As Adoption And Governance Collide, Modern CIOs Set The Pace For AI Transformation

Traditionally defined by stewardship duties like keeping systems online, managing vendors, and ensuring stability, the role of CIO is being rewritten to govern the pace of transformation at the highest level. For the healthcare industry, pressures like labor shortages and post-COVID operational volatility demand technology leadership that lives at the center of strategy, governance, and cultural transformation.

Navigating this transformation from the front lines is Michael Skaff, a veteran technology and operations executive and CIO at Sequoia Living. As a four-time CIO and two-time COO, Skaff has built a career at the intersection of technological change and business strategy. He said that understanding the role of the modern CIO requires rethinking the job itself.

"We don’t work in technology. We work in change. AI just accelerates the pace." Skaff said that in healthcare, the acceleration of technology is a double-edged sword. While AI's ability to automate administrative tasks offers much-needed relief to a clinical workforce under significant strain, it simultaneously introduces new risks across clinical and back-office workflows.

• Data that delivers: Skaff noted that deriving results from AI demands a level of data accuracy and accessibility most organizations have yet to achieve. "Let's set the privacy and security stuff aside. The truth is, most organizations' data isn't ready to get the most out of AI. Business units may see small pieces of value, but we can help really maximize what they get from these tools."

• Purposeful pace: According to Skaff, succeeding here demands a new mindset in which CIOs act as business leaders first, relentlessly questioning the 'why' behind every process. It's a perspective that requires rejecting the unrestrained ethos of traditional tech. "We can't 'move fast and break things' in healthcare," he said. "When you do, people get hurt and care suffers."

This philosophy places many CIOs in the position of strategic rate limiter. On one side, business units are demanding immediate AI adoption. On the other, the healthcare industry's need for balancing speed with governance is absolute. The modern CIO must manage the pace.

• Speed with guardrails: To illustrate, Skaff drew an apt parallel from an unlikely place. "I have my PADI Advanced SCUBA certification, and there's a really useful metaphor there. We're controlling the ascent and the descent, because we know bad things happen if we either go too slow or too fast." Going too fast, he pointed out, leads to safety issues, while moving too slow often leads to business units adopting unsanctioned tools outside of IT's purview.

• Taming the sprawl: Finding the right pace also requires managing the decades-old problem of shadow IT, requiring CIOs to find new ways to contain AI sprawl. "Shadow IT has been a concept for thirty years," Skaff said. "What's new is that AI has accelerated it, making the extremes more profound. You can do some really great things, but you can also do some really horrible things with data if you're not careful."

Skaff asserted that navigating this tension successfully is what allows a CIO to grow from a technical leader into an enterprise strategist. It's a shift he sees moving the CIO's influence far beyond the proverbial seat at the table and directly into board-level strategy. "They used to joke that CIO meant Career Is Over. That's no longer the case. It's now a stepping stone to a COO or a CEO role."

• Tech at the top: Whole Foods Market, he pointed out, is one such example. The company's current CEO, Jason Buechel, started his tenure with the organization as CIO. "New leadership opportunities have opened up for CIOs, but only if we can demonstrate a deep understanding of the business, not just the technology."

Ultimately, Skaff sees the moment as a pivotal one for top IT professionals. “This is an inflection point for CIOs. If we don’t step up and become the change agents of our organizations, we risk becoming irrelevant.” Doing so, he emphasized, requires a leader whose reach extends beyond technology. "We have to step into domains beyond our traditional scope, which includes communication, organizational design, and corporate strategy. That is how we have an opportunity to impact our companies at the highest level."