Sudhakar Virupakshi
CIO
Buckeye Partners
Sudhakar Virupakshi (“SV”) is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Buckeye. SV joined Buckeye in 2021 and brings over 20 years of comprehensive technology and business knowledge from multiple industries, domains, and continents.
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I have 20+ years of progressive experience along with real-world perspectives on best practices and intimate knowledge of systems, data, and processes, and this has helped me lead business transformations that are secure, scalable, and sustainable and transform businesses to a new digital age. I believe technology is a core capability to help organizations achieve their overall goals and progress in today’s complex and competitive environment.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I have three:
- Foster a culture of innovation
- Lead, motivate, authorize and energize
- Harnessing the true power of technology
With disruption being a key theme of recent years, where do you see the CIO role going in the next 1-2 years?
CIOs in today's world wear multiple hats and play a very important role in implementing and sustaining continuous digital transformation. A good leader should do things such as assess the organization’s digital maturity at regular intervals; adjust the operating/delivery models; create and map the customer viewpoint; conduct outside-in analysis to ensure every investment is a value addition to both internal and external customers; lead, motivate, authorize and energize enterprise change to make change effective and last long; and be a proactive champion for innovation and disruptive influences to ensure CIO success.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a CIO?
As technology executives, I think one of the biggest opportunities we have is to be champions for revenue growth rather than cost savings. Technology is not about cost savings, rather a capability and value-adding engine of your business in the new digital era. I think all IT leaders should bring this mindset to the organization and educate the organization on this. Also, develop trusted partnerships within and outside your organization to ensure you as technology leader not only have a seat at the table, but also have a voice and influence at the table.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I am an avid motorcyclist.
- I speak 5 languages.
- I am a passionate Cricket player.
What is the value of joining an Evanta community?
It is a great experience to connect and share knowledge with your peers. Evanta provides a neutral platform for the benefit of everyone. Thank you Evanta and Gartner.
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