Karen Higgins-Carter, a former CIO at Gilbane and Webster Bank, among others, also sits on two boards and says a common mistake she sees is CIOs applying AI reactively, and as a means to independently shape company strategy. “But success in the age of AI will come from leading adaptive change across the organization,” she says. “The most effective CIOs are those who partner broadly and visibly, showing their boards that their strengths lie not just in technical expertise, but in orchestrating enterprise-wide transformations.”
Running a marathon
Steve Randich, CIO of FINRA, has been presenting to boards since he first became a CIO in 1996. A lot has changed since then, of course. “In particular, board members have become much more engaged, critical, and demanding,” Randich says. “And, from my perspective, more challenging.”
FINRA has long been lauded as a pioneer in public-cloud adoption, but the organization’s board needed a lot of convincing.
