Shajy J. Mathai, 2009 Honoree

- Title
- Managing director
- Employer
- Guy Carpenter & Co.
- Location
- New York
- First job:
- Salesman at a camera store
- Most valuable career advice:
- "Study things that interest you, and you will use that forever."
- Title you'd like to hold someday:
- Chief innovation officer
- What do you love about IT?
- "A colorful palette for an artist to work from."
- Passion outside of work:
- "Family."
- What's in your MP3 player?
- Michael Card
- Favorite ice cream flavor:
- Butter pecan
- Favorite book:
- The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
- Favorite movie:
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Leadership philosophy in a nutshell:
- "IT should focus on being a software company and not a back office. Align vendors with your business needs so that they become partners. Working at 100% and having fun is OK, but not having fun means management is required. Non-client-facing, low-value p
- "Aha" leadership moment:
- "The project plan for every client-facing project can be structured in a way that ensures that the business gets interim products frequently and the overall project risk is reduced. The high frequency of product releases gives the development team a cont