I’m relieved to be near the end of 2025. The last two years have not been easy, with my dad passing this year and the obstacles I was confronted with in 2024. I look forward to an easier 2026.

While challenging, it has also been a very rewarding year at StarCIO and in my thought leadership programs. Thank you for all the support and encouragement. Here’s a recap of my year.

150 Episodes of Coffee With Digital Trailblazers

One highlight of the last couple of years has been the Coffee With Digital Trailblazers that I host on LinkedIn most Fridays at 11am ET. We completed our 154^th episode just before the holidays, covering AI, transformation, and leadership topics. The event would be nothing without the team of Digital Trailblazer speakers who join every week. Thank you, Derrick Butts, Martin Davis, Joanne Friedman, John Patrick Luethe, Heather May, Liz Martinez, Joe Puglisi, and all of the special guests who joined us this year.

Earlier this year, I launched my first LinkedIn learning course, Digital Transformation for Leaders in the AI Era. Nearly 5,000 leaders have taken the course to learn how to translate their big ideas into transformative initiatives, develop AI strategies, and build core competencies in digital transformation. I’m thrilled every time someone posts their certificate of completion.

Sadly, I didn’t update the Driving Digital Standup much this year. I’ll be back with more episodes in 2026.

Must-read articles of 2025

I published 90+ articles this year between this blog, CIO.com, and InfoWorld. I have a few favorites:

• On CIO.com, I wrote three articles on how AI is changing the IT and digital operating model. Start with it’s the end of IT as we know it, then read about reorganizing IT for the AI era, and then make your plans to become a world-class IT organization. (Note: I have a keynote and workshop that dives into these topics.)
• On InfoWorld, follow my technical articles on vibe coding, AI governance (hint: start with strategy), and my updated multicloud checklist.
• On Drive, some of my most important AI writing is on 25 emerging genAI roles, data management questions CIOs should answer, and the many hats CIOs, CISOs, and CDOs wear. Digital Trailblazers should read my key articles on revisiting agile for the AI era,  mistakes leaders make when assigning people to agile teams, and making smarter tech and AI investments.

A lot of my 2025 writing covered conferences that I attended and several that I keynoted. Thank you, Adobe, AI Salon, AWS, Cisco, Appian, Collibra, Commvault, ET-x, HMG Strategy, Logitech, Microsoft, Nerdio, Netwoven, Quickbase, SAP,  SIM Fairfield/Westchester, Spark Executive Forum, Tanium, and Workday.  

I also connected with many Digital Trailblazers in 2025. It was great seeing Tim Crawford, Jason JJ James, Sarbjeet Johal, Myles Suer, R “Ray” Wang, Helen Yu, and everyone else I met on this year’s travels.  

StarCIO Center of Excellence Programs Expand

If you don’t know much about StarCIO’s flagship Center of Excellence programs, watch my 10-minute video on delivering AI innovations for a brief explanation.

This year, we added over 15 new advisories, including 8 on AI strategy, governance, and delivery. We added over 50 one-page standards in agile, product management, and DevOps.

Our mission is to guide organizations on using our standards to develop and evolve their digital operating models. Contact me if you want to learn more about our programs.

Thank you to the StarCIO team and partners: Michele Catania, Jay Cohen, Janette Gleyzer, Heather May, Liz Martinez, Mariella Montoni, Juanit Olguin, Paul Parker, Pietra Sacolick, Ronan Sacolick, and Jennifer Speciale.  

2026 Plans

I am starting 2026 with a bang – a trip to Japan with my daughter.

I am thrilled my son Ronan will be graduating from The University of Arizona (bear down!) with his Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering. He’s looking for his first job, and I am excited to see where he lands. Contact Ronan if you know of opportunities!

I don’t have my year’s goals fully laid out yet, but I have identified several new topics to cover in my thought leadership. They include:           

• CIO, CISO, and CDO Leadership Challenges, which will cover scenarios C-level leaders face during the course of running transformation and resilience programs.
• Using AI Capabilities to Improve CX, Develop Products, and Drive Growth, because genAI can’t just deliver productivity and efficiency benefits.
• Scaling Distributed Infrastructure and Quantum Computing, where I will review options for sustainable, scalable, and resilient infrastructure.

I also plan to expand the StarCIO Digital Trailblazer Community with new Advisory Connect Programs. Why haven’t you joined yet?

Happy New Year!