[PODCAST] Driving A Dynamic Career in Technology & Leadership

About This Discussion:

When it comes to technology, it honestly doesn't matter what industry you're in, technology is a life thread to the company. In order to build something great, you have to be able to embrace and be agile in technology. We had the honor of sitting down with Gerry Mecca, CIO of DATASCAN, and former VP of IT at Keurig Dr. Pepper to discuss how important it is for organizations to learn how to take chances and be comfortable failing forward in the world of technology.

We also discussed how our work methods will change in the wake of COVID-19, and how working remotely will be adapted by a huge part of the workforce. Plus are we seeing the death of email as we know it?

If you would like to learn more and connect with Gerry, make sure you check out his podcast, The Mecca Minute at 

https://marketscale.com/industries/podcast-network/the-mecca-minute/

and connect with Gerry on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrymecca/

About Gerry Mecca:

Gerry Mecca joined Datascan in February 2020. He is responsible for leading the product engineering teams and information technology organizations.

Prior to joining Datascan, Gerry spent nearly 20 years in the food and beverage industry and held a variety of IT leadership roles including, most recently, VP-IT for Keurig Dr Pepper. At KDP, he lead the development of MyDay, an iOS and cloud-based mobile solution for field sales, delivery and merchandising. Gerry is an accomplished IT operations support expert, customer service advocate, technology innovator and Lean Six Sigma Champion.  Along the way, Gerry held technology leadership roles at Cadbury Schweppes and Dr Pepper Seven Up Bottling Group, where he was Chief Information Officer. 

Prior to Bottling Group, he served in a variety of key leadership roles at Conoco Phillips (Burlington Resources). Gerry was also involved in the start-up and IPO of Ingram Micro, the multi-billion dollar IT products distributor and the start-up of the network interface maker, Applied Creative Technology where he was a top-performing technology sales executive.

Gerry also has extensive board service and in his spare time, Gerry helped grow the North Texas Amateur Baseball League, a non-profit sports-related charity.  The league has raised nearly two hundred thousand dollars for the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Prostate Cancer Foundation and ALS. He is also an Assistant Scoutmaster and Eagle Scout Counselor.

Gerry holds a Bachelor in Communications from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Masters of Business Administration from Baylor University. He is also a frequent speaker at industry trade events.

Gerry was born in Pennsylvania and lived much of his youth in the northeast before moving to Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Communications from Texas-Arlington and a Masters of Business Administration from Baylor University.  

Finally, Gerry is married to Michele and has a daughter Ryan and a son Vincent.

Here's Our Official Breakdown:

6:24 - Getting inside the mind of Gerry Mecca and understanding his straight shooter leadership style

9:24 - When Gerry started to break out from a technical role to taking on a role that put him on the path to the C-Suite

10:56 - When it comes to passion and getting excited about a job, is that something that we can learn or is just an innate quality? Plus what's one small thing you can do that can accelerate your career path.

13:04 - When it comes to technology, leaders many times don’t cultivate a culture of being okay with failure. How as a technology leader can you encourage that and build a team that’s focused on innovating vs. not failing?

20:14 - The story of RFID and when Gerry watched peers jump into technology that wasn’t quite necessary (or were still testing out)

22:46 - The importance of technology in any company, even if they’re technically not a technology company (and how Dr. Pepper took risks)

24:55 - How will COVID impact technology teams within companies and the way we work and communicate with each other?

28:40 - How much should we be advocating for remote work, and how will roles be impacted by this new shift?

32:45 - Does working remotely impact the ability to be promoted?

35:00 - Is email as a communication method dying, and what should we be looking at instead?

39:45 - Where does the business environment go in the next five years?