Chris Cravens, former CIO of Zynga and Uber as well as former VP, Software Engineering for Splunk shares what he learned about OKRs from Zynga, his passion for clarity, and how servant leadership leads to better business outcomes. Chris is one of few people who has ridden three high growth rockets — his lessons are worth learning, including how ruthless prioritization helps people thrive as fast growth companies scale.
Chris Cravens is a Silicon Valley scale-up legend and founding CIO at Zynga, where he built the tech backbone—from engineering and IT to security and facilities—that powered explosive growth from startup to global gaming giant.
He repeated the playbook as Zynga's first CIO at Uber, enabling hyper-scale ops amid rocket-ship expansion, then drove Splunk's digital transformation as VP of Software Engineering, ballooning revenue from $800M to $2.2B in three years through automation and GTM reinvention.
A transformation catalyst with 25 years in high-growth tech, he's now advising PE/VC on tech deals and coaching leaders on process, tech, and performance.
Deidre Paknad has founded and led three tech startups, acquired companies and been acquired, and led a high-growth business as an executive at IBM for several years; this affords her a unique perspective on using both speed and scale to drive growth. In her role as CEO at WorkBoard, she works with senior leadership teams at some of the world’s largest companies to clarify, align, and drive strategic priorities with greater speed and agility. She is a frequent speaker on Outcome Mindset™ and tapping into ambition.
Deidre has over a dozen patents and has twice been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution for innovation. Goldman Sachs named her one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2019. Deidre hosts The OKR Podcast, which focuses on accelerating outcomes and fostering an outcomes culture.