Governing Body Spotlight

Beverly Chamberlain has been a leader across IT organizations for more than 20 years, working with teams to embrace new technologies and leading them through change. For the last five years, she has been with Regeneron, overseeing Global IT Enterprise Operations as the company has achieved massive growth and helped patients all over the world. 

A fun fact about Beverly, she enjoys ballroom dancing, and in her free time, she likes to paint landscapes.

Learn more about the New York CIO community here.
 

Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.

I’ve been working in technology organizations from the start. I quickly realized at the beginning of my career that I’m passionate about leading and uplifting others; I get a lot out of helping people be successful and elevating their contributions. And, I’m a planner. No matter what’s going on, I’m always thinking about and putting together a plan for what’s next. Even from my first role, I thought about where I wanted to be — leading people, working with technology, and developing a vision for shared success — and looked at what I needed to do to succeed at that next level. 

I spent a lot of time making sure that I was aligning my experiences and education with those goals. It was also clear to me that the most successful leaders are collaborators: it’s not “you versus me,” it’s “we,” so I’ve used that tenet to help guide my own growth. I’ve worked in a variety of unique environments, but they all followed the path of me pursuing a vision to be a technology leader, ultimately relying on collaboration to succeed.
 

What is one of your guiding leadership principles?

I believe that leading begins with listening, and listening is the best place to start a collaboration. My best moments as a leader have all come from asking good questions and hearing what others have to say — whether that’s connecting with individuals to understand their expertise and their experiences, connecting with customers directly, or understanding why teams are advocating for what they need most. I also think the collaboration aspect is critical; good leaders know that it’s not about “me,” it’s about “we.”
 

What is the greatest challenge technology leaders face today, and how are you addressing it?

In my role, I lead a team that is consistently managing the delicate balance between delivering modern technology solutions and developing the governance and compliance processes around those solutions to use them safely and effectively. Whether it’s artificial intelligence (AI) or other new solutions like mixed-reality (MR) glasses, the challenge is doing so responsibly without limiting the potential of a new technology.

We are addressing this challenge by taking a risk-based approach: for example, to address the security risks around web apps (software as a service, or SaaS apps), we’ve created a policy for all employees that’s built on our custom orchestration of security platforms. We pair that with a robust change management approach to ensure we’re supporting users, making key security determinations in real time, and clearly communicating with business stakeholders.
 

What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CIO?

Answer the phone! What I mean by that is, when people reach out, reach back. Connecting with colleagues — no matter their role or job title — is the best way to move work forward. The most effective leaders prioritize people, and the easiest way to do that is to honor it when team members make contact by getting back to them.
 

How do you measure success as a leader?

Through employee engagement – how much employees are participating in our culture, connecting with one another, and sharing feedback. We use formal metrics around these things, and those are important, but for me it’s also a feeling based on our interactions. When I see a team that’s excited about their work, uplifting one another, and feeling comfortable expressing themselves, I know they’ve got a great leader.
 

What is the value of being a member of the Evanta community?

The Evanta community is a great opportunity to connect with others like me; people who understand the joys, challenges, and intricacies of being a technology executive. I’m eager to learn from their rich expertise while also sharing my own. I see the Evanta community as a community of practice at the executive level — a chance to convene on the shared issues we face, to support one another as leaders, and to learn from one another.
 

Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
 

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