Hewlett-Packard executive Jackie Everett, the vice president for the company’s federal civilian business development, was 9 years old when she mounted her first dirt bike.
The off-road motorcycle was her father’s and she recalls riding it through the mesas in Albuquerque, N.M. with her friends before purchasing her own street bike in 2000. Her choice? A 2000 Harley Davidson Sportster Custom 1200.
That was then. The growth and business development industry veteran has since upgraded to her current 2011 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic which she rides for an average of 12 thousand miles each year, preferably through mountains and open roads.
Everett, who is also a RiderCoach for the not-for-profit Motorcycle Safety Foundation that develops research-based rider education and training curricula to advance riders’ skills, said the risk she assumes riding is similar to the risk assumed in the realm of Federal IT new business.
“Both Federal IT programs and riding require concentration, skills, continued development of those skills, awareness, and an open mind,” Everett said. “You must be focused and concentrate on what you are doing as that affects your outcomes and you must process the proper skills and use those skills or they perish. In Federal IT, there are programs that have risk and between the government and contractor that risk must be assumed to gain the rewards of a bigger value.”
For Bajinder Paul, the chief information officer at the Federal Trade Commission, it took reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, a philosophical fiction novel, to sway him to hedge his bets on a motorcycle.
Three years later, in 2009, Paul took to the open road.
Paul, who touts 30 years heading organizations and federal IT initiatives in the public and private sectors, said he rides his 1300CC Cruiser VSTAR 1300 as often as he can.
“I have now become a passionate rider, indeed. The concept of ‘Live to Ride…Ride to Live’ Transcends, indeed,” Paul said, noting that motorcycle riding is what helps him perform well in his CIO job.
“From the CIO’s perspective, it is essential to meditate on ideas for transformation and motorcycle riding provides that focus. Riding provides clarity of the mind,” he said. “For me, motorcycle riding is a matter of passion. It implies a sense of adventure, taking risks, exploring and discovering the new. In that context, my personality is all of that…risk-taking, discovering the possibilities and exploring.”
Pair the value of motorcycle riding as an outlet for escapism with its utility when performed with others as a tool for fostering camaraderie and you have a fitting hobby for a federal IT CIO.
Barry West, the CIO at Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), has been riding motorcycles for more than 30 years and in 2001 co-started a riding group with Marc Zoellner, the senior vice president of VMD Systems Integrators.
The group of government and industry IT motorcycle riders bears the moniker “The Rolex Rangers” and members often ride together to Federal IT conferences — while wearing Rolex watches.
West grew up around motorcycles and took motorcycle safety classes and tested for his cycle license while he was still in the military.
Today he rides a couple of times a week and said the hobby provides him an outlet when his role in federal IT becomes stressful.
“Both [motorcycle riding and working in Federal IT involve taking risks and being defensive when you need to be. The federal IT arena can be hectic and stressful,” West said. “Taking a ride on a motorcycle helps eliminate the stress and provides an open feeling of comfort and enjoyment.”
West also belongs to the Harley Owners Group (HOG).
As for unique hobbies or rituals associated with these executives’ motorcycles?
Paul’s is a “a fun powerful cruiser” which he deemed to be “a part of my soul;” Everett “can’t share that here,” and West enjoys taking his Harley-Davidson Street Glide to High Rock in western Maryland, where on nice days a view of four states is visible to its beholder.
