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 Inside the Head of David Cagigal, CITO, Alliant Energy Corporation
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THE HUMAN ENERGIZER Whether he’s shaking hands and personally greeting everyone in sight – from members of the custodial staff to the highest-ranking corporate officers – or engaging in friendly, but fierce, competition with friends on the golf course, there’s one thing that seems to define David Cagigal: energy.
Because energy is not just what he does, it’s who he is. It seeps from his pores. It emanates from his hands. Everyone he encounters, every project he handles, gets a jolt of electricity – a boost – as a result. And Alliant Energy Corporation reaps the benefits.
To get a better sense of what powers this successful IT executive, Lead IT posed a few questions about his background, interests, inspirations, and philosophies. The results were ... in a word: energizing.
Q. What job prior to Alliant best prepared you for your leadership role as it is today?
A. I went to Atlanta in 1979 with Amoco Container (a spin-off from the oil and gas division), which at the time was making McDonald’s hinged containers. Basically, anything out of foam you could think of: plates, bowls, you name it. There were 12 of us who went down from Chicago to start up a $50-million company.
It was very challenging for me. I’d never had a leadership position and had just finished my MBA. I had to hire my own staff, build the computer room, establish a network, and transfer the order processing system in less than a year. It was challenging, as basically I was thrown into the deep water to see if I could swim. Then we acquired another company and went from three manufacturing plants to nine, bumping us from $50 to $200 million. To make it even more difficult, in addition to the acquisition and the challenge of starting a new business, was the convergence of technology. If you remember, the invention of the PC was in 1980. I was building my first local network when I saw my first e-mail traffic in 1980. I said, “Who would ever use that? More importantly, whom would I send it to if I was the only one who had a mailbox?” I learned a lot about working with people, vendors, contracts, building networks, and computer systems. I think it underscored the word “change” for me and reinforced the importance of interdependence between my fellow executives to make this successful.
To add another layer of complexity, my third child was born in April 1980, at the same time we went live with our new system.
Q. On a professional level, who inspires you?
A. A man by the name of Dan Delgrosso, a former General Manager of IT at Amoco, who was responsible for about 1,000 people in the Infrastructure division. He became representative of many other mentors in my life, in that he believed in me more than I did. I thought I knew what I was capable of doing, but Dan knew I could handle more. I’ve always advanced in my career because of the potential others saw in me. When I was asked to go to Atlanta, I agreed because I really didn’t know what I was saying “yes” to. If they had told me exactly what I would’ve been doing month-to-month, I probably wouldn’t have done it or would’ve had great concerns. Having mentors (who have more confidence in you than you do) is what helps you grow, and that encourages me. And guess what? I try to be that to others.
Q. What’s the hardest thing about being a chief information technology officer?
A. Alignment of strategy and values is not easy, but is essential. I’m so enamored with the values of this company, and when I first came to Alliant Energy, understanding the culture and the values were the most important yet toughest challenge for me. They’ve helped me behave in a way that I can now be consistent with others. We want to service our three constituents: shareowners, consumers, and employees. From the shareowner point of view, we need to be prosperous; from the consumer point of view, we need to be reliable; and from the employee point of view, we need to provide opportunity. We’re very proud of our five core values, which are hanging up for all our employees to see: 1) Safety – We’re in a life-threatening business, not only regarding consumer safety but to make sure the partners with whom we work are safe; 2) Environmental – We strive to be good, trusted corporate citizens and stewards of our operating environment in our local communities; 3) Ethics – This defines how Alliant Energy and its family of companies treat employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which we live and work; 4) Diversity – We welcome all individuals’ talents, ideas, and different perspectives that make Alliant Energy the employer of choice; connect us to all the communities we serve; and make us a stronger, more successful company; and 5) Efficiency – We need constant improvement.
Q. How is technology impacting the future of Alliant Energy?
A. Utilities need to start introducing a smart meter into homes to provide consumers with the intelligence and feedback to conserve. You either consume at the rate you can pay or consume at the rate you need, but you need to be aware of what you’re consuming and its cost, which is what the smart meter is all about. This also continues to align the business strategy that our CEO has in mind for us. Then IT brings to the table the richness of the computing and network technology opportunities we have around advanced metering infrastructure and the intelligent grid. Our vision for the future is to offer better information to our customers so they can make informed decisions regarding their energy consumption after we’ve implemented incentive pricing. Further in the future, the intelligent grid will provide for net billing, where a customer can contribute to the grid and their fuel cells or solar panels, and get credit against their consumption. This will provide a win-win for everyone regarding the environment, conservation, and economics.
Q. Is IT pursuing environmentally conscious alternatives for technology?
A. We are a utility company [smiles], so, yes, we’re certainly keeping an eye on this. We’ve started with our data centers, virtualized servers, storage, PCs and monitors, and the overall reduction of power consumption. Monitor manufacturers have reduced energy by converting to flat screens that consume less power, and we’d like to see the PC turn to Energy Star status (similar to home appliances), as well, which is occurring. We’re also examining our work processes and behaviors. During our flood recoveries, we couldn’t believe how many employees were still having their paychecks or pay advices delivered to their desks. We had to adopt other means due to our offices being closed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We offer direct deposits, as well as online viewing of pay stubs. Some companies don’t offer a choice: simply no paper. We still have a culture of people hanging on to paper.
Q. Who’s the most impressive person you’ve ever met?
A. Bill Harvey (Alliant CEO), for having the courage to stand at the podium in front of 100 directors and tell everyone why he took the job after already having become a very wealthy man. He took the job because he believed in us, and he knew that he could turn the company into a profitable business again – which he has. Now, many of us feed off of his “can do” attitude.
Q. How do you self-educate?
A. I do a lot of reading: Wall Street Journal, trade magazines, CIO magazine, Fortune, Information Week online. I get paid for doing two things: communicating and exercising my judgment. When you read information, you have to ask yourself, “Why do I believe what I’m reading?” You need to understand the process of discerning certain information. The Internet sometimes is perceived as an authentic source of information, but we all know it requires greater evaluation skills than the formal media who edits and validates material that it provides. Do you believe their opinions and slant? The larger issue is the material NOT presented to you, accompanied by your desire to know. Where will you get it? This process forces you to examine things more thoroughly and develop the art of questioning. Business intelligence comes from asking questions. Our data is a goldmine for us, and everyone needs to ask more questions to validate more thoroughly all the information that’s available to us.
Q. What early career advice would you have for anyone getting into IT today?
A. At Alliant Energy, every new employee should know two things: the strategic purpose and the five values that make Alliant unique. Understanding the governance process, technology, plans to budget, and building the business case are just a few things we review with new employees. The most important thing, however, is to understand how the relationship between the employer and employee can mutually benefit each other.
Q. If you could immediately impact the world to be a better place, where would you start?
A. I’d provide affordable energy resources to all.
Q. What’s your poison when it comes to personal technology?
A. My BlackBerry; it’s my connection to what’s going on.
Q. What was your first job?
A. Working in a small restaurant with my dad while I was in high school. I worked as a cashier, waiter, and dishwasher. My dad always taught me to do things right the first time. Example: I cleaned off a countertop and took dirty dishes back to be washed. When I came back empty-handed, my dad told me to economize, be productive, and not waste any steps (as in, why I didn’t bring out the clean dishes after dropping off the dirty ones). Lessons I practice still today.
Q. Your life is your life because …
A. My family and being married to Sande with our four children is why I do what I do (though I do get an adrenaline rush at work). My children have watched me enjoy my job over the years, and two of my sons even work in IT, so everyday I try to serve as a good role model of someone who loves his career and manages it well.
Q. Where do you feel most at home?
A. In my kitchen. I get home around 6:30PM, and then I reflect on the day. My wife doesn’t particularly like this [smiles], but at work I don’t get much desk time, as I try to have more face time with my employees. It’s when I get home that I’ll spend time on the laptop to catch up, but during work I like to have the human interactions. A dilemma we face in the workplace today is a lack of face time. The younger generation doesn’t value it as much as the older generation does. At Alliant, we’re doing things to encourage more face-to-face interaction and social networking. We’ll need to balance this with the younger generation in the digital world.
Q. Favorite movie?
A. Casablanca. A classic.
Q. Hobby?
A. I enjoy playing a challenging round of golf with friends.
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