Yvonne Wassenaar, CIO of New Relic

Among other topics, Yvonne discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Being a CIO in a cloud based company * The importance of CIOs having both a horizontal viewpoint and a technological mindset * Taking intelligent risks * IT departments as integrators and collaborators * The role of CIOs on corporate boards * Internal and external functions of a modern CIO * Critical sources of information for predicting trends and solving problems * Eye on the trends: cloud technology, fast innovation, cybersecurity, machine learning, block chain Yvonne Wassenaar Biography Yvonne is the Chief Information Officer of New Relic, a digital intelligence platform company. As CIO, Yvonne divides her focus between the company’s growth strategy and development of the supporting unified technology and data platform. Yvonne joined New Relic to prepare the company for its IPO and subsequently has led key growth initiatives contributing to an almost two billion dollar valuation within two years. Prior to New Relic, Yvonne held multiple leadership positions at VMware. Yvonne serves on the Board of Directors for Bitium, where she advises the cloud-based identity platform provider on technology trends and go-to-market expansion opportunities. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for Harvey Mudd College and on the Board of Directors for the Athena Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of diversity in the boardroom. Yvonne holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from UCLA and an MBA in strategy and operations from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. I recently caught up with Yvonne over the phone from San Francisco, and our conversation covered World Class IT Principle Two, Infrastructure, as we discussed the importance of updating and differentiating business services in a quickly changing environment and Principle Four, IT & Business Partnerships, as Yvonne weighed in on the role of the CIO of the future and the importance of collaboration across the enterprise. We also covered the need to take risks, diversity in IT, the benefits of CIO participation on corporate boards, and a variety of other topics.