The Heller Report: Why Digital Manufacturing Leaders are in High Demand

The first in a series of articles about attracting the best technology leaders, Heller Senior Principal Kerri Westberg explains how strong digital manufacturing leaders modernize profitable factories by connecting isolated operational technologies to corporate IT. Such leaders “can cut through a technology and process challenge, get to the core of the problem, and resolve it,” Westberg says. “After 12 months, the right digital manufacturing leaders will have built relationships and trust both on the shop floor and within IT.”

The shortage of skilled cybersecurity talent is more than a staffing issue—it has direct implications for an enterprise’s financial stability, operational resilience, and corporate reputation, argues Gary Brickhouse, CISO of GuidePoint Security, in this interview. Among other moves, Brickhouse recommends investing in training, pay, and remote work flexibility as part of a broad retention effort.

What if you could offer stronger natural disaster aid before the trouble starts? That’s the idea behind a program the nonprofit GiveDirectly is piloting in Bangladesh, Rest Of World reports. Using Google’s Flood Hub, an AI predictive model that combines historic patterns and weather forecasts to issue warnings up to five days in advance, the nonprofit plans to award 10,375 Bangladeshi taka ($85) to farmers along the flood-prone Jamuna River most susceptible to damage, before the waters rise. One farmer, Idris Mollah, said, “If I get money from GiveDirectly before the flood, I will be able to store food and arrange strengthening my house for my family and cow.”

Heller CEO Martha Heller will be a featured panelist at a discussion highlighting how recruiters evaluate CIO talent in a rapidly changing marketplace. The discussion is part of the Society for Information Management’s SIM TechExec 2025 conference November 4-6, in Marco Island, Fla. Panelists also are scheduled to talk about what defines a “future-ready technology leader,” and how CIOs can use their professional networks to further their careers.