Large Corporate Finalists

Linh Lam builds the operating infrastructure that lets companies grow through disruption such as acquisitions, platform shifts, and scaling faster than the org can handle. She has served as CIO through three ownership transitions and two acquisitions, most recently at Jamf through its Francisco Partners transition, and before that at Ellie Mae through Thoma Bravo and Intercontinental Exchange, scaling revenue by 90% organically in under three years. Current focus: enterprise AI governance producing measurable outcomes.

I led two transformations that reshaped how Jamf operates. First, a back-end systems overhaul spanning CRM, ERP, middleware, and product integrations gave us a true 360-degree view of customers and partners, enabled global multi-currency transactions, and became the clean-data foundation for our go-to-market segmentation strategy driving revenue growth, annual tax and fee savings, and operational expense reduction in quote-to-cash despite rising deal volume. Second, I moved Jamf from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption, building governance that made AI a trusted partner to the business, not a checkpoint.

Chet Mandair is a visionary technology leader with over 25 years of experience, serving as SVP, CIO, and CPO at Guidewire Software. He excels at architecting the vision and orchestrating revenue generating and cost optimization innovation at scale. His transformation of Guidewire’s AI capabilities, including workforce upskilling, accelerated AI’s value. Chet is a highly regarded strategic advisor and technology ecosystem leader, actively mentoring startups and contributing to premier executive networks like the Mayfield CXO community.

Chet Mandair is a visionary technology and transformation leader with over 25 years of experience, uniquely serving as SVP, CIO, and CPO at Guidewire Software, a global publicly traded SaaS leader that P&C insurers rely on to run their core businesses. Chet played a key leadership role in Guidewire’s shift from perpetual, on-premise software to a recurring SaaS model, and excels at maturing business capabilities to create durable competitive advantage. He prioritizes talent, drives growth and cost optimization at scale, and builds resilience by design. Chet is a strategic advisor, technology ecosystem leader, and active mentor.

Jonathan Russell has served as Associate Laboratory Director for IT and CIO at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory since 2020. In this role, he has focused on improving the user experience, expanding AI capabilities, modernizing identity systems, establishing a decision intelligence program, and continuing to strengthen the cybersecurity program. With over 25 years of technology leadership, a decade of which as a CIO, his career spans higher education, federal government, and the financial industry.

Every initiative my team undertakes serves one purpose: removing obstacles for scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory so they may pursue breakthrough discoveries that advance humanity’s understanding of our universe. To that end, we established a secure AI ecosystem that accelerates discovery across our research portfolio. Our identity management system and cross-laboratory security reciprocity framework remove friction for researchers working across institutions. We partner with peer institutions to ensure network throughput keeps pace with massive datasets. We reimagined user support through self-service capabilities, strengthened cybersecurity while keeping controls invisible, and modernized enterprise systems to enable better decisions.

Ajay Sabhlok is CIO & Chief Data Officer at Rubrik, leading AI-driven transformation across applications, infrastructure, data, and enterprise architecture. He partners with security to advance cyber and data resilience, including safe AI agent adoption, and positions IT as “customer zero” to shape Rubrik products. Under his leadership, IT has delivered measurable productivity gains, strong compliance outcomes, and a builder culture where diverse teams innovate and grow their careers.

Under my leadership, Rubrik’s IT organization has executed an aggressive, disciplined pivot to AI, establishing enterprise-wide governance and a dedicated AI engineering function to run platforms, deliver solutions, and enable employees. We introduced natural language–driven analytics that dramatically shortened time-to-insight and embedded AI into support, helpdesk, and finance workflows, driving meaningful productivity gains. Through a “customer zero” program, IT implements our own products internally and provides structured feedback to improve quality and resilience. The team also achieved a major external compliance audit with no significant issues, demonstrating strong operational maturity.

Anisha Vaswani is EVP, Chief Information and Customer Officer at Extreme Networks, where she leads IT, Security, and Services organizations. She drives organizational transformation through strategic technology investments and the Customer ONE program, enabling early product validation. Her career spans progressive leadership roles at Toast, Box, VMware, and Agilent, where she’s built high-performing global teams and delivered mission-critical systems. Anisha is committed to transforming organizations through technology, building high-performing teams, and driving measurable business impact.

Since joining Extreme Networks as Chief Information and Customer Officer in March 2025, Anisha Vaswani has transformed how the company connects innovation with customer reality. By positioning IT as Extreme’s first customer, she created a rapid feedback loop that accelerates product development and shapes go-to-market strategy. Internally, she spearheaded major modernization initiatives—unifying fragmented CRM platforms and leading an overhaul of supply chain and finance operations through a modern, integrated ERP. These foundational improvements have positioned Extreme for unprecedented scalability and agility. In her first year, Anisha has demonstrated that strategic CIO leadership drives product excellence, customer empathy, and organizational capability.

Kapil Vyas is Chief Information Officer at Automation Anywhere, where he leads Global IT, AI & Automation, Enterprise Applications, Cloud Infrastructure, and Information Security. As executive sponsor of the company’s Customer Zero program, he has led Automation Anywhere’s transformation from AI experimentation to an AI-infused operating model, creating proven frameworks that help enterprises scale AI responsibly. A three-time CIO 100 Award recipient, Kapil is recognized for redefining how organizations operate in the AI era.

As Customer Zero, Kapil Vyas led Automation Anywhere’s three-year journey from AI experimentation to an AI-first operating model, helping the company move toward becoming an Autonomous Enterprise. His IT team built and proved practical AI solutions across IT, Finance, Sales, and Customer Success that reduce repetitive work, improve service, and help employees focus on higher-value decisions and relationships. Those lessons now shape customer-ready Autonomous IT and Autonomous Finance offerings. Kapil’s success is rooted in a people-first culture that builds trust, reskills teams, and turns AI adoption into business transformation, contributing to Stevie Award recognition for AI Company of the Year.