RJ Juliano

SVP, Chief Information & Marketing Officer at Parkway Corporation

Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself

Professionally, I create environments where people want to work and customers and stakeholders want to do business. My business card says I am currently Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Parkway Corporation, based in Philadelphia. Day to day, I am responsible for IT, marketing, customer experience, and product development, among other key roles.

What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?

I thought I wanted to be a physicist, but life had better plans for me. I worked my way up as a programmer, network engineer, DBA, and many of the other front-line IT roles. Along the way, I worked in both consulting and corporate roles in private and public companies. That combined breadth and depth of functional and organizational experience shaped my fuller view of the landscape. In about 2007, I took on Chief Marketing Officer responsibilities for the first time and that leap across the wall was one of the most pivotal moments in my career. I have had the pleasure of creating the CIO and CMO roles a couple of times for companies and enjoy working in uncertainty!

Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?

Originally, I expected to be a techie, not an executive. However, I found businesses (investment management, real estate) that I enjoyed even more than technology. Finding workplaces doing work I enjoyed really ignited a passion, and my career accelerated beyond my expectations. Moreover, I found that I enjoyed mentoring and growing people in both my team and others. That made me unusual among the technical talent and also accelerated my path to leadership roles.

Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey?

Bud Bentley was the CIO I reported to in the late 1990s who taught me by example that the business, not technology, was the truly important focus of the role. He also taught me how to “run air cover” for the team to support them and “swing a machete” to clear obstacles to success.

How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?

I am already participating in that evolution. Marketing, operational excellence, product development, customer experience, partner relations are all part of my job. The modern CIO is no longer fenced in with boundaries. They must contribute actively to other key leadership functions in the business. It’s not about a “seat at the table,” it’s about designing and delivering the table.

What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?

Leaders will need to be inquisitive, flexible, caring, and fully aware of their own ethical and moral compass. Complexity and opportunity are going to increase, and the leader of tomorrow will be able to read and adapt to rapid changes in people, technology, and businesses. In a rapidly changing world, we had better understand our own core values before jumping into uncertainty.

How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?

I am an avid reader. I also rely on 360 degrees of relationships and ask many questions from peers, technical staff, and other experts. You can’t know everything, but you can know who to ask and who to trust.

What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?

Customers and employees will always drive expectations so what they want and demand will always drive change. Increasingly, they expect real-time access to personalized information and analysis and functionality everywhere. AI and augmented reality are just the next expressions of that trend. Some legacy physical businesses, like real estate and parking, will be challenged to understand and engage with customers (and employees) at the speed and volume they expect. I have been working on this for years, and it will continue to drive changes in our industries.

“Know and be true to your values.”

If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?

Never try to be or pretend to be someone you aren’t.

Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?

I can positively influence next-generation leaders and there are even more opportunities beyond IT and Marketing for me to lead. I am actively working to ensure I do both.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

Create more truly open dialog and bring people in from the polar extremes of ideology.

A big thank you to RJ Juliano from Parkway Corporation for sharing his journey to date.