How Far Would You Go to Prevent Another Loss? Carissa Rollins Went All In || EP. 198

[00:00:00] And so we're using the AI to eliminate some of those burdensome processes that we've put in place over the years that need to probably change and we will eventually, and then allow those people to elevate into other roles such as serving our consumers a little bit better than we are today.

[00:00:21] This is Inspiring Women. I'm Laurie McGraw. We're speaking to Carissa Rollins today. Carissa, I'm so happy you're here. You're the Global Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Illumina. You are a longtime executive in the spaces of technology. You've had a career in human resources and you've moved from organizations that are healthcare, but you've also worked in retail companies and other types of distribution companies. I'm so thrilled to be talking to you today. Thank you for being here, Carissa.

[00:00:51] Thank you so much for having me. This is great to be able to speak to you. Great. So we're on Inspiring Women and we're here at the Women Business Leaders Conference in New Orleans. I don't know about you, but it took me a while to get here because I was like weaving through like traffic in terms of like parade routes and the like. But Carissa, maybe you can just give us a little bit of your background. You've got quite the illustrious career. I mean, you've done so many different things. What is the through line?

[00:01:16] I mean, I've got Baxter United, now Illumina, so the healthcare companies. You've worked in the talent industry with manpower, retail and beverages, so Kohl's and Miller Brewer Company. Like these are not, what keeps these like, how does this become you, Carissa? Yeah. Well, I've been in IT for 33 years this year. It's hard to say, 34 years this year. A little bit over 20.

[00:01:43] Yes, a little bit over 20, somewhat over 20. And I started out in a traditional role as a programmer, but I had my MBA. And one of the things that my teammates realized right away is I could speak to the business on their terms and come back and translate that. And that has really been my superpower throughout my career. One of my superpowers is being able to speak to the business about their needs for their strategies or technologies, our strategies and technologies, and then how can technology advance those.

[00:02:13] And often, you know, in an industry, I would learn the industry, I would get a team turned around or get some project turned around and I'm restless. And I'd be like, you know, I'm done here and I move on to the next org or industry. I've never applied for a job with the exception of my first job right out of school. Yes. My first job right out of school and my first CIO job at Gander Mountain Small Retailer.

[00:02:40] But other, and actually my husband applied for that job for me, which is another whole story, but. Okay, we're going to come back to that. Yeah, we'll come back to that. But I've always been called by people in different industries who knew my background and my strengths. And they've said, please come work for me. And that's how I've ended up at different places through my career. Okay, so let's just go back a little bit. So, so like job number, was it, was it school and then MBA and then first job or did, was MBA came later? It was school, first job.

[00:03:11] And back then there were no executive MBAs. So I went to school while working on the weekends. Oh my gosh. And in the evening to get my MBA took five years doing it that way, but that's what I did. So it was at the same time. And then the first job, what was that first job? That was Baxter as a COBOL programmer. Okay. Working on code that was written before I was born. Okay. So things take a little bit of time. Innovation wasn't like the buzzword, you know, at the beginning. So what is it? What does it mean?

[00:03:39] Because these are big companies. And so there's oftentimes people have the, you know, they move up in big companies because there's always sort of like a next level opportunity. What do you mean when you say you get restless? What does that look like? Yeah, I think I get bored in roles. So at Baxter, one of my first career moves, I taught myself Visual Basic, which is a client server based coding your language. I remember, Carissa. I remember. I read a book. And I went to the leader of that group and I said, will you give me a chance?

[00:04:09] I don't want to be a COBOL programmer. And he said yes. And so I moved to his group and then I finished my MBA and I didn't want to code anymore. And so I took a job at Johnson Controls being a business process re-engineering person. And then I didn't like the culture there. So I started my own company. Oh, my gosh. I had my own consulting firm for nine years. Okay. And I loved that. I never, again, didn't work. My people I knew in networking that I did, I was able to just always have something next that I was going to do.

[00:04:39] So, yeah, that was great. I was at Abbott for a while. So healthcare again. And so back and forth, back and forth to different things. But what does that mean when you say you get restless? Because a lot of people who are, I'm assuming you worked hard. I'm assuming that you were excellent at all the different things that you did. But then you were pulled to the next thing. And I think that's always very interesting because oftentimes, you know, as women become more senior

[00:05:07] and you're very senior, they stop getting pulled. They actually have to learn how to advocate for themselves in new ways. But you've been pulled every single time as opposed to pushing yourself for the next thing. So just how do you think about that? I would say, actually, there was a few times when I advocated for myself. Okay. So when I was at Kohl's, I was a director there. And then my boss, a VP, resigned.

[00:05:33] And I went to my CIO with a three-page, single-space-type letter on why I should be the VP. Yeah. And she didn't give it to me. Oh. And I was restless. And I started applying for jobs outside of Kohl's. And about two weeks later, she came to me and said, here's why I didn't give it to you. Here's a coach. Yeah. And so that was my first experience with a coach. And then after I went a year with a coach, she promoted me to VP. So I was advocating for myself.

[00:06:02] And you got a coach. That's amazing. And I got a coach. How was that? That must have been amazing. It was amazing. Yeah. I had a coach again when I became the CIO of UnitedHealthcare because that's a huge job. Yes. And my boss said, I didn't need one. And I said, I need one. And so, yes, I had another coach during that time. Wow. So, Carissa, after all these different, you know, very significant jobs, bigger and bigger, I mean, CIO of UnitedHealthcare, that's an enormous responsibility we all can imagine.

[00:06:29] We can all imagine how enormous that is without having any understanding of what the job actually entails. But at Illumina, where you are now, where you've been for a little bit of time, it hasn't been that long. Three years. So what are you doing there? What are the most exciting projects that you're working on? Yeah. Illumina is one of the smallest companies I've worked at. And I was pulled there again. Funny story about that is my husband, again, encouraged me to call back the recruiter who kept bothering me. Your husband is your best promoter. My husband is my best promoter.

[00:06:59] And I went there because I felt like the work could be much more purposeful than what I was doing at UnitedHealthcare. I loved the work at UnitedHealthcare. I liked working there. The work was very purposeful. I knew that I was making an impact on people's lives every day in a positive way. And Illumina was just much more of that in just a very big way. And so... What does Illumina do? Illumina makes DNA sequencing products and solutions.

[00:07:28] We're in 160 countries worldwide. We have more than 80% market share. We've been around 27 years, one of the first in the industry. Okay. So it's super high tech manufacturing of equipment and selling of equipment and chemistry. So it's much different. And global supply chain. Yes. I mean, there's a lot of interesting issues tied up in that. Yes. Yes.

[00:07:50] And so I really enjoy talking about the technology, understanding how it works, and just making sure that my team is doing everything possible to support and help grow the business. So going from something as large as UnitedHealthcare to being pulled to an impactful but significantly small, even though it's global, even though it's different things, what was the thing that sort of said like, okay, I am going to take this next leap?

[00:08:18] I mean, it's not like you didn't have enough to do at UnitedHealthcare. That work can never be done. I did it for a couple of personal reasons as well. One is my sister passed away in 2013 of acute myeloid leukemia. And I think if we would have back then had access to some of the technology that Illumina supplies, we maybe would have been able to save her or at least prolong her life. And so that was one reason. I also had a very close friend die of pancreatic cancer. Same situation.

[00:08:48] I think access to the technology would have maybe prolonged her life or saved her. And so I thought this is something I can, an impact that I can make, whether it's just in IT or not. The other is I knew that I could take everything I'd learn at the largest payer in the United States and work with Illumina to help understand how to get access to people that need their DNA sequenced and how that process works.

[00:09:13] Because being inside the payer industry, you don't understand how complicated healthcare really is until you sit in that seat. Yeah. And people sitting on the outside struggle with that. So that's really the role I play at Illumina is being that voice of that's not going to work or here's what we need to do and here's how we need to do it in order to get access to the technology for more people. Those are really personal stories. I'm really sorry that you've had to deal with them. I mean, those are hard.

[00:09:41] Everyone's had hard things like that. And many people who work in healthcare, there's a personal sort of like, you know, why? So with that, as I don't know if that is your North Star, but that certainly is a purposeful reason for how you show up at work. How have you been able to bring that and what are you actually able to get done at Illumina just with that personal experience? Yeah, I think I've been able to educate now two teams of executives.

[00:10:09] So we had an executive turnover in the last couple of years. In fact, myself and the COO are the only two left in the C-suite from the previous regime. And so I've been able to educate about market access and how to work with the payers and provide access to the CEO of large payers and to other smaller payers so that we can talk about how Illumina can help solve problems alongside of the payers. And so that's been very rewarding.

[00:10:39] A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity also to visit Mayo Clinic and talk to them about how our technology can help advance some of the studies that they're doing in the clinic. So it's not just my CIO job. My CIO job is like, yes, there's a lot to do there. Right. But it's the other parts of my job that really get me excited. Yeah. I actually, I can relate to that so much. I had a long time where I spent working at the American Medical Association.

[00:11:05] I worked on a lot of the business parts of the AMA and that was all important. But what was exciting was the policy and seeing the impact of like, you know, what the organization was capable of doing, which is the part that I enjoyed the most. So I think that for many people, you've got like the work, but then the actual impact of what you're contributing to is impressive. So Carissa, you're an expert technologist. You're a sought after speaker.

[00:11:34] You're always talking about technology. You're advising women all the time. I want to go back to sort of technology, what's happening right now. And we can't talk about technology without talking about AI. I'm sure you might be sick of it, but it's really here. So I'm curious, just knowing that that's sort of like, you know, all the, you know, there's a lot happening in that space. What are you seeing? So, you know, in the work that you do, just tell me the state of play for you with AI

[00:12:03] today versus even like what it used to be a year ago, 18 months ago. I'd love to just get the perspectives from somebody who's like in the thick of it. Yeah. I like this topic because people think it's new and it's not. At UnitedHealthcare, our chief technology officer had built our AI platform years ago. And we had been using AI for things like prior authorization and claim adjustments and et cetera for many years. And so largely... But that's got a bad rap.

[00:12:32] I mean, that is... It does. That gives everyone a little bit of heart palpitation. Back to the complication of the healthcare system, right? And which is why I like to get out there and talk about why it's important to think through all aspects of the system, not just one aspect of the system. But yes, that does give people heart palpitations. I agree. But it's only as good as the data and the model that you put together around it. So at Illumina, it's a little different, right? There's two sides to AI at Illumina. One is taking all the sequencing data on the DNA.

[00:13:03] Yes. And then using that to understand diseases and what we can do next with the technology and care pass and using it for pharma genomics and et cetera. So that's one side. Yeah. I'm not super involved in that. That's more of our CTO organization doing that. We support that, but I'm not involved in that. Then there's the other side, which is what can we do from an enterprise perspective to make us more operationally efficient, understand our supply chains better, help our salespeople understand their consumers better, get products to them easier.

[00:13:32] And so those are the things that we're working on from an AR perspective. And we're not going to build a lot of our own models. We have almost every software label that you can imagine in-house, Salesforce and Microsoft, et cetera. And so we're going to use what they're giving us now. And then when we feel the need to build something ourselves, we will. Yeah. But how does it really work? Because I am seeing a lot of companies, you know, what they're doing is they're saying AI is here. Therefore, we are more efficient.

[00:13:59] Therefore, we're going to get rid of a whole bunch of jobs. But I think it's a little bit more complicated than that. And so how are you helping your organization sort of like take what are potential great efficiencies with AI to get rid of things, but actually making them work with useful processes and not just sort of saying, okay, we're going to make do with less. I mean, how do you really make it work within an organization? Yeah, I think with Illumina, it might be a little bit different than other orgs. Yep. I call us a 27-year-old startup all the time.

[00:14:29] So sometimes our processes are not efficient, right? And people are doing a lot of heavy lifting where, you know, we have a lot of very smart people that should be doing things that are much more elevated in their work. And so we're using the AI to eliminate some of those burdensome processes that we've put in place over the years that need to probably change and we will eventually. And then allow those people to elevate into other roles, such as serving our consumers a little bit better than we are today and et cetera.

[00:14:59] Yeah. Is it an area of like a lot of focus for you? Do you see this as like your biggest investment area or is it just like one more thing that you need to do to improve the overall opportunity with Illumina? It's just one more thing right now, unfortunately. I mean, we focus on it, but we're not making huge investments in it right now. We have a lot of other things we need to work on. Yep. Okay. So I want to talk also, you mentioned before that, you know, you spend quite a bit of time, whether it's talking to younger women who are thinking about going into tech,

[00:15:29] or maybe you're trying to convince them that tech is a great place for them to show up. So why are you doing that? So you found a passion with technology and you're still one of a lot less than your male counterparts. So tell me about what you think, you know, whether it's girls or younger women, you know, what should they be interested in? How are you helping them sort of see the opportunity? Yeah, I think I like to get girls interested because we have a different train of thought

[00:15:59] and a different perspective, right? Diversity is important in almost every job you do. And girls often think that STEM careers are boring or you're sitting in the corner doing nerdy things. You're not talking to people. And women are usually, girls are much more social. I'm making a, you know, generalization. But we're at a conference. Right. Exactly. It's a very social conference. And so I try to encourage girls. If I wouldn't have been encouraged by a woman when I was going to college, I would not be in this field. And she encouraged me.

[00:16:28] And so I'm trying to do the same. And I've always said to me and the women leaders around me, if we don't do it, who's going to do it? Right. Yeah. We are the ones who need to help. Not just other women, but other diverse individuals, other diverse groups get into technology because it's often dominated by one particular group. And so, yeah, that's why I do it. Yeah. I don't have girls. I'm a boy mom. Yeah. So it's another way for me to interact with girls, right? Yeah.

[00:16:57] But I think it's super important. Recently, Mackenzie did a study that women in the workforce, especially in technology, the numbers are decreasing, which we're going the wrong way. Yes. So I'm trying to figure out how I can help that. Well, let's just talk about that for a minute because I have to say I'm watching the gender equity clock, the world gender equity clock. And for what is the perhaps first time we've seen slowing progress, but now we're seeing reverse progress for gender equity broadly.

[00:17:26] So we can imagine in the spaces like technology where there is so much to catch up on, it's only going to become a problem. So first of all, how are you doing? I'm feeling a little down about it, I have to admit. Yes. I'm feeling very down about it. I try not to think about it too much. I can only control what I can control and I can control things like this, right? Yeah. I can speak about it. I can get out in front of it, but I can't control everything that's going on other than to speak about it. And yes, I do feel depressed about it.

[00:17:54] I know, it's sort of like, I think, you know, it's one of those things where we have to stare the hard facts sort of in the face. And so if you think about how you have grown your own career, being at the leadership level you are in technology, having been somebody who was pulled along the way, how can that maybe, you know, sort of like extend to a broader group?

[00:18:20] How many, like, you know, where are there a hundred caresses, you know, down there that can be pulled? I mean, what are your thoughts? I am trying to solve this problem and I'm curious from others, you know, how we can do it together. I think one of the things that we as women have to learn, which I learned a very long time ago, is we can't close the door behind us. Yeah. Sometimes as women, as we move up the ladder, we feel like we can be the only one at the table and that is not true. Yeah. We need to help encourage others to be at the table with us.

[00:18:49] Almost every time I've been pulled, with the exception of once, it's been a man that has pulled me. That's wrong. I mean, it's good. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's fantastic. But I need, we need more women pulling other women as well. And that, I think, is something that we need to work on together as leaders. Give us an example of who you've pulled in the last, however. So at UnitedHealthcare, I had multiple women who had been there for quite some time.

[00:19:17] Some of them who hadn't, who, you know, were just diamonds in the rough that didn't know it. Right. Right. And I've been able to, I was able to promote them in areas where they probably wouldn't have gotten promoted before because I saw something in them. And they often thank me for that. Some, a few of them have followed me to Illumina. Yeah. So that's been one of the best things about my career. And it's not just women. It's men too, right?

[00:19:42] That just sometimes don't see in themselves their potential and they just need someone to tell them, look, you've got huge potential. Here's three things you should work on. Let's get a coach and figure out how to make that happen. Yep. What's some of the best advice you gave to one of those diamonds in the rough that sort of registered and allowed that person to let that diamond shine through? You belong at the table. Why are you sitting in the back? Your voice is important. You know what you're doing. You don't need to question yourself, right? All of those things.

[00:20:11] Those things are so powerful and people don't say them enough. And when you hear it from somebody probably that they look up to and admire, it means a lot. So I'm glad you do things like that. That's awesome. I haven't always been this way. I also have people tell me that too. Oh, really? Yes. Really. So when did it change? I think probably my leader that, Janet Schalke, who didn't give me the VP role and got me a coach. But got you a coach. Right. And told me why and told me what to do. Yep. Yep. Awesome.

[00:20:40] Carissa, I want to talk about something else. We share a passion for the outdoors. You spend a lot of the time of your time with the Grand Canyon Conservancy. So tell me about that. Yeah. So I think with great success comes great responsibility. I come from very humble beginnings. And so I want to make sure that I'm giving back as much as I can. The Grand Canyon Conservancy just happens to be one of those places that I enjoy giving back to.

[00:21:09] And it's not just about money, right? It's about my time and my professional wisdom that I can give back to the conservancy as well. And it's not- What is the technology wisdom that the Grand Canyon needs? Many. We have stores with point of sales that don't connect to our backend systems. And we're in the process of redoing our ERP. And so there's plenty of things that can help. Or I have a card that has a National Parks Pass. Why can't I just scan it instead of waiting for somebody at the gates? Yep.

[00:21:39] Those are things that we talk about all the time. That's awesome. So have you spent a lot of time at the park? Yes. I have to go there four times a year for board meetings. Oh my gosh. That's fantastic. So yes, I'm there a lot. That is awesome. Well, so I actually want to dig into this a little bit more. Why are the National Parks important? And I say this because we're losing, we're seeing the funding dry up and also, you know,

[00:22:07] so just in a way that I don't think there's an appreciation of how important these parks are. I spend a lot of my time with Yellowstone. They're all fantastic. Yes. So why are they important? I mean, it's so important to have spaces in the outdoors that you can go with your family and your friends to decompress, to learn about our country and about how we grew up. It's not just about, you know, Yellowstone where you see great animals or Grand Canyon where you just stand and you're like, wow, this is amazing.

[00:22:36] But it's about the history of those places, like the Grand Canyon. Eleven tribes called the Grand Canyon home, right? It wasn't ours. Yeah. So you go and learn about the history of those tribes. You learn about the history of the canyon and what it really means to us. And so all national parks have the same story, right? There's something they're trying to tell us about who we are as a people, right? And it's not just the white people that came here. It's who we are as a people in general. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's amazing.

[00:23:03] So, Krista, the reason I wanted to dive into that is because as an executive that you are, usually, not usually, but oftentimes, people are just so singularly focused on the work that they do. So how does your work at the Grand Canyon inspire the work that you do at Illumina? Yeah. I mean, I don't know if there's a big connection there other than mentally for me, it helps me reset and get back into the mode of what I need to do at Illumina.

[00:23:28] I think it's super important for people to have that outlet, whether it's being outdoors or working with animals or whatever it happens to be. You need that outlet away from work. You can't always be at work. That's right. That's right. Gives you perspective. Yes. Okay. So I want to close out with we're here at the Women Business Leaders Conference in New Orleans, the annual summit.

[00:23:53] It's a wonderful event with hundreds of executive-level women like yourself. And why are you here? Why do you come to the WBL? It's a commitment of time. It's a commitment of resources. So why are you here? I've been a member. I didn't know about it until I worked at United, and Janine Rivett, who's a founding member, got me engaged. And I just have met so many wonderful women that I know I can pick up the phone or send an email to when I need help,

[00:24:22] which is one of the things that I've been very good at in my career is knowing when I need help. And so I come here just to continue to meet new members and meet with people I haven't seen in a while and just talk about things that are challenging us and how we can solve those problems. Maybe this summit, we need to talk more about how women in the workforce are threatened at this point and what are we going to do, right? If we don't do something, who's going to do it? Right. Right. Yeah.

[00:24:50] So I could not agree with you more. So, Carissa, as we close out this Inspiring Women interview, I'd love sort of like your final thoughts for those next 100 Carissas that we want to bring forward to be like you. What's your advice for them? You belong at the table. Surround yourself with really smart people who support you and, you know, do what you think is best for you. That is fantastic.

[00:25:18] I've been speaking with Carissa Rollins, and this has been an excellent, inspiring women conversation. Carissa, thank you so much. Thank you.