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Carol Riegert, previously known as Carol Dingle, is the Senior Vice President and CIO at Oxford Global Resources. Her highly personable, well-spoken nature makes her an approachable, easy to talk to person with interesting stories to share. Get to know Carol in this Spotlight on our CIO.
Q: What is your professional background?
A: I have held executive-level positions in Software Development and IT operations, with a background in finance. I am currently Senior Vice President, CIO at Oxford. For the past five and a half years, I have managed all of Oxford’s internal IT and Cybersecurity needs and provided IT Leadership for enterprise initiatives, technology, and applications. Before Oxford, I was Vice President of Technical Services at ASGN Incorporated, where I spent the last eleven years managing the internal IT needs of the business. Prior to joining Oxford, I was with Digital Insight, an Intuit Company, for 13+ years in various Executive IT Leadership positions, to include Vice President, Data Center Operations.
Q: How long have you been with Oxford?
A: I’ve been part of the Oxford family for eleven and a half years; we’ve been through a lot of changes in that time.
Q: What daily habits do you recommend for success?
A: I like to work in a clean environment without excess clutter. I tell people to start their day in whatever positive way works for them. Some people do it through athletics, some do it with a cup of coffee, and some people enjoy time spent with their pets. I suggest that people do whatever it is that puts them in a positive place because it carries you through the rest of the day. For me, it’s feeding the cats, so they stop meowing; which allows me to get my cup of coffee.
Q: What is one of your greatest achievements to date?
A: Professionally, I’ve had the pleasure of working with fantastic team members. My success has always been the success of those around me. I’ve been with Oxford as long as I have because I have an amazing team.
Personally, raising my children without a doubt — I have two of my own, and my husband has five. Of course, we have our kitties together, too: Maverick and Goose.
Q: What attributes do you think are most important in a leader?
A: Honesty. Confidence. Humbleness. Transparency.
Q: What’s the best book you’ve read on business or leadership?
A: I’ve read so many great books, but if I was going to tell someone a must-read, it’s Raving Fans because I think it applies to any role, regardless of whether you’re in a service role or not. That book has always resonated with me.
Q: What skills do you think will be most in-demand in 2022?
A: Communication is a very necessary skill in our current remote work environment. Everything is much more challenging when you’re working from home. You can’t just be a good communicator anymore; you have to be a great communicator.
From a business perspective, cybersecurity is always a vast, growing need. There is a huge demand for cybersecurity engineers and analysts.
Additionally, we have been seeing more and more applications and services in the cloud from business and personal services applications, but the cloud doesn’t manage itself. Employing cloud security engineers, DevOps, Database skills and cloud storage engineers are a must.
Finally, the speed of technology change will be impacting the industry for some time into the future.
Q: As technology continues to advance, how do you see that impacting the recruiting and staffing industry?
A: Oxford takes pride in supporting hard-to-find skill areas like cybersecurity and cloud engineering. The candidates we are recruiting are consistently advancing their skills in these areas. We are seeing more clients, throughout multiple industries, come to Oxford to support their cybersecurity, cloud engineering and emerging technology needs. Oxford is constantly investing in our Account Managers and Recruiters; we provide continuous technical training within the niche skills we serve as well as AWS Partner Accreditation to name a few. When you marry this with our technical engineers who are certified and have proven experience, Oxford will remain at the forefront of recruiting and staffing for cutting edge technology
Q: How do you define customer care?
A: I think it’s our one-stop shop to ensure we’re meeting all of our consultant needs.
Q: What advice would you give to individuals interested in consulting?
A: Know your true North. What are you doing it for? Why are you motivated to consult? What’s the return you’re getting on that for yourself personally, emotionally? Follow that path. I’d tell people that for anything, not just consulting.
Q: How do you support driving change with your team or colleagues based on strategic business decisions?
A: We’re going through a lot of that right now, and I’ve taken the approach of asking my teams to keep the consistency right now. However, it’s a good opportunity to look under every rock and find where we have opportunities for efficiency. What do we need to do as technology service providers to support growth? How can we improve functionality and usability, and how do we do it faster to deliver value to the business?
Q: What do you like best about working with your team?
A: I work with some of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met. They’ve invested in a great user experience. They are not only problem-solvers but strategic thinkers who get in front of problems to bring better solutions to the users.
Q: How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
A: I’m not great at it. However, I put up boundaries. Now that I’m working from home, I won’t go back into my home office unless it’s critical. I turn that part of me off, and I focus on my family. I force myself to be in the moment, whether I’m at work or at home. That way, I can relax and mentally turn it off. I’m no good to my family or the business if I’m drained all the time. And I need to do it for my health.
Q: Why Oxford?
A: For clients, Oxford is phenomenal at understanding the client’s needs, being able to solve those hard-to-find, challenging solutions, and getting the right resources that are seasoned and accountable.
For consultants, Oxford has a great portfolio of clients that we work with and are continuing to grow to provide diversity that meets their needs.
For internal employees, Oxford is in a unique situation where we have an excellent track record of delivering for our clients and consultants. Now we have the level of investment needed to grow and provide more opportunities for our employees to grow inside our organization. There’s a massive opportunity for those who want to grow and drive change.
For me, first and foremost, it comes back to the people I work with across the entire business. For five and a half years, I’ve been very closely tied to Oxford, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with the nicest, smartest, most dedicated, and genuine people in the business. Second, I’m excited to help the company grow. It’s very exciting for me to work with the Senior Leadership to help us grow.
Q: What is your work motto/favorite quote on success?
A: Do or do not. There is no try. – Master Yoda
Yoda is my guide. The reason is we’re all in charge of our own destiny. There are things we can and can’t control. In the world of things we can control, we can do something or not, but you’ve got to commit one way or the other. But when you sit in the world of « I’ll try, » you’re wasting everyone’s time. Commit.
Dedication to the team at Oxford drives an environment wherein everyone is committed to success. Carol feels her leadership and guidance will take the organization to new heights in the coming years.