Intelligent CIO North America Issue 59 | Page 79

Susan Odle, CEO, StorMagic
On the lighter side of things, we ask the industry experts what makes them tick....

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Susan Odle, CEO, StorMagic

wWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement?

My most memorable professional achievement was my work to transform Lixar IT.
Less than a year into COVID-19, I was approached by Lixar IT to join as COO. Lixar IT was acquired by BDO under an earnout agreement before COVID-19 hit and the team had to meet growth and profitability targets over three years for shareholders and key employees to realize financial benefit from the acquisition.
Lixar’ s board needed help with transformation to meet the performance metrics, which were not significantly modified in the face of a global pandemic, and I accepted the challenge.
As a team, we transformed quickly and succeeded in meeting the performance metrics. That success had a material impact on many lives, which made it my most memorable professional achievement to date.
What first made you think of a career in technology?
I’ ve been a geek my whole life. My dad lined up at Radio Shack to purchase the first-ever home
computer, the Commodore VIC-20. That early exposure to tech gave me a point of reference when I read years later in the Toronto Star about an industry that was booming like no other. It was the tech industry, and at that moment, I decided I must be a part of it.
My first job was in straight commission sales, selling OCR solutions. I’ ve worked my way up and across the technology business over the last 25 + years.
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
StorMagic is operationally flat. We are one team aligned to succeed together. Every door is open to every employee and appropriate transparency is expected. Our organizational structure is an indication of increased accountability to deliver target outcomes, but no one is more important than the team.
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point?
Scaling down. The technological footprint and operational overhead of the essential tech required to run and grow your business needs to be increasingly
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