Chief Information and Technology Officer at Propio Language Services, Llc
Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself
For nearly two years, I have been the Chief Information and Technology Office for Propio Language Services, LLC (Overland Park, KS). Our mission is to leverage innovative technology to eliminate communication barriers on a global scale. As such we provide interpretive and translation services, specializing in the medical, legal and education verticals. Our flagship product, PropioONE connects our clients to live interpreters across 350+ languages via Audio and Video channels. Our additional product suite includes document and website translation (and localization) services. Our newest offering, WorkForceOS (Healthcare edition) enables clients efficiency in managing and optimizing their onsite interpretive staff.
What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?
My journey began the day my dad brought home an Apple IIe that he had won from a work raffle. I was instantly drawn to this amazing machine and its dual 5 1/4 floppy drives! From that point on, I knew I wanted to be working with computers. I taught myself Basic, building out sports statistical analysis programs and even hacking a game or two. I picked up Pascal in high school and attended Bowling Green State University for Computer Science and Information Systems. While the class load was heavy, it was important for me to know how to build software while understand the systems programs run on. That choice has given me valuable experience and knowledge throughout my career in developing software and designing distributed software at scale.
Like many, my career started as a Software Engineer. First in consulting (learning new technology on the fly) and then through two start-ups. I landed at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange where I began to gravitate toward Data Engineering and Data Warehousing. It was at CME where I was literally forced into leadership after my supervisor resigned mid-day. I hated and was terrible at being a leader. However, I had a fantastic mentor that taught me a great deal of lessons I continue to practice to this day. It was during this period that I became comfortable in being a leader and the vision of becoming a CIO (like my dad) started to become clear.
It wasn't really until 2011 during my first stint at Amazon that I became confident as a leader, not a manager. I had to build local and International teams while educating myself on finances, frugality and business acumen. As a Software Development Manager at Amazon, I was a mini-CEO/CTO. I was accountable for everything on my GL. This forced me to focus on every aspect of our organization and how best to align my technology resources to the goals we were accountable for. Strategizing, accounting and working backwards to define precisely what we could/could not do became the norm.
In between Amazon roles, I was briefly the CTO for a population health management software company. It wasn't a fit for me, and candidly, I thought I had checked the box for being a CTO in my career. It was not until I decided to take a meeting with Marco Assis, Propio's CEO in 2021 that I knew I wanted to and would be valuable in this role once again. So here I am!
Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?
Early in my career it was about promotions and money. I did not grow up with much and I never wanted to be in that situation as an adult with a family to support. The first half of my career was about financial growth and stability. I thought about the role while with CME around 2005, but it was a dream at that point. Truly, it was with Amazon from 2010 to 2013 that I knew I wanted to get to this role and began to work toward this position. I was humbled many times over the last 10 years. Whether it was in a captive leadership role or by clients through my own business. I learned a lot about what NOT to do and made numerous mistakes. However, it was because of that journey, heeding to the advice of multiple mentors and refocusing my energy on bringing value (and being valuable) that I was able to rebound as a CITO with Propio.
Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey?
At least a dozen, including people that do not even know they mentored me and current colleagues. My very first mentor was/is my dad. He has always been my closest advisor relative to my career. My wife mentors me on active listening and eliminating emotion from responses. During my second start-up, I had 11 bosses in the year I was with them. However, there were two key leaders in that small time that left an indelible mark on my career. They were always available for me, and at that point in my career I didn't deserve it. That never stopped them from giving me advice and teaching me difficult lessons, like commitments and what you communicate has impact to oneself, the business and your colleagues. To this day, I can only believe that they saw the 2023 version of me, but 20 years ago.
One of the best pieces of advice came from my second mentor at CME. He taught me to hire smart people and forget about compensation or titles. As a leader, it is those smart people you hire that get you the growth you want. I've led on that advice for almost 20 years. I want people smarter than me.
At Amazon, my VP mentored me. We met daily at 5:30 am. I know it bothered him, because he was in early to work (as was I) and I was disrupted what he was trying to accomplish in those quiet early hours. He never pushed me away. When he told me the organization I had built outgrew my capabilities as a leader, it hurt. However, because of the time we spent together, I knew he was right.
To this day, I have five former leaders/mentors that will always answer my call. And I have needed it! Because of this I work hard to give back and help develop others.
How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?
Technology is business now. Gone are the days of a CIO or CTO 'staying in their lane' and delivering whatever the business says, or what their personal roadmap states. Tech leaders must become businessmen. The more thoroughly a technologist understands the business they are in, the better partnership they establish with the rest of the C-Suite.
Organizations are becoming flatter and flatter, and especially in start-ups, technology leaders wear multiple hats out of necessity. Product, Architecture, Engineering, Operations, etc., all of which must work together in harmony with the goals (short and long-term) of the business. We used to fight for a seat at the table and now we have to be at the table. Nearly every company is a technology company, building client-facing and internal proprietary software. As a technology leader, you need to balance the problem you are trying to solve against how to solve it, but in quick, efficient and performant fashion. You cannot accomplish that without being business savvy.
Problem-solving has evolved because of the numerous technologies we have available to resolve the issue. Because of this, leaders must forever be curious, reading and learning daily. You have to be knowledgeable and marketable to attract the necessary talent to solve the numerous problems with the never-ending technical solutions. AWS alone has ~ 300 services!
CTOs need to invest in learning about well-architected frameworks which include security. Security must be inserted into the Software and Infrastructure development lifecycles. This is paramount given the amount of data companies store and will begin using for multiple Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence initiatives.
This is a role that one cannot remain educationally stagnant.
What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?
In a way, I touched on this topic in response to the last question. CTOs must know their business and products as well as the costs associated to operating and delivering. I am a big proponent of clarifying the ROI before projecting resources required to execute. It is an objective measure that matters to the business and you as a technology leader. All too often IT is a cost-center, therefore, as a CTO understanding the investment you are about to make with the projected return is empowering.
Building trust is an intangible asset that can be challenging in tech. It is something I am always working on as it is easy to be protective or defensive of the work your team is (or is not) doing. As I mentioned previously, all companies are becoming technology companies, therefore, the CTO (or CIO) is the last line of defense when it comes to success or failure. You need thick skin and to know the details of your organization to speak objectively and honestly to your C-Suite. In a sense it is psychological.
How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?
Technology moves daily, sometimes hourly (ChatGPT). I allocate an hour a day to read technology news and another 3 to 5 hours per week reading and tinkering with newer technologies, especially where it matters to grow in my current role. One of Amazon's leadership principles (and one we share at Propio) is Learn and Be Curious. That will forever be true as a technologist, otherwise one will become complacent, and quickly.
What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?
Advanced video technologies, machine learning and in three-to-five years Artificial Intelligence will disrupt Language Services. As of now, ML and AI are not specific enough to replace human interpreters or all document translation. This is due to the sensitivity of information contained in the real-time conversations or documents relative to legal or medical terminology. However, it is coming.
Video will replace audio as the preferred medium for interpretation in the next few years. To-date, however, all of the video platforms have challenges ensuring a high quality stream. The platforms are too dependent upon the fragility of the peer-to-peer network transmission for optimal resolution. A Spotify-like solution to video will be game-changing.
"Help others learn by actively listening and enabling them to make choices by themselves."
If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?
Regardless of where your competency lies, educating yourself on technology is going to be a requirement in the near future. Whether you're the CFO, CPO, CEO or CRO if you are not reading about technology, or at a minimum, educating yourself deeply into the product architecture that your business is known for, becoming an executive or staying an executive will be an obstacle.
Do not be the know-it-all leader. You cannot be a strong team if you always answers a question with what you would do. Force your directs and peers to make recommendations with data to support their case and them walk them through their thought process by asking detailed questions. Help others learn by actively listening and enabling them to make choices by themselves.
Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?
That is hard to say with certainty. I am not one to ever really retire! Continuously educating and pushing myself to be a better version of myself today than I was yesterday is how I drive myself. Having said that, I will not ever achieve what I think is better, because the bar is always raising.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Differing of opinions, beliefs, culture and knowledge is a positive. It is through disagreement that changes are made, people learn and organizations get stronger. It is why Propio is so strong. Our executive team is not about social cohesion. We are about challenging each other to be better, but working together to make that happen. Embrace differences.
A big thank you to Brian Singer from Propio Language Services, Llc for sharing his journey to date.
If you would like to gain more perspective from Tech Leaders and CIOs you can read some of our other interviews here.
