Ep 78: From Engineering to CIO: Diane Schwarz’s Leadership Insights

Diane Schwarz is Johnson Controls’ chief information officer and the global leader in smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings. She is responsible for leading a global, business-aligned information technology organization. Schwarz develops and executes enterprise-wide I.T. strategy to ensure a strong digital core for Johnson Controls to scale and achieve its global growth objectives.

A senior I.T. executive with experience in building and leading best-in-class I.T. teams, Schwarz most recently served as chief digital and information officer for Hunt Consolidated and previously worked at Textron, Bell and Honeywell. With a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, her scope covers digital transformations, cybersecurity, data analytics, infrastructure and cloud operations, ERP/SAP applications and I.T. supplier management.

Schwarz holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a board member of NPower, a non-profit that creates pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities and of T200, a non-profit that elevates women in technology.

Key themes emerging out of our conversation: