Julie
Iskow
CEO at Workiva
"From Builder to CEO: How Technical Leaders Earn the Right to Run the Company"
"From Builder to CEO: How Technical Leaders Earn the Right to Run the Company"
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Session: From Builder to CEO: How Technical Leaders Earn the Right to Run the Company
Technical leaders are increasingly stepping into the C-suite — but the leap from builder to CEO requires far more than technical excellence.In this session, Julie Iskow shares her path from engineering and product leadership to CIO, CTO, COO in tech companies, and then finally to becoming the CEO of a global public enterprise software company. She'll talk about the hard-earned lessons that allowed her to earn credibility beyond technology. Drawing on real executive decisions, mistakes, and inflection points, she breaks down what actually changes as leaders move from delivering outcomes to owning the business.
This talk goes beyond inspiration to offer a clear, practical framework for technical leaders who aspire to having broader impact.
Key Takeaways
- Technical excellence opens doors, but earning the CEO role requires shifting from execution to ownership — leading through trust, tradeoffs, and accountability across the entire business.
- Non-linear career paths can be a strategic advantage: experience across product, operations, and technology builds the systems-level thinking required to run a company at scale.
- Advancing from VP to the C-suite requires expanding your impact beyond a single function — building visibility, sponsorship, and trust as an enterprise leader.
Bio
Julie Iskow is the CEO of Workiva, a public SaaS company used by global enterprises to manage and report complex financial, business, and regulatory data with accuracy, control, and transparency. Over the course of her career, she has progressed from engineering and product leadership into executive roles, including CTO, CIO, Head of Product, COO, and CEO — gaining a rare, end-to-end perspective on how technology, operations, and leadership intersect at scale.Julie is a strong advocate for developing the next generation of technical and product leaders. She brings an honest, experience-driven perspective on navigating complexity, building confidence, and stepping into broader leadership roles at the highest levels of organizations.
