
SAM ESFAHANI
Chief Information Officer
SAM ESFANANI – CIO Interview Series
Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself
What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?
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?
Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey?
Throughout my life and career, I had many teachers and coaches formally and informally, two people had the most impact in my life, one was my father with great wisdom, care and knowledge and the other one was Mr. Fritz Nuffer , a retired US Lieutenant Colonel and Senior Vice President Fist Data.
Fritz showed me how the leader acts, how he treats his people, hard work, discipline, staying calm under pressure, how to gain loyalty and respect from his team and how to develop people . He was a great role model for me and set me on the path of leadership.
How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?
With fast changing environment particularly after Covid and remote workforce, and change in customer expectations, technology leaders must be resilient, adaptive and ability to create productive and empowering environment for their staff. Understanding risks and fast trends should be at the top of their list. How to pivot quickly and execute on values, building trust level and credibility with their business staff as well as partners is Paramount in these time.
Technology leaders should sharpen their skill sets on the industry that they are serving as well how they can utilize AI, Cloud, Data Analytics and Automation to enable business to achieve their goals faster
What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?
How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?
What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?
If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?
Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Other details that you’d like to add:
A big thank you to Sam Esfahani from Genesis Financial Solutions 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.

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