April 29, 2026 • 22 mins
Gabie Boko is the Chief Marketing Officer at NetApp. She has spent over 22 years in the technology industry and led transformations in senior marketing roles for companies including Cognos, SAP, Sage and HPE. Her experience has focused on connecting customer success to innovative experiences in software applications and cloud services, digital marketing and websites, customer storytelling, product UX and events. Born and raised in Alaska, Ms. Boko is an avid outdoors person, wildlife photographer and advocate for protecting our natural resources and rural communities.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was born and raised in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And before you interrupt and say I have never known
anybody who was born and raised in Alaska, I think
there's actually more of us than that people count on.
But yeah, I was born and raised in Alaska. My
parents were teachers, and they were recruited to go there
out of college. And I was really blessed to grow
up in a state that prided itself on education, on learning,
(00:24):
on experience, being outdoors.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm just really proud of the state that I come from.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So, and I went to school in a lot of
different places because my parents were teachers. My parents really
wanted me to experience college in a variety of places,
mostly because they wanted me to experience different learning environments.
So I went to college at a lot of different
places South Carolina, Washington, California, and Alaska.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But I do have a degree, so in case anybody else.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's comical when we talk to people that have been
in business long time in the lead companies about, you know,
what they wanted to do coming out of school, what
the plan was to what they're doing today, and some
are right on the button and some are just all
over the place because there's so many different paths out there.
What did you want to do when you were coming
out of school?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's so true.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I believe, you know, I wanted to be a lawyer,
probably in part because of Perry Mason and you know,
all the other lawyer shows that were out there at
the time. But I found that just in interning and
being a paralegal and everything else, that it really wasn't
for me. I went to you know, started and stopped
(01:38):
because I just found that it wasn't how I wanted
to think. It wasn't how I wanted to make decisions,
and it wasn't how I wanted to participate in life.
My mother was quite disappointed by this. He handed me
a newspaper.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
By the way, you're not the first person to disappoint
their parents, So.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I think she thought I was I was going to
do I was going to go backwards and maybe not
be successful. But I think I surprised her and ended
up being successful. But she said, you know, go find
something you love. Here's a newspaper, because in Alaska we
still had newspapers at that time.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
She's like, go find a job.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And I took a job actually at out of a
Seattle newspaper that was forwarded from Arizona. At a little
company called Insight, which is a partner of net apps today,
and I worked in a division of theirs, and I
got by a marketing bug and sela VI, I mean
tech was it? I wanted to be in tech. I
(02:34):
found the energy in that and I'd never looked back.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Well, I can already tell about the passion you have
for the industry, and that's kind of a common theme
when we talk to leaders of companies, having the passion
to lead a company or create one. You know, as
I look, Gabe at your incredible resume, you know, SAP, Sage, HP,
You've worked at some incredible companies. And before we talk
about a net app, I'd like to maybe kind of
(02:59):
roll everything to get there and your experiences at some
really big companies leading to the one you've been at
for four plus years. What was the experience like jumping
to different big companies like that?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you know, my I think when people look at
my resume they're like, oh, you're a big company girl.
I actually didn't start off as a big company girl.
I started off in startups because remember I was I
was so bit by the tech bug. I knew I
was going to take one that hit and I was
going to be a bajillionaire and life was going to
be over and it was going to be amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
That is not how it happened.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I found that all of the small companies I participated
in and quite honestly, was not successful at I made
bad choices.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I learned a lot about my craft.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I learned about how to sell to a board, I
learned about how to sell to a customer. I learned
about what things worked and didn't work. So all of
the failures really led to one that hit, and that
was OutlookSoft, and that company turned me onto going into
you know, got acquired by SAP, and then the story
got wrote. I stayed in big companies because I felt
(04:01):
like I had learned my craft, but I didn't learn.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
How to do it in a big company environment.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And what a big company environment really demonstrates to you
is how do you learn how to collaborate? How do
you integrate? How do you how do you partner to
get something done? How do you create momentum in a
market that feels uncreatable because you are the market right.
So I really wanted to learn that, and that's that's
really what sip HPE stage was about. I think it
(04:27):
was a reinvention of self, maybe a reinvention of the craft,
a reinvention of falling in love with tech. Every single
one of those was I have to love this tech
before I get into it, and I fell in love
with the tech at every single one.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, let's talk a little bit about your journey now
at NetApp. As we talked about, your resume is really cool.
It's there's so many different things you've done, and I
can see why ned app was interested in you. But
why were you interested in joining that company?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
You know, I want to I all through my career,
I really like to be first. I wanted to be
I picked based on technology. I picked based on what
it could provide me. How I grew and METAP was
the same kind of choice. I was at HP at
the time and I kept saying no to the recruiter
who was calling me. I was like, I'm really happy here,
super happy. Leave me alone. It's like, just please take
(05:18):
one call. And I took one call and that turned
into four calls and turned into a conversation with George
Currey and the CEO and I was like, all right.
I remember walking out and talking to a loved one
and saying, I am bit and this is bad. I
was not expecting to get bitten by this one. But
that comes back to that I like to be first. Right,
(05:38):
what netup is doing for us is and for the
world of data infrastructure is the same kind of inflection
point they want to be first. They're telling a story
about evolution from just storage in data management into data infrastructure,
which is.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
At the core of an AI era.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, you can't do the compute volumete volumes that you need,
You can't make all of the decisions or utiliz the
AI workloads that you need to utilize unless you paid
attention to what's happening with your data, where it lives,
how it's moving, and if you have enough capacity to
even manage AI.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So I thought that that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I thought it was going to be exciting to change
their narrative from one that we were lovingly referred to
as a brand of commas into being something intentional and
focused on bringing intelligence to your data infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
We call it intelligent data infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And it's fun being part of a company who is
rebuilding themselves but also rebuilding the backbone of everything that's
happening in AI. So you know, and honestly, I just
I wanted the opportunity and I'm glad they gave it
to me. I want to be the one to bring
that story to scale.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I'd like to talk about your ascension too, because you
came in as senior vice president portfolio marketing. Correct me
if I'm wrong, and then you've as send it to
a really incredible position. When you came to the company,
you obviously knew what you wanted. They knew what they
wanted out of you. Was the plan that you did
want to ascend it and have a much larger role.
And if so, why, you know, I think there's always
a plan. You always have the belief that you can ascend.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
They probably thought that I would be a good interviewee.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
At the time.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I don't think that there was a prescribed plan. But again,
I think that's career path and I think that that's
coming into a company and deciding what you want and
then doing it. I think for CMOS or for anybody
in marketing, and my job is portfolio marketing, it was
making a difference and making it very quickly. I especially
think that AI and in the ear we are in
(07:30):
right now in tech is that the faster you can
get into market and the faster you can enact change,
the faster you are going to be recognized and your
company is going to be recognized.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And I think that that's what happened to me.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I made some bold moves, I made some strategic changes,
and honestly I started clicking with the leadership and.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
It was just something that felt like a good move
for both of us. I wish it had been planned,
but I think it was.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It was It was an excellent outcome to some that
neither one of us had planned, but felt like it
was a good move.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah. We hear that story a lot that sometimes organically
it just happens. There's no plan there, and then it
just happens for the best, and that's really cool. Before
we talk about all the programs and capabilities that you
have in NetApp and also what you do there, I'd
like to talk about mission and vision. I know to
most companies, especially what you do for a living with
your team is very important. Can you talk about mission
and vision?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I'll start with me first, because I think that's
really important because if I can't do it for myself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think it's really hard to do it for the company.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
My personal mission is to prove what marketing can do
when it has a seed at the strategic table. That's
brand to demand, but that's also position. Marketing needs to
be the part of the company that helps make a market,
that helps define a direction, that helps define trajectory. And
so if I can't do that for myself personally, then
(08:51):
I think it's really hard to do that as a leader.
And that really transcends into what I believe the mission
statement that we created for net app is right. Goal
is to remove the friction between data and innovation. That's
netap's north star.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That's the.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Genesis and the emphasis of what intelligent data infrastructure brings.
It's about making data accessible, protected, able to move, and
ready to be at the availability of anything you need
to do with at any workload. That gets back to
the personal mission, right, I really like things that connect
to each other, maybe concentric circles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
If If I believe that my goal is to be
a strategic driver, then I really do believe that us
creating this mission for netap is is the best example
of me being a leader and best example of my
mission coming to life through what mission we've created for
the company.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, I love that. That's very real said, and you're
touching on a little bit. But I know a lot
of our listeners are very familiar with NetApp. For the
ones that aren't, if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view about exactly what you do, what would
you tell people?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I have to start with that we're the intelligent Data
Infrastructure company and that we're here to help your company manage,
move and secure your data, whether no.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Matter where it sits.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It could be in a data center, it could be
in the cloud, it could be in a hybrid environment.
But we really believe and are committed to helping you
make the most of your data strategy. And that is
so important for every company today because, as I said,
in the AI era, everybody needs needs to understand where
their data is, how to secure it, how to protect it,
(10:24):
how to grow it. So at the core of what
we believe in is data. That's why it's the middle
of those three words.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Support and services, programs, capabilities. I know that a lot,
and I know we can't tack all of them, but
if you could do me a favor, right, you know,
whether it's what your clients really need today, what you're
most proud of. I'm sure you're proud of all your
products out there, but could you go over some of
them for us? So what you offer everybody?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I think when we talk about data infrastructure, we're not
just talking about storage, which is what we're renowned for.
We're really talking about the layer that sits above that.
Data infrastructure is something that is unified that it adds
intelligent as embedded AI, embedded security, security, and really allows
you to say that everything we've thought of, we thought
(11:09):
about it because we built it in.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
We are not bolting it on.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We want everything to be seamless and accessible and secure.
So when we think about AI, we're thinking about AI
not as an add on. We're building it in. When
we think about security, we're not thinking about it as
an add on or a bolt on. We're thinking about
it built in. A lot of partners of ours were
actually customers before us. Quite frankly, the NFL, dream Works,
(11:34):
ASID Martin, they were all customers before they were actually
let's say sponsors, And that really to me tells the
kind of value that intelligent data infrastructure has it is.
It is something that is part of everybody's how they build,
how they dream, how they design. And that's what I
love about those stories I just gave you, and that
(11:57):
is proof on that built in, not bolted on. So
I think that's kind of what separates us. I think
that kind of encapsulates what our key components are. But
you know, honestly, that's us in a nutshell, and why
and how we chase value and not just the transaction.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
What kind of challenges present themselves in the industry currently
right now for you and your.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Team, I think it's the same challenges as everybody else.
But I would say that the one that we're more
focused on is speed. I would say it's I think
the pace has changed. Where you were looking at maybe
eighteen to twenty four month cycles, you're looking at six
to twelve. Now, that's an incredible pace of change. I
think security is also another one. And while all of
(12:38):
these do come back to data, I think that both
of those together demand a different kind of architecture, not
just from technology, but it demands a different kind of
business model. I think those people who are or those
marketers even let's just stick with my own practice. If
you're not thinking about of AI in your marketing practice,
(12:59):
then you are not thinking about your marketing model and how.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You need to proceed.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
If it's if you're in technology or you want to
buy technology, and you're not thinking about what you need
to do with your data or how you need to
secure it, then you're not thinking about how AI is
going to have an impact on your business model. So
I think that the speed of everything is changing, and
I think security is the biggest kind of outlier, not outlier,
but board level imperative. Now that is no longer an
(13:24):
outlier that demands a stronger data practice.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
For people like me, Layman. AI is in the news
all the time and I hear about it. I use
all the different things that people can use them for
simple things, and I know AI has been around for
a long time, but it really has ramped up in
the last five years. Obviously, it's a big part of
what you and your team do, and I'm sure everything
is fluid without going too deep into AI, how is
(13:47):
it integrated with your customers and your team? How to
use it and what are you excited about?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I use AI and the way that I've asked my
team to think about AI is totally in line with
how our company thinks about it. We want it to
become an embedded part of how we think and how
we drive our business forward. We don't want it to
just be an experiment on the side. You know, if
you're a marketer, think think of the think of the
KPIs of you know, like they're ninety five million Instagram
(14:15):
posts a day, right, There's there's hundreds of thousands of
hours of video a day that we have to process
and that's all. Some of them are AI driven, some
of them are physically built. But when you think about
that volume that's coming at you, then you need an
AI response mechanism built into your your business model. But
you also need to be able to be able to
(14:37):
answer that with the same level of content and the
same level of reporting. So you know, I believe that
means I have to earn my seat at the table
every single day. Quite frankly, I believe that AI and
data infrastructure is part of my model that I think
about as a CMO, I have to think about that
for my company.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
My company thinks about it.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That means if I'm thinking about it, my company's thinking
about it. Hopefully we're ahead of where our customers are
thinking about it and we can become good examples for them.
You know, honestly, it's it's about if we talked about
this being in security that we talked about before, how
do you preserve the impact of the relationship, not just
(15:15):
the technology. And I think that that's at the core
of you know, how to deal with AI, it's the
core of the relationship. How do you change your business
model and how are you able to internalize at every
single level of your organization, from the you, to the
business to the customer.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No client names have to be mentioned here, because I
know sometimes you can be in the super secret business.
That's fine, But I do love to ask this question
about this is why we get up every morning to
change lives with companies and our partners and our clients
out there. You've been there for a while now, and
I'm sure you've got some incredible success stories. Is there
one that sticks out or maybe a few that you
could share with us about saying, you know what, we
(15:50):
really did make a difference today with a client and
this is why we get up every day. Can you
share one with us?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I can.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I'm going to share two. I could share a couple,
but please let's go. Let's go with the ESA, the
European Space Agency. This is one that just makes me
super excited. Right when you think about when you think
about the volumes and petabytes of data, you know, it
can feel enormous and something that isn't approachable. But when
you talk to the ESA, the European Space Agency, it's
(16:17):
really how they're keeping all of their data secure and
also how that's enabling them to do more discovery, discovery
of new galaxies, discoveries of new stars, and making it
available so that everybody can explore space. And the passion
that these people have for the universe is just I mean,
(16:39):
they actually call that, they call it the universe. Their
database of the universe is just spectacular. So that's one
that's really exciting. And then one that feels probably a
little closer to home for a lot of people is
the NFL. You know, when you're managing petabytes of video
and security across stadiums hearing games.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
We just did it for the Super Bowl with them.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean that also is something that just feels like, hey, listen,
we're the third man on the field hopefully for them,
and that gets exciting for us too. So you know,
when we think about all of our customers DreamWorks I
mentioned before, Aston Martin I mentioned before, you know, the
Children's Cancer Institute. There are so many ways that our
customers are changing lives, having fun, creating a future for
(17:21):
all of us. That's what I get passionate about every
single day. And that's why, you know, when I think
about the power of data, the power of data is
behind all of that, and it's just making them successful.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's that's what makes me get up in the morning.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
You know, as you were listening some of your clients,
I think there's a coolness factor because I know a
lot of different companies that do similar things to you
do that they work with government agencies. But the variety
of clients you have must make it a lot of
fun because it's always different every day. I imagine it is.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
It is, and you know what the stories are, what
are what keep you coming back. It's it's important to
note that when we're in technology, right, you can my
boss calls it nerd nobbing out right when you when
you get in you can like totally seek out and
you can go into the and you talk. You can
get into every single widget, every single feature function. But
if you can elevate that story to something it's like,
(18:08):
well what are you doing? Like how would I explain
this to my mother? That's where you really see them
like get these little grins on their faces and that
that's the kind of stuff that makes us excited every
day because we see it. We're excited about the technology.
But when you see them grin and when they want
to explain it, then they then you know you've connected
and you've got magic.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I love the analogy. I don't know about you, but
I'm tech support from my mother and my mother in
law all the time. Every day, I'm on call twenty
four seven, three sixty five, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's the way, and they got to understand it too,
So you've got to.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Find ways to tell them that's right that I love
that analogy. I did want to talk to you just
for a moment. And philanthropic and charity work I know
is important to a lot of companies out there, and I
imagine you and your company are nee deeping it. When
you have time to be a part of it, what
do you like to be a part of their We.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We sponsor several different agencies and several different companies, but
we're really focused on training the next generation. We want
to give them access to data. We want them to
learn and to be the data explorers. And so that's
really what we're focused on in our charities but also
our give back work. And you know, we really tie
that back to our brand campaign, which is about unleashing genius.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
For us, it's not just a tagline.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Every person brings something irreplaceable, but that idea about unleashing genius.
It starts young, and we want to foster that in
our youth. We want to be part of the direction
of how they think and how they're going to continue
to grow this for when we're not here. And so
that's you know, the data explorers and how we continue
to show up with our partners like the forty nine
(19:40):
ers in bringing that to life with Steam and STEM.
That's that's a really exciting part of what we do
and how we bring our brand to life as the
Intelligent Data Infrastructure Company.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Well, I love that, and I think it's an excellent
segue to talk about leadership. A lot of things you've
talked about our leadership. You do have a team. You
mentioned them, what that said, is I mentioned the word
leader to you, how do you execute it and what
does it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I believe in really making myself available, you know, I
think it's it's interesting as women in tech sometimes we
get so focused on doing the job, but we are
the standard bearer of the women around us. So I'm
personally committed to making room not just for women, but
anybody who feels underrepresented. My door is always open. I
(20:23):
take a lot of meetings. I like to answer the questions.
I don't always have the answers. I just like to
be the ear. I like to continue to foster the
thinking and the personal development because you know, after I've
I've been in this space for a really long time.
I'm not going to tell you how long, because I
hope that I look like I'm twelve. But it's this
industry can feel so representative some on some days and
(20:47):
so underrepresented at other days, and so I just I
want to continue to drive technology forward in representing the
best that every single person who's in tech has to offer.
And that's really what I'm committed to, and both in
terms of how I lead, how I mentor, and how
I like to show up and participate even with my.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Boss that'd standing, well, let's do this. I want to
get some final thoughts from you. We're going to give
the website to everybody, but let's kind of recap what
we talked about, just some final thoughts from you. The
floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Be first in the pool, be bold, be curious, you know,
do the things that matter, and quite frankly, you know,
don't be afraid.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Marketing and technology is about risk. Jump in the water.
Is just fine. No.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I like that you say that because I got advice
a long time ago as a program director and on
air host in my industry and radio, and my boss said,
you know what, stop fretting over things and just run
a play and then we'll deal with it afterwards. I
think that's kind of what you're saying, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
It absolutely is right. We're looking for people, and we
are continuing to push our own selves to say, hey,
if you don't try, you're never going to. You see
it succeed, and if it fails, then you'd learn something
and you can go try again.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
That's well said. What's your website for everybody?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
NetApp dot com? The technology, customer stories and everything we.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Talked about are all up on and just as a reminder,
because we are the intelligent data infrastructure company you know what,
we really would love it if you would come check
us out to see how we can help you unlease genius.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I love that you have a great website. Your team
put together a great website, easy to navigate, lots of
information out there, folks. It's just fantastic. Jabie. I can't
tell you how much I appreciate your time. I know
that you're very busy. Please get my best to your
team and I'm glad we could feature you on the program.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Thanks so much, Dennis
I was born and raised in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And before you interrupt and say I have never known
anybody who was born and raised in Alaska, I think
there's actually more of us than that people count on.
But yeah, I was born and raised in Alaska. My
parents were teachers, and they were recruited to go there
out of college. And I was really blessed to grow
up in a state that prided itself on education, on learning,
(00:24):
on experience, being outdoors.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm just really proud of the state that I come from.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So, and I went to school in a lot of
different places because my parents were teachers. My parents really
wanted me to experience college in a variety of places,
mostly because they wanted me to experience different learning environments.
So I went to college at a lot of different
places South Carolina, Washington, California, and Alaska.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But I do have a degree, so in case anybody else.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's comical when we talk to people that have been
in business long time in the lead companies about, you know,
what they wanted to do coming out of school, what
the plan was to what they're doing today, and some
are right on the button and some are just all
over the place because there's so many different paths out there.
What did you want to do when you were coming
out of school?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's so true.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I believe, you know, I wanted to be a lawyer,
probably in part because of Perry Mason and you know,
all the other lawyer shows that were out there at
the time. But I found that just in interning and
being a paralegal and everything else, that it really wasn't
for me. I went to you know, started and stopped
(01:38):
because I just found that it wasn't how I wanted
to think. It wasn't how I wanted to make decisions,
and it wasn't how I wanted to participate in life.
My mother was quite disappointed by this. He handed me
a newspaper.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
By the way, you're not the first person to disappoint
their parents, So.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I think she thought I was I was going to
do I was going to go backwards and maybe not
be successful. But I think I surprised her and ended
up being successful. But she said, you know, go find
something you love. Here's a newspaper, because in Alaska we
still had newspapers at that time.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
She's like, go find a job.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And I took a job actually at out of a
Seattle newspaper that was forwarded from Arizona. At a little
company called Insight, which is a partner of net apps today,
and I worked in a division of theirs, and I
got by a marketing bug and sela VI, I mean
tech was it? I wanted to be in tech. I
(02:34):
found the energy in that and I'd never looked back.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Well, I can already tell about the passion you have
for the industry, and that's kind of a common theme
when we talk to leaders of companies, having the passion
to lead a company or create one. You know, as
I look, Gabe at your incredible resume, you know, SAP, Sage, HP,
You've worked at some incredible companies. And before we talk
about a net app, I'd like to maybe kind of
(02:59):
roll everything to get there and your experiences at some
really big companies leading to the one you've been at
for four plus years. What was the experience like jumping
to different big companies like that?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you know, my I think when people look at
my resume they're like, oh, you're a big company girl.
I actually didn't start off as a big company girl.
I started off in startups because remember I was I
was so bit by the tech bug. I knew I
was going to take one that hit and I was
going to be a bajillionaire and life was going to
be over and it was going to be amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
That is not how it happened.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I found that all of the small companies I participated
in and quite honestly, was not successful at I made
bad choices.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I learned a lot about my craft.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I learned about how to sell to a board, I
learned about how to sell to a customer. I learned
about what things worked and didn't work. So all of
the failures really led to one that hit, and that
was OutlookSoft, and that company turned me onto going into
you know, got acquired by SAP, and then the story
got wrote. I stayed in big companies because I felt
(04:01):
like I had learned my craft, but I didn't learn.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
How to do it in a big company environment.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And what a big company environment really demonstrates to you
is how do you learn how to collaborate? How do
you integrate? How do you how do you partner to
get something done? How do you create momentum in a
market that feels uncreatable because you are the market right.
So I really wanted to learn that, and that's that's
really what sip HPE stage was about. I think it
(04:27):
was a reinvention of self, maybe a reinvention of the craft,
a reinvention of falling in love with tech. Every single
one of those was I have to love this tech
before I get into it, and I fell in love
with the tech at every single one.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, let's talk a little bit about your journey now
at NetApp. As we talked about, your resume is really cool.
It's there's so many different things you've done, and I
can see why ned app was interested in you. But
why were you interested in joining that company?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
You know, I want to I all through my career,
I really like to be first. I wanted to be
I picked based on technology. I picked based on what
it could provide me. How I grew and METAP was
the same kind of choice. I was at HP at
the time and I kept saying no to the recruiter
who was calling me. I was like, I'm really happy here,
super happy. Leave me alone. It's like, just please take
(05:18):
one call. And I took one call and that turned
into four calls and turned into a conversation with George
Currey and the CEO and I was like, all right.
I remember walking out and talking to a loved one
and saying, I am bit and this is bad. I
was not expecting to get bitten by this one. But
that comes back to that I like to be first. Right,
(05:38):
what netup is doing for us is and for the
world of data infrastructure is the same kind of inflection
point they want to be first. They're telling a story
about evolution from just storage in data management into data infrastructure,
which is.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
At the core of an AI era.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, you can't do the compute volumete volumes that you need,
You can't make all of the decisions or utiliz the
AI workloads that you need to utilize unless you paid
attention to what's happening with your data, where it lives,
how it's moving, and if you have enough capacity to
even manage AI.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So I thought that that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I thought it was going to be exciting to change
their narrative from one that we were lovingly referred to
as a brand of commas into being something intentional and
focused on bringing intelligence to your data infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
We call it intelligent data infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And it's fun being part of a company who is
rebuilding themselves but also rebuilding the backbone of everything that's
happening in AI. So you know, and honestly, I just
I wanted the opportunity and I'm glad they gave it
to me. I want to be the one to bring
that story to scale.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I'd like to talk about your ascension too, because you
came in as senior vice president portfolio marketing. Correct me
if I'm wrong, and then you've as send it to
a really incredible position. When you came to the company,
you obviously knew what you wanted. They knew what they
wanted out of you. Was the plan that you did
want to ascend it and have a much larger role.
And if so, why, you know, I think there's always
a plan. You always have the belief that you can ascend.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
They probably thought that I would be a good interviewee.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
At the time.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I don't think that there was a prescribed plan. But again,
I think that's career path and I think that that's
coming into a company and deciding what you want and
then doing it. I think for CMOS or for anybody
in marketing, and my job is portfolio marketing, it was
making a difference and making it very quickly. I especially
think that AI and in the ear we are in
(07:30):
right now in tech is that the faster you can
get into market and the faster you can enact change,
the faster you are going to be recognized and your
company is going to be recognized.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And I think that that's what happened to me.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I made some bold moves, I made some strategic changes,
and honestly I started clicking with the leadership and.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
It was just something that felt like a good move
for both of us. I wish it had been planned,
but I think it was.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It was It was an excellent outcome to some that
neither one of us had planned, but felt like it
was a good move.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah. We hear that story a lot that sometimes organically
it just happens. There's no plan there, and then it
just happens for the best, and that's really cool. Before
we talk about all the programs and capabilities that you
have in NetApp and also what you do there, I'd
like to talk about mission and vision. I know to
most companies, especially what you do for a living with
your team is very important. Can you talk about mission
and vision?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I'll start with me first, because I think that's
really important because if I can't do it for myself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think it's really hard to do it for the company.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
My personal mission is to prove what marketing can do
when it has a seed at the strategic table. That's
brand to demand, but that's also position. Marketing needs to
be the part of the company that helps make a market,
that helps define a direction, that helps define trajectory. And
so if I can't do that for myself personally, then
(08:51):
I think it's really hard to do that as a leader.
And that really transcends into what I believe the mission
statement that we created for net app is right. Goal
is to remove the friction between data and innovation. That's
netap's north star.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That's the.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Genesis and the emphasis of what intelligent data infrastructure brings.
It's about making data accessible, protected, able to move, and
ready to be at the availability of anything you need
to do with at any workload. That gets back to
the personal mission, right, I really like things that connect
to each other, maybe concentric circles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
If If I believe that my goal is to be
a strategic driver, then I really do believe that us
creating this mission for netap is is the best example
of me being a leader and best example of my
mission coming to life through what mission we've created for
the company.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, I love that. That's very real said, and you're
touching on a little bit. But I know a lot
of our listeners are very familiar with NetApp. For the
ones that aren't, if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view about exactly what you do, what would
you tell people?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I have to start with that we're the intelligent Data
Infrastructure company and that we're here to help your company manage,
move and secure your data, whether no.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Matter where it sits.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It could be in a data center, it could be
in the cloud, it could be in a hybrid environment.
But we really believe and are committed to helping you
make the most of your data strategy. And that is
so important for every company today because, as I said,
in the AI era, everybody needs needs to understand where
their data is, how to secure it, how to protect it,
(10:24):
how to grow it. So at the core of what
we believe in is data. That's why it's the middle
of those three words.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Support and services, programs, capabilities. I know that a lot,
and I know we can't tack all of them, but
if you could do me a favor, right, you know,
whether it's what your clients really need today, what you're
most proud of. I'm sure you're proud of all your
products out there, but could you go over some of
them for us? So what you offer everybody?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I think when we talk about data infrastructure, we're not
just talking about storage, which is what we're renowned for.
We're really talking about the layer that sits above that.
Data infrastructure is something that is unified that it adds
intelligent as embedded AI, embedded security, security, and really allows
you to say that everything we've thought of, we thought
(11:09):
about it because we built it in.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
We are not bolting it on.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We want everything to be seamless and accessible and secure.
So when we think about AI, we're thinking about AI
not as an add on. We're building it in. When
we think about security, we're not thinking about it as
an add on or a bolt on. We're thinking about
it built in. A lot of partners of ours were
actually customers before us. Quite frankly, the NFL, dream Works,
(11:34):
ASID Martin, they were all customers before they were actually
let's say sponsors, And that really to me tells the
kind of value that intelligent data infrastructure has it is.
It is something that is part of everybody's how they build,
how they dream, how they design. And that's what I
love about those stories I just gave you, and that
(11:57):
is proof on that built in, not bolted on. So
I think that's kind of what separates us. I think
that kind of encapsulates what our key components are. But
you know, honestly, that's us in a nutshell, and why
and how we chase value and not just the transaction.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
What kind of challenges present themselves in the industry currently
right now for you and your.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Team, I think it's the same challenges as everybody else.
But I would say that the one that we're more
focused on is speed. I would say it's I think
the pace has changed. Where you were looking at maybe
eighteen to twenty four month cycles, you're looking at six
to twelve. Now, that's an incredible pace of change. I
think security is also another one. And while all of
(12:38):
these do come back to data, I think that both
of those together demand a different kind of architecture, not
just from technology, but it demands a different kind of
business model. I think those people who are or those
marketers even let's just stick with my own practice. If
you're not thinking about of AI in your marketing practice,
(12:59):
then you are not thinking about your marketing model and how.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You need to proceed.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
If it's if you're in technology or you want to
buy technology, and you're not thinking about what you need
to do with your data or how you need to
secure it, then you're not thinking about how AI is
going to have an impact on your business model. So
I think that the speed of everything is changing, and
I think security is the biggest kind of outlier, not outlier,
but board level imperative. Now that is no longer an
(13:24):
outlier that demands a stronger data practice.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
For people like me, Layman. AI is in the news
all the time and I hear about it. I use
all the different things that people can use them for
simple things, and I know AI has been around for
a long time, but it really has ramped up in
the last five years. Obviously, it's a big part of
what you and your team do, and I'm sure everything
is fluid without going too deep into AI, how is
(13:47):
it integrated with your customers and your team? How to
use it and what are you excited about?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I use AI and the way that I've asked my
team to think about AI is totally in line with
how our company thinks about it. We want it to
become an embedded part of how we think and how
we drive our business forward. We don't want it to
just be an experiment on the side. You know, if
you're a marketer, think think of the think of the
KPIs of you know, like they're ninety five million Instagram
(14:15):
posts a day, right, There's there's hundreds of thousands of
hours of video a day that we have to process
and that's all. Some of them are AI driven, some
of them are physically built. But when you think about
that volume that's coming at you, then you need an
AI response mechanism built into your your business model. But
you also need to be able to be able to
(14:37):
answer that with the same level of content and the
same level of reporting. So you know, I believe that
means I have to earn my seat at the table
every single day. Quite frankly, I believe that AI and
data infrastructure is part of my model that I think
about as a CMO, I have to think about that
for my company.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
My company thinks about it.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That means if I'm thinking about it, my company's thinking
about it. Hopefully we're ahead of where our customers are
thinking about it and we can become good examples for them.
You know, honestly, it's it's about if we talked about
this being in security that we talked about before, how
do you preserve the impact of the relationship, not just
(15:15):
the technology. And I think that that's at the core
of you know, how to deal with AI, it's the
core of the relationship. How do you change your business
model and how are you able to internalize at every
single level of your organization, from the you, to the
business to the customer.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No client names have to be mentioned here, because I
know sometimes you can be in the super secret business.
That's fine, But I do love to ask this question
about this is why we get up every morning to
change lives with companies and our partners and our clients
out there. You've been there for a while now, and
I'm sure you've got some incredible success stories. Is there
one that sticks out or maybe a few that you
could share with us about saying, you know what, we
(15:50):
really did make a difference today with a client and
this is why we get up every day. Can you
share one with us?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I can.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I'm going to share two. I could share a couple,
but please let's go. Let's go with the ESA, the
European Space Agency. This is one that just makes me
super excited. Right when you think about when you think
about the volumes and petabytes of data, you know, it
can feel enormous and something that isn't approachable. But when
you talk to the ESA, the European Space Agency, it's
(16:17):
really how they're keeping all of their data secure and
also how that's enabling them to do more discovery, discovery
of new galaxies, discoveries of new stars, and making it
available so that everybody can explore space. And the passion
that these people have for the universe is just I mean,
(16:39):
they actually call that, they call it the universe. Their
database of the universe is just spectacular. So that's one
that's really exciting. And then one that feels probably a
little closer to home for a lot of people is
the NFL. You know, when you're managing petabytes of video
and security across stadiums hearing games.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
We just did it for the Super Bowl with them.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean that also is something that just feels like, hey, listen,
we're the third man on the field hopefully for them,
and that gets exciting for us too. So you know,
when we think about all of our customers DreamWorks I
mentioned before, Aston Martin I mentioned before, you know, the
Children's Cancer Institute. There are so many ways that our
customers are changing lives, having fun, creating a future for
(17:21):
all of us. That's what I get passionate about every
single day. And that's why, you know, when I think
about the power of data, the power of data is
behind all of that, and it's just making them successful.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's that's what makes me get up in the morning.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
You know, as you were listening some of your clients,
I think there's a coolness factor because I know a
lot of different companies that do similar things to you
do that they work with government agencies. But the variety
of clients you have must make it a lot of
fun because it's always different every day. I imagine it is.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
It is, and you know what the stories are, what
are what keep you coming back. It's it's important to
note that when we're in technology, right, you can my
boss calls it nerd nobbing out right when you when
you get in you can like totally seek out and
you can go into the and you talk. You can
get into every single widget, every single feature function. But
if you can elevate that story to something it's like,
(18:08):
well what are you doing? Like how would I explain
this to my mother? That's where you really see them
like get these little grins on their faces and that
that's the kind of stuff that makes us excited every
day because we see it. We're excited about the technology.
But when you see them grin and when they want
to explain it, then they then you know you've connected
and you've got magic.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I love the analogy. I don't know about you, but
I'm tech support from my mother and my mother in
law all the time. Every day, I'm on call twenty
four seven, three sixty five, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's the way, and they got to understand it too,
So you've got to.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Find ways to tell them that's right that I love
that analogy. I did want to talk to you just
for a moment. And philanthropic and charity work I know
is important to a lot of companies out there, and I
imagine you and your company are nee deeping it. When
you have time to be a part of it, what
do you like to be a part of their We.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We sponsor several different agencies and several different companies, but
we're really focused on training the next generation. We want
to give them access to data. We want them to
learn and to be the data explorers. And so that's
really what we're focused on in our charities but also
our give back work. And you know, we really tie
that back to our brand campaign, which is about unleashing genius.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
For us, it's not just a tagline.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Every person brings something irreplaceable, but that idea about unleashing genius.
It starts young, and we want to foster that in
our youth. We want to be part of the direction
of how they think and how they're going to continue
to grow this for when we're not here. And so
that's you know, the data explorers and how we continue
to show up with our partners like the forty nine
(19:40):
ers in bringing that to life with Steam and STEM.
That's that's a really exciting part of what we do
and how we bring our brand to life as the
Intelligent Data Infrastructure Company.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Well, I love that, and I think it's an excellent
segue to talk about leadership. A lot of things you've
talked about our leadership. You do have a team. You
mentioned them, what that said, is I mentioned the word
leader to you, how do you execute it and what
does it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I believe in really making myself available, you know, I
think it's it's interesting as women in tech sometimes we
get so focused on doing the job, but we are
the standard bearer of the women around us. So I'm
personally committed to making room not just for women, but
anybody who feels underrepresented. My door is always open. I
(20:23):
take a lot of meetings. I like to answer the questions.
I don't always have the answers. I just like to
be the ear. I like to continue to foster the
thinking and the personal development because you know, after I've
I've been in this space for a really long time.
I'm not going to tell you how long, because I
hope that I look like I'm twelve. But it's this
industry can feel so representative some on some days and
(20:47):
so underrepresented at other days, and so I just I
want to continue to drive technology forward in representing the
best that every single person who's in tech has to offer.
And that's really what I'm committed to, and both in
terms of how I lead, how I mentor, and how
I like to show up and participate even with my.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Boss that'd standing, well, let's do this. I want to
get some final thoughts from you. We're going to give
the website to everybody, but let's kind of recap what
we talked about, just some final thoughts from you. The
floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Be first in the pool, be bold, be curious, you know,
do the things that matter, and quite frankly, you know,
don't be afraid.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Marketing and technology is about risk. Jump in the water.
Is just fine. No.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I like that you say that because I got advice
a long time ago as a program director and on
air host in my industry and radio, and my boss said,
you know what, stop fretting over things and just run
a play and then we'll deal with it afterwards. I
think that's kind of what you're saying, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
It absolutely is right. We're looking for people, and we
are continuing to push our own selves to say, hey,
if you don't try, you're never going to. You see
it succeed, and if it fails, then you'd learn something
and you can go try again.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
That's well said. What's your website for everybody?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
NetApp dot com? The technology, customer stories and everything we.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Talked about are all up on and just as a reminder,
because we are the intelligent data infrastructure company you know what,
we really would love it if you would come check
us out to see how we can help you unlease genius.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I love that you have a great website. Your team
put together a great website, easy to navigate, lots of
information out there, folks. It's just fantastic. Jabie. I can't
tell you how much I appreciate your time. I know
that you're very busy. Please get my best to your
team and I'm glad we could feature you on the program.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Thanks so much, Dennis
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