Episode 8
First, a Leader. Second, a Business Person. Third, a Technologist.
Guest: Jeff Dinard/CIO of Vari
Jeff Dinard, CIO of Vari talks about the importance of being a leader first. He covers the rise of Vari and how his role has changed as the company shifted from a purely B2C focus to adopting a B2B strategy. In this podcast, you will learn about Jeff's personal brand of leadership: the books that helped him become a CIO, the Roman philosopher that influences his mornings, and finally, the children's book that helped him rediscover the value of magic in the C-suite.
Jeff Dinard, CIO of Vari talks about the importance of being a leader first. He covers the rise of Vari and how his role has changed as the company shifted from a purely B2C focus to adopting a B2B strategy. In this podcast, you will learn about Jeff's personal brand of leadership: the books that helped him become a CIO, the Roman philosopher that influences his mornings, and finally, the children's book that helped him rediscover the value of magic in the C-suite.
Episode 8: First, a Leader. Second, a Business Person. Third, a Technologist.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES
[00:01:25]
Introducing Jeff Dinard from Vari. Jeff details Vari's journey from Varidesk to Vari, which actually officially changed right before the beginning of the pandemic. He dives into the history of Vari and the inception of the Varidesk idea. He goes on to detail the company's meteoric rise and recent launches including VariSpace.
[00:12:21]
What is your role as a CIO? How has your role changed as the company has changed from purely a B2C company to a B2B company? The role of the CIO is changing and at a forward-thinking company like Vari, technology is a huge priority.
[00:16:43]
How have you personally managed the impact of Covid? How is your role different from what it was 2 years ago?
[00:27:05]
What does it mean to be a student of leadership? How does someone become a student of leadership?
[00:35:25]
Jeff talks about the value of introspection. As a leader, it's important to ask yourself how you're doing and then accept the answers that come back to you as you look in the mirror.
[00:39:50]
Vari recently went through a large ERP change. As a part of that change of ERP, you also chose to make a change with your integration platform. How do you view integration in the context of growing your business? There is no magical handoff that gets an order from Salesforce to SAP or from Salesforce to the Warehouse Management software.
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The Integration Chronicles
Cleo’s Tushar Patel and Frank Kenney bring you The Integration Chronicles: the only podcast focused on ecosystem integration. Ecosystem integration is the modern, innovative way to extend and augment B2B integration. Each episode will feature industry leaders and integration experts who discuss relevant integration topics, with a specific focus on the supply chain. You'll learn how to grow your business faster, pick up best practices for scaling your organization, and discover new ways to drive operational efficiencies.

Tushar Patel
Chief Marketing Officer