 

GSW’s in-house construction capabilities 

secure the turnkey approach, 

offering the opportunity for early stage 

constructability analysis and the chance 

to optimise value and enhance efficiency 

to deliver the best overall design. By 

directly managing all stakeholders GSW 

enhances communication to minimise 

impact on project schedules. 



Brandon Lark 

From Superintendent then Project Manager to Vice President 

and now President, Brandon Lark’s breadth of experience at 

Great Southwestern has given him a raft of hands on expertise 

engaging with all facets of the organisation from the ground 

up. “It’s given me an invaluable perspective on being able to 

understand the challenges and the lifestyle that our folks lead 

out in the field,” confirms Lark. “I understand the problems 

they face day in and day out, and I’m always keen to get their 

input on how we can improve. Our senior leadership team are 

here to help ensure they have what they need to succeed 

every day they go to work.” 

221 

“My hope is that the young folks out there 

considering their careers and looking into 

the trades can see from my career path 

that you don’t necessarily have to jump 

into a four-year degree and go down that 

path right off the board. Actually, you 

really can move into a trade and take that 

route and it’s by no means closing a door to 

the future opportunities that you thought 

maybe your college degree would offer 

you; there are other ways of doing 

that and still achieving the 

highest level of success 

within an organisation.” 



SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY 

As an industry-leading provider of 

electrical construction services, GSW 

delivers optimal value while ensuring 

sustainability that depends on its 

ability to prioritise economic, social, 

cultural, ethical and environmental 

considerations generated throughout 

day-to-day operations. 

“When we look at how Great 

Southwestern promotes sustainability 

and energy efficiency, it’s through supporting 

renewable energy projects,” 

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confirms Lark. “We seek out and 

partner with renewable energy developers 

to help bring solar and wind 

energy projects to market. We come 

into play to get their green energy 

projects connected to the grid. We’ll 

work on the high voltage side, and 

the interconnection with the host utility.” 

Driven by client expectations and 

specifications, GSW has constructed 

substations, transmission lines and 

collector systems for solar and wind 

farms throughout the US. The Magic 

Valley wind farm in Texas (completed in 

2013) was an EPC project consisting of 

the construction of 258,000 circuit feet 

of a 34.5kV underground collection 

system and a new 138kV substation 

including two 138kV breakers, eight 

34.5KV breakers, all related steel, bus, 

conduits, grounding, foundations, cable 

trench, control building and site work. 

“We’re seeing a huge drive on the 

energy delivery front,” says Lark, 

highlighting the chance for GSW to 

capitalise on its expertise. “There’s a 

big push to move away from coal and 

towards more renewable, sustainable 

energy. With that, there’s a lot of different 

complexities that come into it. One 

of the areas we really want to focus 

on is that these renewable projects 

223 



Great Southwestern Strengths 

224 

Cohesive Crews that Remain 

Together from Project to 

Project 

A crew works best together only 

when given the opportunity and 

time to do so. This continuity 

results in better performance, 

greater efficiency and increased 

safety – all factors that contribute 

to the success of your project. 

A Project-Based Focus on 

Every Job 

Our leadership and project 

management teams are skilled 

in all aspects of project controls 

and reporting systems required 

to efficiently and successfully 

execute projects on-time and 

on-budget. We have extensive 

experience in design-build and 

Engineer-Procure-Construct 

(EPC) methods of project delivery, 

and can also provide an array 

of pre-construction services. 

Our Attract, Train, Retain & 

Grow Philosophy 

We attract and retain good people 

because we offer attractive 

recruitment packages and provide 

a firm foundation for professional 

growth within the organisation. 

Industry-Leading 

Apprenticeship, Training, 

Orientation and Safety 

Programs 

Our apprenticeship programs are 

accredited by the Department of 

Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship. 

Great Southwestern dedicates 

significant time and effort 

to ensure our training, 

orientation and safety programs 

provide employees with the 

latest, most comprehensive and 

accurate information possible. 

Extensive Resources 

As part of MYR Group, Great 

Southwestern possesses the 

technical, financial and 

managerial resources to install 

multiple projects of virtually 

any size and type. 


generally drive much tighter timeframes 

and therefore a higher degree 

of need for solid project management. 

We’ve got to be much more flexible, 

be able to think out of the box and 

accelerate projects to a pace that are 

outside of normal utility delivery. We 

really see an opportunity to be the 

bridge between the developer and the 

interconnecting utilities to help make 

that happen.” 

GROWTH MINDSET 

“We’ve experienced steady and sustainable 

growth,” says Lark proudly. 

“Through that growth, we’ve been able 

to offer opportunities for our employees 

to grow too and improve their 

positions within the organisation. We’re 

in a growth mindset, which allows our 

teams to set high goals and ultimately 

go and achieve them.” Lark believes 

that this mindset, coupled with GSW’s 

commitment to safety and the value 

that individual employees can bring, has 

contributed to the company taking an 

industry-leading role to become best 

in class. “We’ve got a solid team of very 

dedicated leaders across the organisation 

and to me that’s a huge success.” 

225 



“We seek out and partner 

with renewable energy 

developers to help bring 

solar and wind energy 

projects to market. 

We come into play to get 

their green energy projects 

connected to the grid” 

— 

Brandon Lark, 


226 

2020 VISION 

“Projects like the Cross Texas 

Transmission Line are huge undertakings 

and show the industry what we’re 

capable of,” says Lark. “When you look 

at where we’re at today, we’re excited 

about utilising those capabilities to 

develop long-term relationships with 

the likes of Oncor Electrics in Texas. 

“We’re one of their primary contractors 

and we have several hundred 

employees on their system supporting 

them day in and day out. It’s alliances 

like these that we’re looking forward to 

forging across the US.” 

Looking to the future, Lark believes 

the EPC model is going to be crucial in 

bridging the gap to ensure deliverable 

timeframes are met across a range of 


projects, especially renewable energy. 

“This not only helps from a developer 

perspective, so they’re successful in 

making sure that the timelines are met; 

but also when dealing with the interconnecting 

utility and ensuring all the 

studies and standards of construction 

are also met.” 

“We’re reaching a point where a lot of 

utilities don’t have the same in-house 

capabilities that they used to have, due 

to recruitment issues and staff retiring. 

They’re looking at the EPC model as 

a method of augmenting their project 

delivery for their own capital projects. 

That’s the other area where we’re looking 

to fill the needs across the board, 

and a lot of that is ensuring that we’re 

bringing on that expertise in-house to 

meet client expectations. We’re aiming 

to balance the needs of both sides of 

the fence and I think we are in a very 

good position to be able to do that 

moving forward.” 

227 


228 

DC BLOX: 

SERVING LOCALLY, 

CONNECTING 

GLOBALLY 

WRITTEN BY 

WILLIAM SMITH 

PRODUCED BY 

TOM VENTURO 



229

DC BLOX 

JEFF UPHUES, CEO OF DC BLOX, 

DISCUSSES THE COMPANY’S 

GROWTH IN UNDERSERVED 

MARKETS AND HOW IT EMBEDS 

ITS TIER 3 DATA CENTRES INTO 

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 

230 

D 

C BLOX was established in 2014 to 

provide data centres to markets with 

a distinct, but unfulfilled, need for them. 

“I’ve been the CEO of DC BLOX for about three 

years now,” says Jeff Uphues. “I originally joined as 

a supervisory board member and then was asked 

by the board of directors to come into the role and 

lead the company in its expansion, placing these 

data centres in underserved yet growing markets 

throughout the Southeastern United States.” 

Fulfilling this vision has required a focus on a few 

core fundamentals. “There’s three things that we 

do and stay focused on,” he says. “One is providing 

in-market colocation, meaning the housing in a 

safe, secure environment of servers as well as other 

technology infrastructure. We provide robust connectivity 

across our platforms with connections to 

other cloud service providers, connections to the 

internet, connections to other major markets. Then 

we provide cloud services ourselves. Not all data 

is created equal, and it’s critical to be able to store 

it close to where it’s actually being consumed.” 


231 

2014 

Year founded 

HQ 

Atlanta, Georgia 


35 

Number of 

employees 


DC BLOX 

232 

“WE HAVE ONE 

VISION WHICH 

IS TO SERVE 

LOCALLY AND 

CONNECT 

GLOBALLY” 

— 

Jeff Uphues, 

CEO, DC BLOX 

There are currently four such locations 

of consumption catered to 

by DC BLOX, with data centres in 

Chattanooga, Tennessee; Huntsville 

and Birmingham, Alabama; and Atlanta, 

Georgia. All are growing markets, as 

Uphues explains. “We see a significant 

migration of population and businesses 

in the US from northern cities 

down into the Southeast. What’s driving 

them there is the cost of living or 

quality of life and just good weather.” 

What these diverse cities share, apart 


DC Blox: 

Connected datacenters 

for digital business 


233 

from a relative geographic proximity, 

is a burgeoning technology scene. 

“Many of these markets are not known 

as technology hubs, but they see the 

benefits of the growth and they need 

the core infrastructure such as the 

data centres and network services 

which we provide. Generally, our target 

markets are below the radar of some of 

the major national markets where you 

find a lot of competitors, so they really 

embrace us.” 

DC BLOX’s data centres are all built 

to Tier 3 standard, signifying a high 

level of reliability. That’s achieved firstly 


DC BLOX 

234 

with quality infrastructure. “Our data 

centres have to be highly resilient in 

terms of network architecture and the 

type of equipment that we use. We use 

premium products, driven by premium 

service level agreements. We build 

our own private network across the 

Southeastern US and then we connect 

that back into exchanges and public 

cloud providers. We really look at that 

connectivity and the uptime of our 

facilities as the core value that we bring 

to our markets.” Achieving DC BLOX’s 

high standards also requires a high 

standard of construction. ”Beyond the 

connectivity, it’s a question of how we 

build these facilities to be Tier 3-rated. 

It comes down to being concurrently 

maintainable, meaning that if any one 

system in the building fails, there is a 

backup system that can take over. It’s 

part of the design, it’s in the materials 

and the type of vendors that we use. 

It’s in the architecture for how we connect 

them together.” 

The pace of DC BLOX’s growth has 

been steady, having launched a data 

centre each year since 2017. That’s 

not engendered any complacency, 

however, with the organisation looking 


to accelerate its growth. “We’ve spent 

a lot of time looking at where we can 

expand and how we can grow even 

faster. There are 16 markets we’ve 

identified, and we’ve lined up roughly 

the next five to six locations. We’re 

picking up our pace to put in at least 

two to three data centres per year.” 

The choice of a new location is only 

arrived at after significant investigation, 

however, as Uphues explains. “To help 

us determine the size and scope of the 

facility we’re looking to build, we look 

235 

Jeff Uphues 


Jeff leads DC BLOX as a proven C-Level executive with deep 

expertise in data centre infrastructure, hybrid cloud 

services and the operation of communication 

networks. He is responsible for setting and leading 

the company’s strategy in driving the growth and 

profitability of best-in-class infrastructure for digital 

services. Prior to DC BLOX, Jeff held numerous C-suite 

leadership positions in sales, marketing and operations 

for Liquid Web, Cbeyond, Bandwidth, ACSI Network 

Technologies and MCI. Jeff graduated from the Harvard 

Business School, Rice University’s Jones School of 

Business Executive Education program and 

completed his undergraduate studies at the 

University of Texas at Arlington. 


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“IT’S CRITICAL TO 

BE ABLE TO STORE 

[DATA] CLOSE 

TO WHERE IT’S 

ACTUALLY BEING 

CONSUMED” 

— 

Jeff Uphues, 

CEO, DC BLOX 

at the size of the market, the amount 

of fiber, the number of businesses 

headquartered there. Then we look 

at markets that are underserved but 

growing. What does the competitive 

landscape look like? How well would 

we be received with our vision of serving 

locally and connecting globally? 

And then, finally, we work with state 

and local governments and corporate 

leaders to confirm the need for and 

the advantages of what we do. Each 

market takes us about a year and 

a half to really get to understand it.” 

237 

DC Blox holds Birmingham 

grand opening 



DC BLOX 

238 

“WE LOOK AT 

MARKETS 

THAT ARE 

UNDERSERVED 

BUT GROWING” 

— 

Jeff Uphues, 

CEO, DC BLOX 



239

DC BLOX 

240 

It’s not just its technological capabilities 

that have led to DC BLOX’s growth. 

The company also prides itself on its 

integration with the local community. 

“The one thing that I know sets us 

apart, because I hear it all the time, is 

our community focus,” Uphues emphasises. 

“When we come into a market, 

we have one vision which is to serve 

locally and connect globally. That 

means we’re serving local businesses, 

we’re serving with our time through 

volunteering, we’re serving nonprofits, 

we’re serving the community and 

understanding their challenges and 

their needs. We’re a part of the fabric 

of the community when we come in as 

well as contributing to the technology 

environment.” 

For the industry as a whole, Uphues 

anticipates the importance of edge 

computing, where facilities are built 

close to where they’re needed, to only 

increase. “For us, the edge is where 

the application meets the network. 

Trends like 5G, IoT and gaming mean 


241 

we need to push compute closer to 

consumers. That’s going to require 

more local and regional data centres to 

handle all the data and best connect it 

to the network.” As for DC BLOX itself, 

the focus has been on edge markets 

and the goal is to increase the pace. 

“We know that gets harder and harder 

as you get bigger,” Uphues says, “but 

we’re a company that is doubling revenue 

every single year and doubling 

the size of our footprint of where we go. 

It’s a great time to be in the data centre 

business. It’s a great time to be doing 

this across underserved markets. We 

can become a strong partner for the 

community, both in our ability to serve 

locally and connect globally as DC 

BLOX continues to expand across the 

Southeast United States.”

Business Chief USA March 2020

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