Develop Great Managers

In this podcast, I interview Sarah Tarter, Global Campaigns Specialist at Rubrik. Rubrik is Sarah’s first company since graduating from college. She previously held the roles of Marketing Coordinator and Marketing Specialist, Demand Generation & Content.

Sarah graduated from Santa Clara University with degrees in English Language (with a concentration in Rhetoric & Writing Studies) and Political Science.

Sarah had a range of jobs and internships while at college in marketing, sales, advocacy, and writing. She spent time volunteering. And as a part of a sorority.

I wanted to have Sarah on the show as part of my effort to bring new and different perspectives, and to focus on specific topics that are interesting to you, my listeners. In this podcast, we talk about Marketing.

In this podcast, I interview Sarah Tarter, Global Campaigns Specialist at Rubrik. Rubrik is Sarah’s first company since graduating from college. She previously held the roles of Marketing Coordinator and Marketing Specialist, Demand Generation & Content.

Sarah graduated from Santa Clara University with degrees in English Language (with a concentration in Rhetoric & Writing Studies) and Political Science.

Sarah had a range of jobs and internships while at college in marketing, sales, advocacy, and writing. She spent time volunteering. And as a part of a sorority.

I wanted to have Sarah on the show as part of my effort to bring new and different perspectives, and to focus on specific topics that are interesting to you, my listeners. I have known Sarah for a number of years, watching her go through school and start her first job. This is what we talk about in this first podcast.

This week Anthony Ferrario is back on the podcast, this time to discuss product managers and software developers. We talk about the roles, what he liked and disliked about each, how they need to work together, and other related topics.

As a refresher, Anthony is a software developer at Pure Storage, where he has been for 3 ½ years. He recently moved into software development. Prior to that, he was a senior product manager.

Before joining Pure, Anthony was with Brightedge. He started there after graduating from college in the sales organization. He quickly moved into customer support. He left for a short time to work at Zenefits and Levitt Insurance. And then returned to Brightedge as an R&D Consultant and moved into Product Management.

Anthony graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor’s degrees in History and Economics. While there, he was on a competitive Indian dance team and walked onto the Cal Bears football team.

I hope you enjoy!

This week I am really happy to have Anthony Ferrario on the podcast to discuss his background.

Yes, Anthony is my son. He is the oldest of two. My other son is Nick, who is a personal trainer in Virginia.

Anthony is a software developer at Pure Storage, where he has been for 3 ½ years. He recently moved into software development. Prior to that, he was a senior product manager.

Before joining Pure, Anthony was with Brightedge. He started there after graduating from college in the sales organization. He quickly moved into customer support. He left for a short time to work at Zenefits and Levitt Insurance. And then returned to Brightedge as an R&D Consultant and moved into Product Management.

Anthony graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor’s degrees in History and Economics. While there, he was on a competitive Indian dance team and walked onto the Cal Bears football team.

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I talk to Anup Gosavi, CEO of startup Spext, about his career journey.

Spext allows you to edit audio the same way you edit text, saving time, and producing a great result. Spext also provides a very unique consumption experience, providing the transcription of the audio and allowing you to select snippets that you can share with others in email or on social media.

As a quick summary - Anup grew up in India. He went to college there for engineering. He started his career there working in Product Management and Marketing. He then moved to the US where he continued his education focusing on digital marketing, design, and business. This prepared him to go out on his own focusing on user experience and then starting his own company.

I got to know Anup through an angel investment opportunity. I was excited by the Spext product for my podcasts. I talked to him about the plans that they have moving forward and decided to become an investor.

I continue to spend some time with Anup and have grown to appreciate his vision, leadership approach, and desire to solve customer problems.

I hope you enjoy hearing from Anup about the path he has taken to get to where he is today.

In this podcast, I interview Anup Gosavi, CEO of startup Spext. Spext allows you to edit audio the same way you edit text, saving time, and producing a great result. Spext also provides a very unique consumption experience, providing the transcription of the audio and allowing you to select snippets that you can share with others in email or on social media.

As a quick summary - Anup grew up in India. He went to college there for engineering. He started his career there working in Product Management and Marketing. He then moved to the US where he continued his education focusing on digital marketing, design, and business. This prepared him to go out on his own focusing on user experience and then starting his own company.

I got to know Anup through an angel investment opportunity. I was excited by the Spext product for my podcasts. I talked to him about the plans that they have moving forward and decided to become an investor.

I continue to spend some time with Anup and have grown to appreciate his vision, leadership approach, and desire to solve customer problems.

I think you will enjoy my interview with Anup.

In this podcast, I talk to Josh Lory, Senior Director of Product and Technical Marketing at VMware, about his career journey.

In his current role, Josh focuses on driving awareness and adoption of AI-powered technologies to dramatically help customers to be successful, leading with VMware Skyline.

Josh has been at VMware for more than 9 years. He held leadership roles in Software-Defined Data Center Architecture, Global Technical Alliances, and Americas Technical Partnerships.

Prior to VMware, Josh was at Accenture in IT Infrastructure. Before that, he was at Stony Brook University, Jericho Computing, and Connoisseur International Distributors.

And prior to all of that, Josh was in the United States Air Force as part of Security Forces - Nuclear ICBM - doing a job that he likely can’t talk about:)

Josh got his AAS in Criminal Justice at Community College of the Airforce, his Bachelors of Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and completed the Engineering Leadership Professional Program at UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

I got to know Josh when I convinced him to move from New York and from the Partner organization at VMware, into my team developing VMware Validated Designs. Josh also worked with me in the Global Servies organization where we reinvented support and built VMware Skyline.

Josh is a father of twin boys, an amazing connector, a great storyteller, with high-energy, excellent technical knowledge, and a drive to succeed.

I hope you enjoy hearing from Josh about the path he has taken to get to where he is today.

In this podcast, I interview Josh Lory, Senior Director of Product and Technical Marketing at VMware, where he focuses on driving awareness and adoption of AI-powered technologies to dramatically help customers to be successful, leading with VMware Skyline.

Josh has been at VMware for more than 9 years. He held leadership roles in Software-Defined Data Center Architecture, Global Technical Alliances, and Americas Technical Partnerships.

Prior to VMware, Josh was at Accenture in IT Infrastructure. Before that, he was at Stony Brook University, Jericho Computing, and Connoisseur International Distributors.

And prior to all of that, Josh was in the United States Air Force as part of Security Forces - Nuclear ICBM - doing a job that he likely can’t talk about:)

Josh got his AAS in Criminal Justice at Community College of the Airforce, his Bachelors of Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and completed the Engineering Leadership Professional Program at UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

I got to know Josh when I convinced him to move from New York and from the Partner organization at VMware, into my team developing VMware Validated Designs. Josh also worked with me in the Global Servies organization where we reinvented support and built VMware Skyline.

Josh is a father of twin boys, an amazing connector, a great storyteller, with high energy guy, excellent technical knowledge, and a drive to succeed.

I think you will enjoy my interview with Josh.

This week I talk to Pashmeen Mistry about Product Managers. We discuss the role, how they operate, what skills are required, how to work most effectively with them, and more.

Pashmeen is an expert in the field of Program Management. I am fortunate to have him on the podcast. Here is a bit about his background.

Pashmeen has just recently joined Amazon as a product manager. He will be working in the AWS team where he will have the opportunity to engage with customers in driving the adoption of a number of services.

Prior to joining Amazon, Pashmeen was a Senior Product Line Manager at VMware, where he lead the effort around VMware Skyline - the core of telemetry and machine learning-based proactive support.

Before joining VMware, Pashmeen was at BlueJeans Network and before that at Cisco Systems.

Pashmeen has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from VJTI and completed the Stanford Ignite, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

I know Pashmeen well. We hired him into my organization at VMware when we were reinventing support. He did an absolutely amazing job of driving and guiding Skyline to become the fastest-growing and largest SaaS product at VMware.

In this second session, we dig deeper into how managers can work most effectively with Product Managers.

• How managers should work with Product Managers.
• Examples of best experiences working with managers.
• The support that Product Managers need to be successful.
• How Product Managers are measured.
• Finding a good work-life balance.

I hope you enjoy.

This week I talk to Pashmeen Mistry about Product Managers. We discuss the role, how they operate, what skills are required, how to work most effectively with them, and more.

Pashmeen is an expert in the field of Program Management. I am fortunate to have him on the podcast. Here is a bit about his background.

Pashmeen has just recently joined Amazon as a product manager. He will be working in the AWS team where he will have the opportunity to engage with customers in driving the adoption of a number of services.

Prior to joining Amazon, Pashmeen was a Senior Product Line Manager at VMware, where he lead the effort around VMware Skyline - the core of telemetry and machine learning-based proactive support.

Before joining VMware, Pashmeen was at BlueJeans Network and before that at Cisco Systems.

Pashmeen has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from VJTI and completed the Stanford Ignite, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

I know Pashmeen well. We hired him into my organization at VMware when we were reinventing support. He did an absolutely amazing job of driving and guiding Skyline to become the fastest-growing and largest SaaS product at VMware.

I split the podcast into two parts. This podcast provides a good overview of Product Management.

• The role of the Product Manager.
• How this role differs across companies.
• Who the Product Manager works most closely with.
• The kinds of challenges Product Managers face.
• The skills required for a Program Manager to be successful.

I hope you enjoy.

In this podcast, I share my thoughts on a good article, "Leading During a Pandemic, Four Critical Questions for Senior Leaders to Consider", about leading during a pandemic. The article and my comments are for ANY leader, not just senior leaders.

This is a great time to understand the challenges, leverage technological innovation, and step up as a leader. Be a part of defining the new normal!

Welcome to the second of two podcasts on Technical Program Managers (TPMs) with Orna Berryman.

Orna, my guest and expert on the topic, has worked at great companies, including Intel, One Workplace, Cadence Design Systems, Electronic Arts, NVIDIA, VMware, Google, and Facebook!

She has experience in training, organizational development, development management, program management, release management, and of course management of technical program managers.

I got to know Orna at VMware where she demonstrated incredibly strong leadership and management skills.  I could not be happier to have Orna on the show!!

This podcast focuses on how managers work with TPMs and some challenges that TPMs face and how they deal with them.

I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to the first of two podcasts on Technical Program Managers (TPMs) with Orna Berryman.

Orna, my guest and expert on the topic, has worked at great companies, including Intel, One Workplace, Cadence Design Systems, Electronic Arts, NVIDIA, VMware, Google, and Facebook!

She has experience in training, organizational development, development management, program management, release management, and of course management of technical program managers.

I got to know Orna at VMware where she demonstrated incredibly strong leadership and management skills.  I could not be happier to have Orna on the show!!

This podcast focuses on what TPMs do, how they interact with other teams, roles and responsibilities, and the key skills they need to have.

I hope you enjoy!

This podcast will help you to become strategic. It breaks this down into three aspects.

1. Earn the right to be strategic by demonstrating good management skills.
2. Get yourself ready by understanding your company, competition, industry, customers, and technology.
3. Start doing the things that will make you strategic. These include taking a large perspective, being positive, challenging the status quo, being realistic, looking for ways to drive revenue, or identifying opportunities to reduce costs.

I am sure you will get value from listening!

In this podcast, I talk to Rupinder Saini who just recently joined Google as Director, Google Cloud Support Operations, about her career journey.

Prior to this, and for the last 13 years, Rupinder was at VMware as an executive in the Global Support Services organization. And before that, she worked at 01 Communique.

Rupinder has a Systems Analyst / Computer Science degree from Sheridan College and completed an Executive Women’s Leadership Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

I had the opportunity to work with Rupinder while at VMware. She ran a good part of the support organization in Broomfield, Colorado while I was driving the reinvention of the support model. She was someone that volunteered to help, brought a tremendous amount of experience, and always delivered!

I think you will get a lot out of my interview with Rupinder.

In this podcast, I interview Rupinder Saini who just recently joined Google as Director, Google Cloud Support Operations.

Prior to this, and for the last 13 years, Rupinder was at VMware as an executive in the Global Support Services organization. And before that, she worked at 01 Communique.

Rupinder has a Systems Analyst / Computer Science degree from Sheridan College and completed an Executive Women’s Leadership Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

I had the opportunity to work with Rupinder while at VMware. She ran a good part of the support organization in Broomfield, Colorado while I was driving the reinvention of the support model. She was someone that volunteered to help, brought a tremendous amount of experience, and always delivered!

I think you will get a lot out of my interview with Rupinder.

In this podcast, I respond to a request from a listener. The scope and complexity of his request are huge. As a result, I have focused on one aspect, which is driving change.

I discuss how important it is for managers to become great at evolutionary change. And how it is the unique manager who is confident, verging on cocky, that can also drive something revolutionary.

I hope that this podcast will be both interesting and helpful!

In this podcast, I talk to Anil Virmani, an experienced technology executive most recently with Adara, about his career journey.

Anil has had the opportunity to work at some great companies, including VMware, Coraid, Juniper Networks, Stratus Computers, HP, and Wipro. During his time with these companies, Anil has managed all aspects of product development and support.

Anil has his degree in computer science and throughout his career has worked on deep areas of technology across compute, networking, and storage. He has also worked most recently in big data and machine learning.

I got to know Anil while at Juniper. He was one of the seasoned leaders that I had the opportunity to work with while we were transforming the way JunOS was built and tested.

Anil is a leader who is deep technically, but his focus is on people. It is this combination that has made him successful, and the reason I wanted to have him on the show.

I know you will enjoy hearing from Anil!

In this podcast, I interview Anil Virmani, an experienced technology executive most recently with Adara.

Anil has had the opportunity to work at some great companies, including VMware, Coraid, Juniper Networks, Stratus Computers, HP, and Wipro. During his time with these companies, Anil has managed all aspects of product development and support.

Anil has his degree in computer science and throughout his career has worked on deep areas of technology across compute, networking, and storage. He has also worked most recently in big data and machine learning.

I got to know Anil while at Juniper. He was one of the seasoned leaders that I had the opportunity to work with while we were transforming the way JunOS was built and tested.

Anil is a leader who is deep technically, but his focus is on people. It is this combination that has made him successful, and the reason I wanted to have him on the show.

I know you will enjoy hearing from Anil!

As a manager, you need to lead others. To do this effectively, they must believe in the mission, vision, and challenges in front of them. They have to buy your story. They need to believe you.

Some people think this means you have to be a cheerleader. You have to get up, turn on the energy and charm, and convince your team of what you need them to do.  This can work iff (if and only if) that is your normal style. If it is not, they will see right through it and will not be on board. They might say they are… but their hearts will not be in it.

Instead, what you need to do is communicate in your own way. If you are deeply analytical, use this approach. If you are an introvert and prefer 1:1 conversations, do that.

“Just Be What You Is” simply means be who you are, be you!

Now is the time to prepare for the new normal.

In this podcast, I share the five biggest changes that are likely to be a part of the plan to go back to work. These are:

• Screening and Testing
• More Spacing
• Use of Masks
• No Conference Rooms
• Continued Work at Home

You have learned to manage work-at-home employees. You know how to manage employees in the office. I share a number of things that will help you in this new normal.

I hope that you enjoy!

In this podcast, I talk to Laura Ortman, President and Chief Revenue Officer for Cologix, about her career journey. Without going into detail, they are a “data centers of tomorrow” company.

Laura has had a great career, learning and taking on challenges along the way. She started in sales and worked in or managed all aspects of sales, account management, business development, software program, and technical management, customer support and success, revenue and renewals, and operations. She has worked for SOS Technical Services, Lockheed Martin, Jeppesen (a Boeing Company), VMware, Equinix, and Cologix.

I got to know Laura while at VMware. Our paths crossed a few times so I got to know Laura, but we never had an opportunity to work directly. All that I knew for sure is that she was an amazing manager and leader.

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I interview Laura Ortman, President and Chief Revenue Officer for Cologix. Without going into detail, they are a “data centers of tomorrow” company.

Laura has had a great career, learning and taking on challenges along the way. She started in sales and worked in or managed all aspects of sales, account management, business development, software program, and technical management, customer support and success, revenue and renewals, and operations. She has worked for SOS Technical Services, Lockheed Martin, Jeppesen (a Boeing Company), VMware, Equinix, and Cologix.

I got to know Laura while at VMware. Our paths crossed a few times so I got to know Laura, but we never had an opportunity to work directly. All that I knew for sure is that she was an amazing manager and leader.

I am very happy to have her on the podcast.

In this podcast, I talk to John Gilmartin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Hyperconverged Infrastructure Business Unit at VMware, about his career journey.

John has been in high tech for all of his career. He started as a consultant at Marakon Associates, moved to Dell as a brand manager, then to VMware in product management. He left VMware to try working at a small company. He joined Coraid to run product marketing. He then returned to VMware and has quickly grown his responsibility to the role that he has today.

John has a computer science degree from Princeton and took some time out during his career to go back and get his MBA from Harvard.

I got to know John at VMware and worked for him for a couple of years. John is an incredibly well-rounded leader and manager that does a great job of balancing the urgent with the important, all while remaining incredibly calm.

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I interview John Gilmartin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Hyperconverged Infrastructure Business Unit at VMware.

John has been in high tech for all of his career. He started as a consultant at Marakon Associates, moved to Dell as a brand manager, then to VMware in product management. He left VMware to try working at a small company. He joined Coraid to run product marketing. He then returned to VMware and has quickly grown his responsibility to the role that he has today.

John has a computer science degree from Princeton and took some time out during his career to go back and get his MBA from Harvard.

I got to know John at VMware and worked for him for a couple of years. John is an incredibly well-rounded leader and manager that does a great job of balancing the urgent with the important, all while remaining incredibly calm.

I know you will get a lot out of my conversation with John!

Welcome to the latest Develop Great Managers podcast focused on helping managers with their work-at-home employees.

Work at home has never been more important. Learn from the experts how to evaluate if work from home makes sense, and if it does, how to ensure success.

I hope you find this valuable!

This is the third of three podcasts on Office Politics - something important to everyone.

I have broken the topic into three parts: Introduction; How You Can Be Successful; and How to Manage Your Team. In today’s podcast, I will cover "How To Manage Your Team."

I cover how you can be a role model, minimizing politics in your team, aligning and supporting the company culture, championing members of your team, recognizing and supporting diversity, and providing positive transparency.

I hope you enjoy!

This is the second of three podcasts on Office Politics - something important to everyone.

I have broken the topic into three parts: Introduction; How You Can Be Successful; and How to Manage Your Team. In today’s podcast, I will cover "Introduction."

I cover being thoughtful, reading the system (company), building a good reputation, and finding common ground.

I hope you enjoy!

Now for the topic that all of you have been waiting for - Office Politics!

I have broken the topic into three parts: Introduction; How You Can Be Successful; and How to Manage Your Team. In today’s podcast, I will cover "Introduction."

I will give you a definition, share the reality of office politics, give you a view into good and bad, and end with some great examples.

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I talk to Alex Bewley, Director of Engineering at VMware, where he has been for the last 5 years, about his career path.

Prior to VMware, Alex started and ran two small companies. The first was focused on Professional Services for Sun Microsystems customers. And the second was a software company, delivering performance, availability, capacity management, and costing tools.

Before this, Alex was a systems engineer at Sun Microsystems.

I got to know Alex while I was at VMware. He joined my team when I moved into Global Services. Alex was part of a team doing research into tools that could dramatically improve customer support. I joined the organization to reinvent support. What a perfect fit!

I worked with Alex and the other researchers to build a team to take their prototype and turn it into the core of VMware Skyline, a proactive support product.

I wanted to interview Alex due to the breadth of his experience, and because he has worked and managed his team while being remote from headquarters.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Alex Bewley is a Director of Engineering at VMware, where he has been for the last 5 years.

Prior to VMware, Alex started and ran two small companies. The first was focused on Professional Services for Sun Microsystems customers. And the second was a software company, delivering performance, availability, capacity management, and costing tools.

Before this, Alex was a systems engineer at Sun Microsystems.

I got to know Alex while I was at VMware. He joined my team when I moved into Global Services. Alex was part of a team doing research into tools that could dramatically improve customer support. I joined the organization to reinvent support. What a perfect fit!

I worked with Alex and the other researchers to build a team to take their prototype and turn it into the core of VMware Skyline, a proactive support product.

I wanted to interview Alex due to the breadth of his experience, and because he has worked and managed his team while being remote from headquarters.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Now that you understand why you need goals, how to define them, and how to operationalize them, let's talk about rewards!

For the goal topic, I break it into four aspects: What; Define; Operationalize; and Reward. In today’s podcast, I will cover “Reward.”

There are four areas that are discussed.

1. Review the Results
2. Recognize Failures
3. Celebrate Successes
4. Prepare for Next Year

I hope that you find this valuable!

Now that you understand why you need goals and how to define them, let's talk about how to operationalize them!

For the goal topic, I break it into four aspects: What; Define; Operationalize; and Reward. In today’s podcast, I will cover “Define.”

I will talk in detail about the five aspects to operationalizing your goals.

1. Develop a Plan
2. Assign an Owner
3. Measure and Report
4. Review and Adjust
5. Finalize Results

I hope that you find this valuable!

Now that you understand why you need goals, let's talk about how to define them! 

For the goal topic, I break it into four aspects: What; Define; Operationalize; and Reward. In today’s podcast, I will cover “Define.”

I will talk in detail about the six aspects of defining your goals.

1. Make Them Motivating
2. Link to the Business or Your Vision
3. Engage Others
4. Make Them SMART
5. Write Them Down
6. Make Them Visible

I hope that you find this valuable!

It is a new year, time to think about goals!

For the goal topic, I break it into four aspects: What; Define; Operationalize; and Reward. In today’s podcast, I will only cover “What.”

I will cover the value of goals, some possible downsides and how to tie goals to vision, mission, and strategy. This is for work. For personal goals, a similar process will be followed.

I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to the first Develop Great Managers podcast for 2020.

This will be a new and fun year!!

I start by celebrating 2019. We then move into what will be different. Before I get to that, I would like to stop and celebrate 2019. Number one on the list was the launch of this podcast as well as growing subscribers well above the goal of 500 to more than 900!

Thank you!

Now on to 2020.

In order to make the podcasts more valuable, I will move to focus more deeply on the topics that are most important to you. This will give me more time to get into the details.

I will spend one to two months on each topic. During this time, some of the podcasts will be just me, and others will include invited guests. There will continue to be interviews with great managers. These will be interspersed with podcasts on various topics.

Before getting into the topics that I plan to cover, I discuss why managers are so important. I share information from Google and Gallup.

I then get into what makes a great manager and how the topics will address these.

Thank you again for a great 2019. Here is to an even better 2020!

In this podcast, I talk to Stanimir Markov, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder at Runecast, about his career path.

Prior to Runecast, Stanimir worked for IBM where he held a number of roles. He started in Windows Technical Support, expanding into VMware and Citrix, and then becoming the first member of a new team of Virtualization Architects. And prior to IBM, Stanimir was in Technical Support at Aplus.net.

Stanimir is a VCDX, the highest level of certification from VMware.  He also has additional certifications from VMware and Citrix. He received his degree in Computer Science from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridiski.

I got to know Stanimir while I was at VMware. I was working on VMware Skyline, a support product that has some overlapping capabilities with Runecast. We met so that I could share what we were doing in the hope that Stanimir could evolve Runecast in a way that complemented rather than competed with Skyline.

These conversations were excellent. I had the opportunity to watch Stanimir continue to drive his company forward, even while VMware was delivering new products at an accelerated rate. All of this demonstrated the skills and leadership that Stanimir has and led me to interview him for the podcast.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with Stanimir!

In this podcast, I interview Stanimir Markov, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-founder at Runecast, a company that provides real-time VMware SDDC issue analysis & security compliance.

Prior to this, Stanimir worked for IBM where he held a number of roles. He started in Windows Technical Support, expanding into VMware and Citrix, and then becoming the first member of a new team of Virtualization Architects. And prior to IBM, Stanimir was in Technical Support at Aplus.net.

Stanimir is a VCDX, the highest level of certification from VMware.  He also has additional certifications from VMware and Citrix. He received his degree in Computer Science from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridiski.

I got to know Stanimir while I was at VMware. I was working on VMware Skyline, a support product that has some overlapping capabilities with Runecast. We met so that I could share what we were doing in the hope that Stanimir could evolve Runecast in a way that complemented rather than competed with Skyline.

These conversations were excellent. I had the opportunity to watch Stanimir continue to drive his company forward, even while VMware was delivering new products at an accelerated rate. All of this demonstrated the skills and leadership that Stanimir has and led me to interview him for the podcast.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with Stanimir!

In this podcast, I talk to John Dolan, Strategic Advisor and Board Member at Ascend Cloud Solutions, about his career path.

Prior to taking on this position, John was Global Vice President for Software-Defined Data Center Support at VMware.

John spent more than 14 years at VMware in the Technical Support organization, where he led global organizations across EMEA and APJ. He did this from Cork, Ireland where he also held the role of Campus Site Lead.

Prior to VMware, John spent a number of years working for EMC in Technical Support, helping them to build a support team in Ireland.

I got to know John while at VMware when I was in engineering within the Integrated Systems Business Unit. I was working on designs for VMware customer deployments and John was providing support for these same customers. I then had a chance to spend a lot of time with John and his team when I joined the leadership team in Global Services.

I really enjoyed working with John. He was incredibly focused on helping customers to be successful. I was helping redefine how we supported customers by moving us to a proactive model, delivering new capabilities such as chat, and delivering in product support. To do this, John and I had to work through the many challenges in scaling this to the huge number of customers that VMware has.

I am super excited that John has taken on a new role with Ascend Cloud Solutions. His experience, expertise, and work ethic will help Ascend to be successful.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with John!

In this podcast, I interview John Dolan, Strategic Advisor and Board Member at Ascend Cloud Solutions.

Prior to taking on this position, John was Global Vice President for Software-Defined Data Center Support at VMware.

John spent more than 14 years at VMware in the Technical Support organization, where he led global organizations across EMEA and APJ. He did this from Cork, Ireland where he also held the role of Campus Site Lead.

Prior to VMware, John spent a number of years working for EMC in Technical Support, helping them to build a support team in Ireland.

I got to know John while at VMware when I was in engineering within the Integrated Systems Business Unit. I was working on designs for VMware customer deployments and John was providing support for these same customers. I then had a chance to spend a lot of time with John and his team when I joined the leadership team in Global Services.

I really enjoyed working with John. He was incredibly focused on helping customers to be successful. I was helping redefine how we supported customers by moving us to a proactive model, delivering new capabilities such as chat, and delivering in product support. To do this, John and I had to work through the many challenges in scaling this to the huge number of customers that VMware has.

I am super excited that John has taken on a new role with Ascend Cloud Solutions. His experience, expertise, and work ethic will help Ascend to be successful.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with John!

In this podcast, I talk to Simran Singh, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Hyperwallet, a Paypal company acquired in 2018, about his career path.

Prior to Hyperwallet, Simran was a Senior Product Manager at VMware which he joined after graduating from business school. Before business school, Simran worked at Baring Private Equity Asia, the largest private equity fund in Asia. Simran was one of the earliest employees of Parthenon's education practice and helped launch schools in more than 25 countries around the world including Chile, Zambia, Mexico, UAE, Singapore, the UK, etc.

Simran is a Palmer Scholar graduate from the Wharton School of Business and a Director's Medallist from IIT Delhi (Computer Science and Mathematics).

I got to know Simran while he was at VMware. He worked in my Product Management team. I knew from his first days at VMware, that Simran was a superstar. I have stayed loosely connected, watching his rise to where he is today.

I have always been impressed with Simran's thoughtful and humble approach to solving problems and his strong commitment to delivering on time and with high quality.

I think that you will enjoy my interview with Simran!

In this podcast, I interview Simran Singh, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Hyperwallet, a Paypal company acquired in 2018.

Prior to Hyperwallet, Simran was a Senior Product Manager at VMware which he joined after graduating from business school. Before business school, Simran worked at Baring Private Equity Asia, the largest private equity fund in Asia. Simran was one of the earliest employees of Parthenon's education practice and helped launch schools in more than 25 countries around the world including Chile, Zambia, Mexico, UAE, Singapore, the UK, etc.

Simran is a Palmer Scholar graduate from the Wharton School of Business and a Director's Medallist from IIT Delhi (Computer Science and Mathematics).

I got to know Simran while he was at VMware. He worked in my Product Management team. I knew from his first days at VMware, that Simran was a superstar. I have stayed loosely connected, watching his rise to where he is today.

I have always been impressed with Simran's thoughtful and humble approach to solving problems and his strong commitment to delivering on time and with high quality.

I think that you will enjoy my interview with Simran!

In this podcast, I talk to Joel "Thor" Neeb, CEO of the consulting firm and corporate events company Afterburner, Inc., about his career path.

In his role, Joel leads more than 70 former elite military professionals, including fighter pilots, Navy SEALS, and Army Rangers, in achieving strategic objectives and fostering elite teams for Fortune 100 companies and professional sports teams.

Joel joined Afterburner in 2012, was named president in 2015, and assumed the role of CEO in July 2019. Joel initiated Afterburner’s expansion from an events-based business into transformational business consulting. This focus developed into Afterburner’s newest business unit offering, Impact Consulting, where Afterburner’s team works alongside clients to identify challenges and improve performance.

As a former F-15 mission commander, United States Air Force, Joel continues to go by his pilot call sign, “Thor,” in his business career. As a pilot, he’s both escorted the President and performed flybys at football games. He was the tactical leader of 300 of the most senior combat pilots in the Air Force and oversaw the execution of a $150M/year flight program. Joel was named the Top Instructor Pilot at the Air Force Flight Training Headquarters in 2010. In 2012, he was selected out of 62,000 people to receive the Air Education and Training Command (AECT) National Public Service Award.

In 2010, Joel was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given a 15 percent chance of recovery. During treatment, Joel founded CureCare, a community outreach program for at-risk students in San Antonio. To date, CureCare has reached more than 15,000 kids. Additionally, he co-authored the upcoming book Survivor’s Obligation, out in October 2019, to tell the story of his cancer journey and his resolve to live an intentional life.

Joel sits on the board of several national organizations and is the co-founder of a military support corporation including PCSgrades.

Joel holds a BA from the USAF Academy, an MA from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and an MBA from the University of Texas. Joel enjoys competing in sporting events; he completed the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon in 2015 and was a contestant on American Ninja Warrior in 2018. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

I got to know Joel while I was at VMware. Joel and the Afterburner team provided training for VMware Executives and then all organizations across the company. Joel kicked off the training and found a way to meet and get to know most of the leaders at VMware.

More important than how I met Joel, is why I decided to have him on the podcast. Up to this point, every person that I have had on the podcast are managers that I have seen in action. I selected them not because they were all the same, but rather because I saw something in them that I thought was exceptional and important to share.

I have not seen Joel in action, managing his team. But based on what I have seen, it is clear that he is a great manager. That he has an amazing rapport with his team. That he cares about them and they reciprocate. That they are aligned with the vision, mission, and culture of the company, and are executing.

I also understand Joel's personal story. His recovery from stage IV cancer and how it has changed him. I have read his book "Survivor's Obligation: Navigating an Intentional Life". I know about the events that he has participated in. And can see the good that he is doing.

In short, I think that Joel is perfect for the podcast. His experience is something that is important to share. I hope that you agree!

In this podcast, I interview Joel "Thor" Neeb, CEO of the consulting firm and corporate events company Afterburner, Inc.

In this role, Joel leads more than 70 former elite military professionals, including fighter pilots, Navy SEALS, and Army Rangers, in achieving strategic objectives and fostering elite teams for Fortune 100 companies and professional sports teams.

Joel joined Afterburner in 2012, was named president in 2015, and assumed the role of CEO in July 2019. Joel initiated Afterburner’s expansion from an events-based business into transformational business consulting. This focus developed into Afterburner’s newest business unit offering, Impact Consulting, where Afterburner’s team works alongside clients to identify challenges and improve performance.

As a former F-15 mission commander, United States Air Force, Joel continues to go by his pilot call sign, “Thor,” in his business career. As a pilot, he’s both escorted the President and performed flybys at football games. He was the tactical leader of 300 of the most senior combat pilots in the Air Force and oversaw the execution of a $150M/year flight program. Joel was named the Top Instructor Pilot at the Air Force Flight Training Headquarters in 2010. In 2012, he was selected out of 62,000 people to receive the Air Education and Training Command (AECT) National Public Service Award.

In 2010, Joel was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given a 15 percent chance of recovery. During treatment, Joel founded CureCare, a community outreach program for at-risk students in San Antonio. To date, CureCare has reached more than 15,000 kids. Additionally, he co-authored the upcoming book Survivor’s Obligation, out in October 2019, to tell the story of his cancer journey and his resolve to live an intentional life.

Joel sits on the board of several national organizations and is the co-founder of a military support corporation including PCSgrades.

Joel holds a BA from the USAF Academy, an MA from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and an MBA from the University of Texas. Joel enjoys competing in sporting events; he completed the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon in 2015 and was a contestant on American Ninja Warrior in 2018. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

I got to know Joel while I was at VMware. Joel and the Afterburner team provided training for VMware Executives and then all organizations across the company. Joel kicked off the training and found a way to meet and get to know most of the leaders at VMware.

More important than how I met Joel, is why I decided to have him on the podcast. Up to this point, every person that I have had on the podcast are managers that I have seen in action. I selected them not because they were all the same, but rather because I saw something in them that I thought was exceptional and important to share.

I have not seen Joel in action, managing his team. But based on what I have seen, it is clear that he is a great manager. That he has an amazing rapport with his team. That he cares about them and they reciprocate. That they are aligned with the vision, mission, and culture of the company, and are executing.

I also understand Joel's personal story. His recovery from stage IV cancer and how it has changed him. I have read his book "Survivor's Obligation: Navigating an Intentional Life". I know about the events that he has participated in. And can see the good that he is doing.

In short, I think that Joel is perfect for the podcast. His experience is something that is important to share. I hope that you agree!

In this podcast, I talk to Kit Colbert, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Cloud Platform Business Unit at VMware, about his career path.

In his role, Kit is responsible for driving technical strategy and innovation for the vSphere, VMware Cloud on AWS, and VMware Cloud on DellEMC product lines.

Previously, Kit was GM of Cloud-Native Apps, CTO for End-User Computing, the Chief Architect and Principal Engineer for Workspace Portal, and the lead Management Architect for the vRealize Operations Suite. At the start of his career, he was the technical lead behind the creation, development, and delivery of the vMotion and Storage vMotion features in vSphere.

Kit holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Brown University and is a recognized thought leader on Cloud-Native, End-User Computing, and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure trends.  He speaks regularly at industry conferences, on the main stage at VMworld, and is the Hybrid Cloud voice for the VMware Office of the CTO.

I got to know Kit while at VMware. Kit has always been someone that I had an easy time connecting with. He is technically very deep but is able to simplify concepts in order for others to understand. For me, this proved to be incredibly valuable when Kit and I talked about challenges that we were facing or working on opportunities to work together. Many of these brief conversations happened in the VMware gym while we were stretching and cooling down from a workout!

The reason I wanted to have Kit on the show, other than that he is incredibly smart and very articulate, is that he has moved in and out of management. His experiences in doing this have been both energizing and exhausting. The lessons that have come from these experiences will be valuable to any technologist struggling with whether to go into management.

I really hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I interview Kit Colbert, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Cloud Platform Business Unit at VMware.

In this role, Kit is responsible for driving technical strategy and innovation for the vSphere, VMware Cloud on AWS, and VMware Cloud on DellEMC product lines.

Previously, Kit was GM of Cloud-Native Apps, CTO for End-User Computing, the Chief Architect and Principal Engineer for Workspace Portal, and the lead Management Architect for the vRealize Operations Suite. At the start of his career, he was the technical lead behind the creation, development, and delivery of the vMotion and Storage vMotion features in vSphere.

Kit holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Brown University and is a recognized thought leader on Cloud-Native, End-User Computing, and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure trends.  He speaks regularly at industry conferences, on the main stage at VMworld, and is the Hybrid Cloud voice for the VMware Office of the CTO.

I got to know Kit while at VMware. Kit has always been someone that I had an easy time connecting with. He is technically very deep but is able to simplify concepts in order for others to understand. For me, this proved to be incredibly valuable when Kit and I talked about challenges that we were facing or working on opportunities to work together. Many of these brief conversations happened in the VMware gym while we were stretching and cooling down from a workout!

The reason I wanted to have Kit on the show, other than that he is incredibly smart and very articulate, is that he has moved in and out of management. His experiences in doing this have been both energizing and exhausting. The lessons that have come from these experiences will be valuable to any technologist struggling with whether to go into management.

I really hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I talk to Cody Hosterman, Technical Director for VMware & Cloud Solutions at Pure Storage, about his career path.

In his current role, Cody's team focuses on the VMware ecosystem and cloud-based offering integration with the Pure Storage FlashArray and Cloud Block Store. He has a deep background in virtualization and storage technologies, including experience as a Solutions Engineer and Principal Virtualization Technologist.  In his current position, he is responsible for VMware & Cloud integration strategy, best practices, and developing new integrations and documentation.

Cody has spoken internationally on the topics of virtualization and storage at numerous conferences and events such as VMworld and various virtualization-related user groups and trade shows.  He is the author of several technical whitepapers and guides related to virtualization, storage, and data center infrastructure. He is the co-author or contributor to multiple technical reference books and his frequently-updated personal blog contains his latest work and contributions.

Prior to working for Pure, Cody worked at EMC and Penn State, where he graduated with a degree in Information Sciences and Technology.

I have known Cody for a while now. He is the husband of the sister (Janice) of my daughter-in-law (Nicole). My son Anthony got to know Cody when he and Janice started dating him. Cody helped Anthony to find a job at Pure Storage. I got to know Cody through Anthony.

Wow, that was hard to explain.

Since getting to know Cody, we have spent a good amount of time together. We had Cody and Janice over to a VMware get-together during VMworld Barcelona - where he had a great time connecting with VMware folks that only knew Cody through his blog. We have gone snowshoeing. Attended Cody and Janice's wedding. And have attended numerous family gatherings.

Cody has been an early listener of my podcasts. He gave me feedback and now that he has become a manager, is perfect to have on the show!

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I interview Cody Hosterman, Technical Director for VMware & Cloud Solutions at Pure Storage.

In his current role, Cody's team focuses on the VMware ecosystem and cloud-based offering integration with the Pure Storage FlashArray and Cloud Block Store. He has a deep background in virtualization and storage technologies, including experience as a Solutions Engineer and Principal Virtualization Technologist.  In his current position, he is responsible for VMware & Cloud integration strategy, best practices, and developing new integrations and documentation.

Cody has spoken internationally on the topics of virtualization and storage at numerous conferences and events such as VMworld and various virtualization-related user groups and trade shows.  He is the author of several technical whitepapers and guides related to virtualization, storage, and data center infrastructure. He is the co-author or contributor to multiple technical reference books and his frequently-updated personal blog contains his latest work and contributions.

Prior to working for Pure, Cody worked at EMC and Penn State, where he graduated with a degree in Information Sciences and Technology.

I have known Cody for a while now. He is the husband of the sister (Janice) of my daughter-in-law (Nicole). My son Anthony got to know Cody when he and Janice started dating him. Cody helped Anthony to find a job at Pure Storage. I got to know Cody through Anthony.

Wow, that was hard to explain.

Since getting to know Cody, we have spent a good amount of time together. We had Cody and Janice over to a VMware get-together during VMworld Barcelona - where he had a great time connecting with VMware folks that only knew Cody through his blog. We have gone snowshoeing. Attended Cody and Janice's wedding. And have attended numerous family gatherings.

Cody has been an early listener of my podcasts. He gave me feedback and now that he has become a manager, is perfect to have on the show!

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast, I talk to Eddie Dinel, Senior Director of Product Management at VMware, where he has been since 2002, about his career path.

In his role, Eddie has two key responsibilities. The first is VMware Validated Designs, a new way of approaching the problem of SDDC deployments. And the second is the "Enterprise Readiness" program across all products at VMware, focusing on reducing the friction involved in operating VMware software.

Eddie has held many previous roles at VMware, across product development, technical alliances, and IT. He has been involved in nearly every product that VMware has ever shipped.

Prior to VMware, Eddie was at Zack Systems and HighWire Press.

Eddie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History as well as minors in Physics and Computer Science from Stanford University.

I have had the pleasure to work with Eddie in most of the roles that I had at VMware. He is a passionate leader with a unique level of depth and breadth across VMware products.

I hope you enjoy!