Spotlight on Rajeev Sukumaran

Rajeev Sukumaran is the VP, CIO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA. Boehringer Ingelheim is a global, research-driven pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company. He is a seasoned technology leader with 25+ years of experience driving business transformation across pharmaceutical and technology services industries.

A fun fact about Rajeev is that in his very first job he was not only responsible for software installation and support but also hiring the entire department of technicians. Looking back, this was one of the most impactful experiences and a steep learning curve, strengthening technology and leadership skills simultaneously.

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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.

Resourcefulness and resilience are a natural outcome of growing up in India. This helped me navigate roles spanning software installation and support, network communications and security, infrastructure management, application support and integration to large scale initiatives such as IT strategy, ERP/MES and commercial transformation. Even though paths are never predictable or linear, my guiding thread of "what outcome(s) needs to be achieved and how to deliver sustainably at scale?" pulled each move into a series of building blocks.
 

What is one of your guiding leadership principles?

Leave things better than you found them. Technologists are change agents, so be thoughtful and ensure meaningful change.
 

What is the greatest challenge CIOs face today, and how are you addressing it?

The challenge is that the rate of change around us creates the fallacy that everything around us is changing at once and our only choice is to react immediately. I strive to create clarity, push for thoughtful direction, and a culture of learning by being oriented towards our purpose.
 

What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CIO?

Listening, empathizing, and delivering. Understanding the meaning of "the buck stops here" within the culture that one is part of, translating that for the technology organization to help create clarity of purpose and empowering them to deliver are all crucial aspects of success.
 

How do you measure success as a leader?

Success for me is derived from how well we deliver, how team members grow and develop, and whether we have an open and collaborative culture with the business colleagues that we support. Stakeholder feedback usually indicates where we need to improve.
 

What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?

It is an invaluable opportunity to network with other senior leaders and learn as well as share insights, especially in this environment of accelerating change and information overload.
 

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