267- Inside Greyhound’s Technology Transformation with IT Leader John Nara

Dissecting Popular IT Nerds

Technology

5 • 49 Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Nara John Nara is the Director of Information Technology at Greyhound Lines Inc. He first joined Greyhound as a developer, creating key dispatch and logistics systems. Over time, John moved into IT leadership roles, overseeing teams and major technology initiatives at the company. His passion for motivating staff and building culture has shaped his servant leadership approach. Outside of Greyhound, John has IT experience from organizations including GameStop, Nokia, and UPS. He credits his time in the Navy for exposing him to technology and logistics. Inside Greyhound’s Technology Transformation with IT Leader John Nara In this insightful discussion, we delve into the evolution of bus technology and the expanding role of the IT leader at Greyhound Lines Inc. Our guest John brings a unique perspective, drawing from his 25+ years of experience at the iconic company to discuss building and modernizing critical dispatch and logistics systems. John offers practical tips for motivating teams, building culture, and developing staff – areas he sees as vital for effective IT leadership. Looking ahead, he provides thoughtful forecasts on emerging technologies like AI and how to ready IT teams at a legacy organization for what’s next. Tune in for practical, forward-thinking insights from John’s diverse IT leadership journey so far at Greyhound.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back, everyone to dissecting popular IT nerds.
0:09.5	I'm your host, Doug Kameen, and today I'm talking with John Nara, who is Director of Information Technology with Greyhound Lines, the bus company.
0:17.4	Welcome to the show, John.
0:19.0	I'm so happy to be here.
0:20.1	This is really a great experience, and I appreciate the invitation. Yeah, thanks. So, thanks so thanks so much for joining us. So I'm just going to jump right in here and ask you a question about like you got an interesting job. Like I think many of us know what Greyhound is and you've been there a while. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do there?
0:39.3	I mean, you can share what Greyhound is, but I'm pretty sure most everybody does know that.
0:44.3	That's one of the benefits, a very few benefits to working in Greyhound.
0:48.3	It's where I don't have to explain what the company does.
0:52.3	And I did start there with not my first IT job, but very close to it.
0:59.1	Really, I wrote their dispatching system that they still use today,
1:03.2	which they probably shouldn't still be using it.
1:06.3	But neither here nor there.
1:08.8	But ground being a bus company, obviously,
1:12.3	but they also still do food service shipping
1:15.6	and they have all the other IT needs for legal and HR.
1:20.6	So it's just been constant challenges.
1:22.1	I didn't go there to stay there for 25 plus years,
1:25.7	but I stayed there for 25 plus years.
1:28.4	Yeah.
1:29.0	I mean, being a part of a company in longevity, you know, probably a testament to the company's
1:34.5	ability to, you know, to give you the right things that you want to stay around with.
1:38.9	Yeah, definitely the challenges were there and the technologies were there are just, you know,
	...

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