CIO Leadership Live with Marykay Wells, CIO, Pearson at the CIO100

00:00 Hi, I’m Lee Rennick, executive director of CIO communities for cio.com, and I am thrilled to be here at the CIO 100 and Symposium in Colorado Springs with Marykay Wells. Marykay is the CIO of Pearson, and I’m really looking forward to interviewing you today. Marykay. So, I was hoping you might be able to introduce yourself and tell us about your your career for having me.
00:00:32:31 – 00:01:04:01
Unknown
Thanks. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. So I am a CIO, as you said at Pearson. Yeah, I’m part of the, executive management team and I’ve been working there now I can’t believe for ten years. So congratulations. A lot of change. Yeah. Pearson is, digital education company. Yeah. And, like I said, I ran the infrastructure for enterprise, technology and anything that’s common around our product platforms.
00:01:04:01 – 00:01:26:57
Unknown
I we run that in our team. And I’ve really enjoyed my time there. Personally, I’ll just tell you a little bit. Yeah. Myself. I live in North Carolina and, have two, adult daughters and a wonderful husband. Oh. That’s wonderful. That’s very nice here. And I know you mentioned you’ve been in Canada quite a bit. I’m Canadian and you’ve traveled up to our country as well, which is fantastic.
00:01:26:57 – 00:01:47:13
Unknown
I love Canada. Well, you’re welcome anytime to come visit. Well, I appreciate you being here today. Mary Kay, thanks so much for joining us. And congratulations on your CIO Award winning project. I’d love to learn more about it. It’s called meeting the challenge of technical debt through innovation. So a lot of the CIOs are talking about technical debt.
00:01:47:13 – 00:02:10:10
Unknown
I’d love to hear more about the project. Yeah. So first of all, we are honored to be, awarded this, a CIO 100 award. It’s and it’s it’s really a collaborative effort across many people at Pearson. And so I’ll tell you where we started with the award. So, when we had a lot of there was a lot of chatter.
00:02:10:11 – 00:02:40:03
Unknown
And at the end of 2022 around, you know, airlines having a lot of tech debt, you know, really impacting the business and the customers. And really we used that as a platform to say, you know, we talk about tech debt, but no one really measures it. So we wanted to really understand how we really attacked it. And to reduce the, the tech debt that we had a career center Pearson is 180 years old.
00:02:40:08 – 00:03:02:59
Unknown
Really started out as a holding company when I joined. We own the Financial Times and a lot of a lot of properties that weren’t even education properties. And so typically companies have, the that that are really holding companies have done a lot of acquisitions really. You know, they acquired tech debt over a period of time, even though we’ve done a lot of transformation at Pearson.
00:03:03:04 – 00:03:36:20
Unknown
 
So what we did is we said, you know, how do we really start to measure our technical debt. So we looked at our security posture, we looked at the number of customer impacting incidents. We looked at our ability to make changes to the technology and how quickly we could do that and be responsive. We looked at, end of life servers, what was in our data centers, and we came up with an algorithm to really understand, you know, we we, we formulated a score and that wasn’t just, wow, enterprise technology.
00:03:36:20 – 00:03:58:23
Unknown
That was for all of our technology across Pearson. And we we really got everybody on board with understanding, you know, making sure that we first of all measured our assets. We understood where our software did what our software did, what was what was facing customers, what was really, revenue generating and really critical to the business.
00:03:58:23 – 00:04:23:20
Unknown
And we, we like I said, we formulated an algorithm and we we provided that tech that score out. And then we set goals for everybody to eliminate their tech debt. And so that was across the organization. And now we still we used ServiceNow as our platform. Yep. Right. And it was it’s a great platform to actually start to measure and run your technology organization.
00:04:23:25 – 00:04:34:55
Unknown
And we’ve used ServiceNow for quite some time. So it was it was a great it was a great, platform for us to really innovate on and, and really start to measure our effectiveness.
00:04:35:02 – 00:04:44:45
 
Unknown
Well, it sounds like and I was just thinking, while you were saying that you’re an educational organization, and it sounds like this whole process was an educational process across the organization.
00:04:44:45 – 00:05:09:39
Unknown
And correct, it absolutely was, because, you know, it’s it’s really easy to talk about. Yeah. And it’s really hard to really, you know, we need to really not just make everybody understand the critical nature of why it’s really important to make sure that your technology is current and we’re really yeah, nurturing our, our technology just like we would any other asset.
00:05:09:44 – 00:05:29:44
Unknown
Yeah. Company. And so we were able to really achieve, a tremendous amount of value from doing that exercise. So we reduced our incoming, our incoming tickets by 60%. Wow. And we. Wow. Are, are,
00:05:29:44 – 00:05:40:29
Unknown
55% of our of our applications are products that we called, you know, had high tech debt because we had a cut cutoff, we reduced those to.
00:05:40:29 – 00:06:07:08
Unknown
So we were able to really, eliminate about 40% of our end of life servers. So and then we’re able to now be, a lot more responsive to customer issues. Wow. That’s fantastic. It just sounds like such a very important project to the business. And it’s been hugely successful. So congratulations and congratulations on the award. Okay, so I spoke to your colleague Nathan, who is helping set up this interview.
00:06:07:08 – 00:06:29:03
Unknown
And we were talking about questions. And I said, well, I’d love to learn more about sort of diversity in technology. And he said, oh, Mary Kay is really supporting initiatives to ensure that we have diversity in our space. So according to the a report by the world Bank, women make up less than a third of the world’s workforce in technology related fields.
00:06:29:08 – 00:06:50:55
Unknown
35% in Stem. And in the US, women held about 35% of tech jobs. Now in Canada, it’s a lot less, about 24%, and it’s mirroring that. In the UK, about 24%. So, I understand that you’re a sponsor of the Women in Tech program at Pearson, and that’s led to more diversity in your space. At Pearson.
00:06:50:55 – 00:07:11:51
Unknown
Congratulations on that. I’d love to learn a little bit about more about just your approach to ensuring that, you know, we have more diversity in the space. And and yeah, thank you for all the work that you’re doing. Nathan was raving about it and I was like, I need to ask that question. So thanks for asking you. So yes, I’m very passionate about creating equitable, equitable workforce.
00:07:11:56 – 00:07:53:25
Unknown
And and we really started we started a women in technology career because it wasn’t really any argue. Yeah, because it was. We didn’t have that right. We call it, it’s probably more of a business resource group because it’s really. And we’ve got 650 members. Wow. So if you think about it, you know, for 17,000 employees and we’re really focused, on we, we, we create goals and we have an enormous amount, of people that really want to contribute to one really focus on continuous, education and learning.
00:07:53:30 – 00:08:15:46
Unknown
So we recently we have a data organization where we, we have a data mentor. So women that want to really advance in data, we create mentors and and you know, you raise your hand, you say you want it. Because I’ve always thought I reflected on my career and I thought, you know, I if you don’t really go after something.
00008:15:51 – 00:08:37:44
Unknown
Yeah. Or if you’re interested in something, sometimes people don’t know where to start. You’re right. You know, but I think the best piece of data that we have is that we for for women in tech, the job, families, technology, job, families and peers. And when we started, we had 21%. Now we have 45% to have all of our technology families.
00:08:37:44 – 00:09:11:38
 
Unknown
45. Wow. And we’re not stopping there. Obviously, this year we’re really focused and we believe so, passionately that allies are very important. Yes. Really trying to take I gave the, the the group, a goal of 100 new members being nice. We need, yes, allies to really continue to grow. Yes. Women and really, create that really supportive network within the company, which is so important.
00:09:11:39 – 00:09:29:10
Unknown
One of the CEOs at the University of Ottawa, Martin Bernier, we talked about that. He’s developed a allyship network. And, you know, he was telling me even the way in which perhaps you’re sending out an email to, you know, around an educational process you’re going through and encouraging women to come out. He’s like, you know, I really have.
00:09:29:10 – 00:09:45:39
Unknown
We look at that. We make sure it makes sense that it communicates something in a way that seems like it’s inclusive. Right. So even to that level, they’re looking at ways they can do that. But I love all the work you’re doing, and I thank you for it because we just need more people like you doing this and creating those relationships are so, so important.
00:09:45:44 – 00:10:09:26
Unknown
They are absolutely essential. And I think we’ve, the excitement, of both, you know, individuals wanting wanting to be mentors and, you know, participation and presenting in our technology summit that we have every year, we have more and more women, raising their hands because they don’t want to sit back. They they really want to. They have so much to offer.
00:10:09:26 – 00:10:36:07
Unknown
Yes. They’re really off. They’re really providing that to, to the greater technology organization. So very proud of the work that we’ve done. Well, thank you so much. Okay. So we’re at the CIO Symposium, you’re presenting on a leadership track panel. And you discussing best practices, frameworks and tools that will help you navigate the complexities of innovation and risk management and security for the business.
00:10:36:07 – 00:10:56:58
Unknown
That’s huge. That’s a lot of things that don’t necessarily always match up. But, so yeah, I wonder if you could provide some insights as a leader on how you evaluate the trends and guide your organization towards turning sort of these trends into value, or this idea of innovation, risk management and security for business? Yeah. So, yeah, I was really excited when they asked me to be on the panel.
00:10:56:58 – 00:11:17:53
Unknown
They gave me a couple of different options. One was around agility and scale and innovation and risk. And I said, you know, I can I can talk about either at Pearson and I’m really excited to talk about innovation risk. Yeah. I mean, if you think about what we do as a company, we’re not, you know, we really need to, to establish trust, right?
00:11:17:53 – 00:11:48:19
 
Unknown
Trust as being a really good education. Yes. Institutions and to our workforce. And, you know, what we really believe in is we we believe in establishing really solid learning outcomes. So we focus on learning outcomes. We focus on providing positive experiences. We take, protecting our customer data. Very important. Yes. It’s it’s a yeah.
00:11:48:19 – 00:12:17:09
Unknown
And we need to make sure that we preserve our partnerships. So we have partnerships with institutions, enterprises and then also partnerships with people that we would be working with in technology. Right. And so all of that you have to balance in a day in and day out basis. Right. How do you how do you balance, you know, moving fast and making sure that you preserve the integrity of everything you’re trying to do across the company.
 
00:12:17:14 – 00:12:42:00
 
Unknown
 
And, you know, that’s, you know, I can give you lots of examples around. Obviously, we heard this morning in the, in the, in the CIO 100 forum around AI. Yep. That’s yes. Research that IDC is on. But then also we have so much more we have to do inside of Pearson and we’ve, we’ve, we’ve made those trade offs and we’ve, we’ve done that evaluation.
 
00:12:42:05 – 00:13:08:57
 
Unknown
 
If you think about it, you know, the majority of, a lot of our certifications, whether they’re enterprise certifications or professional certifications in the US, come through Pearson. And it’s very important for us. And they’ve traditionally individuals had to go to a Pearson test center. And we made that decision and innovated during Covid to say, yes, we can provide an a secure, experience and a secure test experience.
 
00:13:08:58 – 00:13:33:25
 
Unknown
 
Make sure that we rely on the integrity of some of our exams by by, by developing a product called En Vue, which, allows you to take a test or. Mom. Yeah, in a secure manner. So, you know, making sure that we we evaluate trust, we evaluate the integrity of the exams. We we evaluate making sure that we protect our data.
 
00:13:33:25 – 00:13:48:47
 
Unknown
 
And we have to do that in a day in, day out. Yes. Of course. Wow. Well, I appreciate you. I hope I can peek in on this session tomorrow. I would love to do that. And I appreciate you explaining that to me. Okay, so the last question you just touched on, it is around I usually ask everybody about this is around GenAI.
 
00:13:48:49 – 00:14:09:35
 
Unknown
 
I what I’m hearing from a lot of CIOs is that they’re building productivity internally within their business. So, you know, I was talking to someone about how they might be using some of the bigger players, right, to enhance the productivity of someone like me who’s working on a day to day basis. But they’re keeping it kind of close around, you know, the external application for the end user, the customer.
 
00:14:09:35 – 00:14:45:14
 
Unknown
 
So just any ideas you have around what you’re seeing with AI and productivity and how maybe companies are looking at pushing that forward. Yeah. So we we are very much focused on internal productivity. Yeah. Using generative AI. We’ve been experimenting and then now we’ve released to some production capability within our content generation. So we do so much learning content generation and we’re building tools to make it easier for, really for us to get to get the content to market.
 
00:14:45:19 – 00:15:19:22
 
Unknown
 
Right. So either whether the narrative content, whether it be video content, whether it be, audio content, all kinds of whether we use it for translations. Yes, we’re using, DNI and, and all of those categories to really improve our content experiences. We’re also using gen AI in our engineering teams. Right. So, to really speed up that, especially for things that traditional software developers do around documenting their code, right?
 
00:15:19:27 – 00:15:21:10
 
Unknown
 
We’ve seen a lot of improvement
 
00:15:21:10 – 00:15:32:37
 
Unknown
 
and then, you know, we’ve got a separate track comparison around how we can, you know, as you know, Microsoft is doing and a lot of software companies are doing, we’re looking at how do we
 
00:15:32:37 – 00:15:42:00
 
Unknown
 
add generative AI capabilities on top of our learnings. Yeah. To really help students learn in a personalized manner.
 
00:15:42:05 – 00:16:01:30
Unknown
Yes. That’s working out very well. That’s great. Well, so sounds like a really exciting time utilizing for your internal productivity. But looking at ways to enhance that student or customer journey and learning experience. Yeah. Awesome. Well it has been such a pleasure meeting you today. Thank you for all the work you’re doing, especially to ensure that we have more diversity in our sector.
00:16:01:30 – 00:16:09:58
Unknown
But obviously, your experience and the programs that you’ve worked on, I really appreciate you sharing with me today. Thank you so much. Well, thanks so much for having me. Thanks.