In episode 122, Ryan Brubaker, CIO and Executive Vice President of Operations at Seven Corners said, “As CIO, I really am a salesperson,” which caught our attention; it was something we wanted to dive deeper into.  So, we asked Anita Nielsen, Sales Enablement Consultant and President of LDK Advisory Services, to sit down with Jeff Ton and a few other CIOs to dissect this idea.  It only seemed fitting that the first guest in the series was, of course, Ryan.  Jeff, Ryan and Anita discuss when and how this idea of the CIO as a salesperson originated for Ryan, as well as how he weaves it into the fabric of his current team from onboarding new hires to everyday operations.

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Anita Nielsen

Anita is the bestselling author of Beat the Bots: How Your Humanity Can Future-Proof Your Tech Sales Career and the President of LDK Advisory Services, LLC.

As a sales enablement consultant and performance coach with over 20 years of invaluable trench experience, she provides senior sales leaders with proven, customized sales optimization solutions to shape high performance sales cultures that catalyze growth.

Anita is an active member of the Forbes Coaches Council and her content about sales, leadership, and coaching has been published on Forbes.com. She has also had the privilege of serving as a Sales Coach for MBA students at Harvard Business School.

Additionally, Anita is committed to elevating women in sales and is a proud member of the Women Sales Pros. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the National Association of Women Sales Professionals and the Women in Sales branch of the Institute for Excellence in Sales.

Ryan Brubaker

Ryan  is Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations for Seven Corners. In his role as CIO, he focuses on using technology to drive revenue, reduce cost, and lower risk. In his role as EVP of Operations, he works to drive the best possible customer experiences by helping customers through their preferred channel and processing their claims with speed and professionalism.

Ryan relentlessly pursues opportunities to increase Seven Corners’ ability to service the customer quickly, and in their preferred way.  He has introduced numerous digital transformation initiatives that continue to make things easier for our customers, and more efficient for our team members. This strategy continues as we work to transform travel insurance for our customers.

Ryan graduated from Purdue University with a degree in management and a minor in information systems. He later received an MBA from Indiana University.