CIO Unscripted brings together CIOs, CTOs, and senior tech leaders for honest discussions about what it actually takes to lead in technology today. No scripted talking points, no polished case studies. Just candid stories from the trenches: the wins, the missteps, and the lessons learned along the way.
Each episode digs into the topics that matter most to tech leaders, from building high-performing teams and navigating boardroom dynamics to evaluating emerging technologies, managing vendor relationships, and driving digital transformation that actually sticks. Whether you're a seasoned CIO, an aspiring tech leader, or somewhere in between, you'll walk away with practical insights you can apply on Monday morning.
Tune in for straight talk on leadership, strategy, and the realities of modern IT.
Dean Sapp on AI's Speed Advantage in Cybersecurity and Legal Tech
Niel sits down with Dean Sapp, CISO at Filevine, to talk about how AI has changed both sides of the cybersecurity equation. Dean walks through how AI-driven exploit chaining is finding vulnerabilities that have sat undetected in major systems for decades, why purpose-built models and strict access controls matter more than ever, and how his team went from a buy-first to a build-first approach to security tooling. The conversation also covers Dean's own path into cybersecurity, from teenage AutoCAD competitions and Novell certifications to building a security operations center for a large multinational and co-founding Brain Trace, later acquired by Sophos. They close by talking through how Filevine uses AI to help law firms draft demand letters in a day instead of weeks, and what that means for who can access legal help in the first place.
24 Aug 2026
Todd Thompson on Putting People First in the Age of AI
Niel Nickolaisen sits down with Todd Thompson, SVP of Technology at Extra Space Storage, for a conversation that spans more than 22 years of leading technology across JetBlue Airways, Starwood Hotels, Vivint, doTERRA, and LifeVantage. Todd walks through the framework that's carried him across every one of those roles, people first, business second, technology third, and points to moments that prove it out: building the first online check-in at JetBlue, standing up a $151 million custom reservation system at Starwood, and knowing when to bring in the right team rather than trying to solve everything himself. The conversation also turns to where AI is already changing the job, from vibe-coded front ends to the democratization of who gets to build technology inside a company, and what that might mean for how CIOs think about governance going forward.
About Todd Thompson:
Todd Thompson is SVP of Technology at Extra Space Storage. He began programming at age 12 and was doing paid development work by 14, using a database system called Knowledge Man. He holds a computer science degree from Brigham Young University and started his career at Andersen Consulting before becoming a CIO for the first time more than 22 years ago, going on to lead technology at JetBlue Airways, Starwood Hotels, Vivint, doTERRA, and LifeVantage.
7 Aug 2026
Sarah Teofilo on Leading IT From the Business Side
In this episode, Sarah talks through her unconventional route to the CIO seat at ARUP Laboratories, one of the largest reference labs in the country. She and host Niel Nickolaisen explore what it means to lead technologists without being the most technical person in the room, how ARUP is starting to apply AI to lab and diagnostic workflows, and how her team tries to balance keeping the lights on with making room for innovation. The conversation also touches on team-building, mentorship, and a lesson Sarah keeps coming back to: don't confuse outputs with outcomes.
About Sarah Teofilo:
Sarah Teofilo is the CIO of ARUP Laboratories. She began her career in liberal arts and nonprofit arts administration, work that took her across the U.S. and internationally on large-scale events. After returning to Utah, she joined ARUP on the business side, moved into the revenue management group, and became a product owner working with the software development team — the starting point for her move into technology. She has spent the last 13 years at ARUP in roles focused on connecting business needs to technology solutions, leading to her current role as CIO.
31 Jul 2026
Mary Wyderski on People-centric Leadership and Prioritizing AI
Mary's path into technology started with seven years as an accountant. On today's episode, she joins Niel to talk about how that finance background shaped her into a business-first technology leader, why she thinks building a great team is the most remarkable thing she's ever pulled off, and how she's helping her organization prioritize AI without losing the plate-spinning act of keeping the lights on. It's a conversation about staying calm under pressure, communicating more than you think you need to, and creating an environment where people are genuinely glad to be there.
About Mary:
Mary Wyderski is a technology leader with a career that spans accounting, ERP implementation, and CIO roles across manufacturing, professional services in the construction industry, and now the waste and recycling industry.
17 Jul 2026
CIO Unscripted: Jeff Stott on Buy-In and the Replatform That Paid Off
Niel Nickolaisen sits down with Jeff Stott, CIO of Welltower and former CIO of Extra Space Storage, to talk about the technology bet that turned into one of the company's biggest advantages. Jeff spent several years leading a full replatform of Extra Space's systems, a project that ran well past its original timeline before proving its worth in a big way: when the company later acquired a competitor roughly half its size, the new platform let them absorb over a thousand locations in weeks rather than months. The conversation also gets into how Jeff handles organizational change, including a memorable moment during that acquisition when he chose clarity over compromise, and why he's come to believe the best plans are the ones he doesn't try to sell on his own.
About Jeff Stott:
Jeff Stott is the CIO at Welltower. He previously led technology at Extra Space Storage, where a major platform rebuild became a key part of the company's growth strategy.
8 Jul 2026
CIO Unscripted with Eric Hawley — Getting Invited Back
Niel Nickolaisen chats with Eric Hawley, CIO of Utah State University, for a conversation that covers a lot of ground. Eric shares how his career started by accident, and how nearly every opportunity since has come by invitation rather than application. The conversation touches on what it looks like to build relationships across a complex, decentralized organization, how to know when edge experimentation has reached the inflection point where centralization actually makes sense, and how he thinks about AI policy in higher education, where the instinct to lock things down too early can create more risk than it prevents. Eric also gets into what he calls a "table of trust," and why building that group of people you can work through anything with might be the most important thing a technology leader can do.
About Eric Hawley:
Eric Hawley is the Chief Information Officer at Utah State University, an R1 research institution, where he has served in the CIO role for over 15 years. He has built his career almost entirely by invitation, and still teaches at USU to stay connected to the real work of the university he supports.
25 Jun 2026
CIO Unscripted: Niel Nickolaisen on Trust, Culture, and the Emotional Side of Change
Niel Nickolaisen once micromanaged his way to a perfect ERP rollout. On time, on budget, on scope. Then his handpicked team told him they never wanted to work with him again.
In this episode of CIO Unscripted, Mike Linton sits down with Niel for a conversation about the hard lesson that came out of that experience and how it completely changed the way he leads. We discussed why he believes change is emotional, not logical, what it actually looks like to build a culture of trust instead of a "permission culture," how he handles low performers without abandoning that trust, and why he thinks the best IT leaders should study marketing.
About Niel:
Field CIO and at VLCM
Decades of experience leading IT and technology teams
Frequently cited in major IT publications
Known for turning around low-credibility, low-performing IT departments into high-trust, high-output teams
17 Jun 2026
Lisa Gardner (CIO, MTC) on Leading Tech in High-Stakes Environments
In this episode of CIO Unscripted, Niel Nickolaisen and Mike Linton sit down with Lisa Gardner, CIO at MTC, to talk about what it actually takes to lead technology for an organization that runs Job Corps programs, correctional facilities, and detention centers, including several ICE facilities, across the US, the UK, and Australia.
We discussed how she walked into a "freight train" of simultaneous ERP and workforce platform launches in her first few months, why she built her AI governance committee around the principle of "yes, and" instead of "no," and how staying close to the business (not just the technology) has shaped her entire path to CIO.
About Lisa:
CIO at MTC
Background in financial services and healthcare technology
Started her career as a COBOL developer at Safeco
Leads a team of about 30 supporting roughly 8,000 employees across high-stakes, high-security environments
8 Jun 2026
CIO Unscripted: BJ Vander Linden on Building Culture and Evolving as a Technology Leader
Niel Nickolaisen and Mike Linton sit down with BJ Vander Linden, CIO of the Larry H. Miller Group, for a wide-ranging conversation about what the technology leadership journey can actually look like. BJ shares how he stumbled into IT through call centers with no real plan, eventually working his way up through a series of roles before landing at LHM, where he's now been longer than anywhere else in his career. The conversation touches on how the CIO role seems to be shifting away from technical depth and toward business outcomes, lessons learned from staying somewhere long enough to face your own decisions, what good vendor relationships look like, and why building culture deliberately might be the most important thing a technology leader can do.
8 Jun 2026
CIO Unscripted: Shawnna DelHierro on the Evolving CIO Role and Building High-Performing Teams
Niel Nickolaisen sits down with Shawnna DelHierro, a technology executive whose path into IT started in HR and supply chain and took her through companies like Toyota before landing her in a strategy and growth role at a SaaS-based AI company. She shares some thoughts on what it can look like to lead large technology organizations without a traditional technical background, why listening between the lines might matter more than answering the literal request, and how the CIO role seems to be shifting in ways that are starting to blur the line between technology leadership and product leadership. There's also a good stretch on what it looks like to build teams that hold up when things get hard, not just when everything is going well.
8 Jun 2026
CIO Unscripted: Niel Nickolaisen on Transformation and Building Trust
VLCM field CIO Niel Nickolaisen joins Mike Linton to talk leadership and transformation. From physics and the nuclear navy to running lean manufacturing at GE, Niel never planned on a tech career, until he walked into his CEO's office to quit and walked out as the new CIO.
Across nine turnarounds, he's learned that the modern tech leader isn't a technologist, but a business leader who understands technology. He shares his practical playbook: combining Agile, Lean, and ITIL to fix delivery, and building trust at every level from the service desk to the board. Plus why he'd rather be a figurehead than a hero, and why IT pros should be the most change-embracing people in any org.
Practical, hard-won wisdom for anyone leading through change.
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