Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 14 | Page 81

GET TO KNOW... On the lighter side of things, we ask the industry experts what makes them tick. . . . David Helfer, SVP of Sales for EMEA, F5 Networks What would you describe as your most memorable achievement? In 2010, I faced one of my biggest challenges when I re-located my entire family and two dogs from Silicon Valley to London for my first ex-pat assignment. Moving to a new country isn’t the same as simply visiting it. Both my family and I still live in England and we love it. What we have accomplished to become genuinely settled and integrated feels like a big and personally fulfilling achievement. What first made you think of a career in technology? I grew up and studied in Michigan, which isn’t exactly the heartland of technology. What really helped me progress in my career was studying overseas. I would advise anyone to jump at the opportunity to experience new environments and different industries. It also helped that I had three older brothers already working in Silicon Valley when I left university, so it seemed like a logical step to go there myself. I accepted my first role as a sales rep in San Jose for a small technology company that was well ahead of its time; we were selling cloud services before cloud even had a name. www.intelligentcio.com What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position? There is a huge difference between the meaning of achievement and fulfilment. A lot of executives make the mistake of getting caught up in the fast-paced world of tech. This could mean getting too caught up in achieving rather than fulfilling. What do you think will emerge as the technology trend of 2019 and why? The past few years have seen organisations increasingly moving their apps to a public cloud environment. As a result, application security is an unavoidable and critical trend as we head into 2019. The most important Naturally, achievement is a vital component of business success, but the more we focus on fulfilling our colleagues’ needs, the better they will perform. “ I WOULD ADVISE ANYONE TO JUMP AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE NEW ENVIRONMENTS AND DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES. INTELLIGENTCIO 81