Kristy Folkwein unintentionally took a category in school meant for laptop science majors. She went to high school with the intention of following in her mom’s footsteps as an govt secretary. However that class modified her path. “I liked it. I had an affinity for it, and that is how I acquired into know-how,” she tells InformationWeek firstly of our dialog.
At the moment, Folkwein is the senior vp and CIO at ADM, an enormous participant in human and animal vitamin. She speaks to InformationWeek about how she developed her profession at three completely different firms and the way she is working to rework ADM, an organization constructed by acquisitions.
A Profession in Three Chapters
Folkwein’s first job out of school was at Ashland, a specialty chemical substances firm. “[I] grew up by means of the ranks of IT venture supervisor, main tasks, being an analyst. I did just a little growth within the early years. So, that’s the place it began,” she shares.
She considers her time at Ashland the primary chapter of her profession. As she labored her method up at that firm, her IT management abilities grew.
“I had the chance to work on an ERP transformation of SAP throughout 5 completely different enterprise models,” Folkwein recollects. “I used to be the mini CIO for the distribution firm after which the distribution firm in Valvoline.” (Ashland would later spin off Valvoline.)
She spent 17 years at Ashland earlier than transferring on to Dow Corning. The chief of the corporate approached her about stepping in as CIO, and he or she accepted. That huge change marked the start of the second chapter in her profession.
“After 17 years after which going to a brand new firm, I knew nobody,” says Folkwein. “And so it was the change administration affect, assembly individuals the place they’re, understanding that enterprise, their expertise is what made them who they had been. I discovered lots about the way you get issues performed. Empathy, the way you execute.”
Kristy Folkwein
She considers the eight years she spent at Dow as her years of honing her customer-facing abilities. “How will we assist our prospects? How will we carry worth by means of know-how in new methods by means of various kinds of net portals? The best way we work with our prospects to streamline our processes … These had been my huge learnings in these years.”
A recruiter with ADM approached Folkwein, and the timing was proper. She was prepared for the third chapter of her profession.
“I felt like all of my experiences had ready me to hopefully come to ADM and actually make a distinction in serving to [it] to rework,” says Folkwein.
Constructing the Staff at ADM
ADM is a longtime firm — in enterprise for 120 years — and it’s one which has grown by means of acquisitions. “So far as my staff goes with ADM, we’ve had a little bit of a journey on the expertise facet,” Folkwein shares.
Acquisitions carry loads of expertise collectively, however that expertise is unfold out throughout completely different capabilities, groups, and buildings. Folkwein has labored to create a extra central IT group that focuses on constant supply of the know-how and abilities vital to construct ADM’s digital future. ADM additionally works with a managed providers companion to assist its legacy programs.
“We’ve a multi-region method. We’ve individuals unfold world wide to assist our group, and we’re at present within the technique of standing up an India hub to proceed to permit us to get the dimensions we have to [provide] the IT providers our group wants,” says Folkwein.
Over the previous 9 years that Folkwein has been with ADM, the staff stands out as considered one of her biggest accomplishments.
“We’ve constructed an unimaginable IT staff that may be very dedicated to ADM,” she says. “Whereas delivering each day operations, [we are] additionally leaning into how we ship worth … by means of applied sciences like generative AI.”
Know-how Supply and Transformation
Folkwein has quite a lot of the considerations that almost all CIOs can relate to: legacy know-how and fashionable, evolving cyber threats.
“The best way issues had been developed in many years of previous, there wasn’t as a lot standardization, documentation, good IT practices. So, it retains me up at night time. Simply maintaining all of this working till we will get to extra fashionable know-how,” she says.
After which, there are the industry-specific challenges. High quality management within the vitamin area is crucial, and Folkwein’s IT group wants to make sure it has the capabilities to assist the manufacturing, monitoring, and supply of high quality merchandise within the meals area.
Proper now, Folkwein and her staff are invested in reworking ADM’s ERP system. She is at all times fascinated about how one can assist efficient enterprise operations, handle the price to serve, and supply worth.
“On the finish of the day, the large slogan is: We ship what we commit,” she says.
For Folkwein, and all CIOs, AI is now part of that equation. How can she use that know-how to ship worth for ADM?
“We’re utilizing AI to assist us to create flavors, to be extra productive, to offer info to assist our individuals within the plant,” she says. “There’re so many various potentialities.”
As she considers all the challenges and the targets her staff is tackling immediately, knowledge surfaces as an important factor.
“Why do you place in in place a typical ERP?” she asks. “Why is ADM, proper now, making an attempt to standardize and consolidate from acquisitions? It’s the info. Why is the info extra necessary than ever? As a result of knowledge is the gasoline of AI, and we will be all competing with capabilities by means of AI.”
