Estée Lauder Companies - IT Executive of the Year

Company: Estée Lauder Companies, New York City, NY
Company Description: Estée Lauder Companies is the global leader in prestige beauty — delighting consumers with transformative products and experiences, inspiring them to express their individual beauty. We are the only company focused solely on prestige makeup, skin care, fragrance and hair care with a diverse portfolio of 25+ brands sold in approximately 150 countries and territories.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Executive of the Year

Nomination Title: Michael Smith, Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Michael Smith is the Chief Information Officer of The Estee Lauder Companies (ELC), throughout his career Michael has created a legacy of building leaders and high-performing teams that transform industries. He has a track record of crafting compelling visions and delivering solutions that accelerate capabilities with the uncanny ability to delight internal stakeholders and external customers with innovative ways of working and out of the box solutions.

Michael’s leadershiphasa mix of IT, commercial and functional expertise with more than 25 years of experience across retail, technology and pharma industries. As CIO, he is responsible for further advancing ELC's innovation in technology to invent, support, and enable the company's growth strategy and meet the evolving needs of ELC brands and business. He also drives global technology solutions in key strategic areas for the company, notably retail, digital, social, security and analytics.

COVID has had a profound impact on ELC’s digital acceleration & technology transformation. Because of this, Michael re-examinedIT’smission and adjusted the strategytoacceleratetheadoption of newtechnologysuch asaugmented realityto capture and scale virtual high-touch consumer engagementsand experiences thatdelight customers in a new touchless world. Michael and hisleadershipteam refreshed their strategy and focused on the future of work, amazing experiences,and matured their ability to bring initiatives to market at unprecedented speed and quality.Under his leadership,theIT organizationhas delivered 2X more projectsthanthe previous year, increasedoutput bymore than 50% each year for the past two years and delivered nearly 400 projects since the start of COVID.Michaelquicklymobilizedtodeliver new capabilities anddrivecollaboration,he focused theuse of technology toboostemployeeengagement,unlockwork-life balance,reducestress andimprovemental health.

In the last year, Michael’s vision has:

-EstablishedGlobal TechnologyCentersaround theworld tofoster innovation
-Modernizedand reimaginedthe partner landscape to accelerate delivery
-IntroducedDualCareerPathstofostercareeradvancement in managementand specialty focus areas
-Builta culture ofinnovation fromevery chair
-Acceleratedthe implementationofnew processes
-Increased patentvelocity
-Formalized inclusion and diversity initiatives
-Dramatically increased investments in people and technology

Michael initiated an impressive array of programs to attract and retain talent, recognizing that the move from enterprise IT to technology innovation would require a different skillset. “We needed the ability to think differently, be agile, and engage directly with our business partners,ELC is a highly collaborative, high-touch culture. Our programs amplify the best of who we are, I often talk about the culture of joy, it's really this sense of well-being and a sense of achievement. When you have these things, that's when you can be innovative, that's where you can be creative, that's when people can take risks."

Internal innovation sprints, like hackathons or other culture building exercises, foster connections between team members that don't often have a chance to collaborate. It's an opportunity to break free from routine and make employees think outside normal parameters. Team building exercises with purposeful intent can also help stave off burnout. "Some of this is about leadership, and about creating the kind of team culture that you want to drive to for a high-performing organization"

Additionally, Michael created Tech Day of Pink, an annual campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer in the tech community and support of ELC's Breast Cancer Campaign, ELC’s largest philanthropic initiative. Michael is also a founding member of TechPACTwhich is designed to increase representation of blacks,LatinXand women which have been underrepresented in the technology industry. TheTechPACTis working to establish that anyone with a passion for technology has equal opportunity for success on a level playing field and is working to actively create change by addressing equity in the workplace through hiring and promotion transformation, altering procurement processes, and philanthropic activities.
https://www.techdayofpink.com/
https://www.elcompanies.com/en/our-commitments/the-breast-cancer-campaign
https://www.techpact.org/