Leaders In Tech

Welcome back to another inspiring episode of the Leaders in Tech Podcast, hosted by David Mansilla! In this episode, we sit down with Aviram Hassan, CEO and Co-Founder of Mentar, a cutting-edge developer infrastructure platform based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Aviram shares his unique journey from high school acting and philosophy to military intelligence, technical sales, and eventually launching his own software startup. 

Lear...

Welcome to another episode of Leaders in Tech! In this episode, host David Mansilla sits down with Daniel B. Waltz, a recently retired Healthcare CIO with over three decades of experience driving technology and digital transformation across major health systems.

Dan shares his inspiring journey from a computer programmer with a background in Organizational Development to leading major Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementations ...

Pursuing a stable job and embarking on a business venture are two distinct paths that necessitate distinct skill sets and attitudes. While a secure job provides certainty and stability, launching a business requires one to take risks and handle ambiguity. It takes a lot of courage, determination, and resilience to jump into a new venture, especially when it involves ...

What does it take to lead at the absolute edge of technological innovation? 🚀

In this episode of the Leaders in Tech Podcast, host David Mansilla is joined by Chris Murphy, a technology leader representing the CTO Office (EMEA) at Viavi Solutions. Chris shares fascinating insights into the invisible infrastructure powering our connected world, the imminent rise of 6G and quantum networks, and what these shifts mean for business lea...

Welcome to another episode of Leaders in Tech hosted by David Mansilla! In this episode, we welcome Thom Langford, air CTO at Rapid7 and former CISO at Publicis Groupe and Velonetic.

Thom takes us through his fascinating career path—from early days setting up 640K memory PCs and Vax VMS systems to building enterprise cybersecurity programs from scratch. Beyond tech stacks and vulnerability management, Thom opens up about his ...

In this episode, host David Mansilla is joined by Azam Beyk, a former professional football player, telecom engineer, and the visionary founder of Neoma.

Fr...

What does it really take to scale a global technology architecture completely on your own terms? In this deeply emotional and highly technical episode of the Leaders in Tech podcast, host David Mansilla is joined by real-time communications pioneer Jerod Venema, Founder and President of LiveSwitch.

🔑 Key Takeaways From This Episode:

(1) Seizing the WebRTC Revolution: How Jerod aligned his architecture with Google and Firefox’s...

What happens when a brilliant engineer or software developer builds a successful business, but realizes they don't actually know how to be a CEO? In this episode of the Leaders in Tech podcast, host David Mansilla interviews growth adviser Pete Steege to tackle the unique challenges faced by "Accidental CEOs."

Pete spent decades in tech marketing before launching his own firm, B2B Clarity, right during the pandemic. Today, he shares...

Welcome back to another episode of Leaders in Tech! In this episode, host David Mansilla sits down with Bill Phillips, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and former Chief Information Officer (CIO) of University Health in San Antonio,...

Welcome to another episode of the Leaders in Tech podcast! In this episode, host David Mansilla sits down with Nicholas Hien, the Chief Information Officer at Dollarama and Executive Vice President at Dollar City.

Nick shares his fascinating, unconventional journey from studying operations manage...

In a world where tech leaders jump ship every two years, Jake Blough (CTO of Service Express) has spent a quarter-century building a legacy from the ground up. Starting in a family auto shop and eventually entering Service Express in shipping and receiving, Jake’s journey is a masterclass in stewardship, grit, and technical innovation.

Today, Jake oversees Supply Chain, Data Science, and R&D for a global leader in datacen...

In this episode of the Leaders in Tech podcast, host David Mansilla sits down with Kin Lee-Yow, CIO of CAA Club Group. Kin oversees the technological backbone of an organization obsessed with member safety—from roadside assistance to complex insurance underwriting through CAA Insurance and Echelon Insurance.

Kin shares his personal "immigrant success story," moving from the tropical climate of Mauritius to the University of W...

In 1998, Miloš Topić arrived in the U.S. with two suitcases and zero English. Today, he is the VP and Chief Digital Officer at a major university, leading thousands. How do you close that gap?

In this episode, we explore the "Refugee Grit" mindset—an unfair advantage that allows leaders to thrive in chaos and innovate when there is no roadmap. We’re breaking down a "golden nugget" from the Leaders in Tech podcast that re...

In this episode of "Leaders in Tech," host David Mansilla sits down with Vivek Vaidya, General Partner at Superset, to pull back the curtain on the "Company Builder" model. Vivek shares his 25-year journey from surviving the .com crash to overseeing massive exits to Microsoft and Salesforce.

If you are a founder or tech leader, this conversation is a masterclass in Founder-Market Fit, "clock speed," and the grit required to turn a r...

The world is changing at an exponential rate. By 2030, two billion jobs will be transformed or displaced. Are you prepared to bridge the gap between innovation and adoption, or will you fall into it?

In this "Golden Nuggets" highlight, we’re extracting the high-level leadership blueprint from John Rathje, VP and CIO of Kent State University. John oversees the tech strategy for a top-tier R1 research powerhouse—the same p...

What does it take to lead through forty years of digital revolution? In this episode of Leaders in Tech, host David Mansilla sits down with technology consultant Adrian Smith to trace his journey from the "school of hard knocks" to the high-stakes world of global consulting.

Adrian shares the incredible story of how he went from a summer job loading half-inch tapes to building the groundbreaking videotex systems that powered the Lon...

In this episode of Leaders in Tech, host David Mansilla talks with Adrian Smith, the tech head (CIO) of the London business consulting firm AdSatis. Adrian, who has helped banks and financial companies for decades, shares a strong warning about modern technology: it's incredibly fast, but also surprisingly easy to break.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The Power of Experience: Why managers who have seen years of booms and crashes are cruci...

In this episode of Leaders in Tech, we sit down with George London, Chief Technology Officer at Upwave, to explore how data and science are transforming the world of brand advertising. From his early career at Bridgewater Associates to leading Upwave’s engineering and data teams, George shares how curiosity, adaptability, and people-centered leadership shaped his journey.

Discover how Upwave brings “science to the top of...

In this episode of Leaders in Tech with David Mansilla, we sit down with Jonathan Cook (JC), a pioneering technology leader with over 25 years of experience in cloud innovation, healthcare data platforms, and enterprise-scale system design.

From his early days as a “coding cowboy” to becoming a visionary CTO, Jonathan shares how he bridges the gap between technology and business value, builds strong cultures, and leads t...