Five Questions for Joe Cozzolino, New CEO at CDS

Today we sit down with Joe Cozzolino, the new Chief Executive Officer at CDS.  Joe joins CDS after a distinguished career spanning rapid-growth startups, to large scale enterprises like Motorola and Cisco, to recently working in Private Equity.

We thought we’d ask Joe a few questions, both professional and personal, so we could get to know him better.

Joe, what attracted you to this opportunity at CDS?

CDS has an intriguing combination of a young, hungry startup fighting against larger companies plus the wisdom and maturity of a company who’s been in this industry for 30 years.  You don’t often see that combination and I felt like this was a great opportunity to harness the best of each of those characteristics to build something bigger and stronger.  It’s also rare to see a company the size of CDS develop such strong, long-lasting partnerships with the largest players in IT. I also have immense respect for New State Capital’s approach to helping their portfolio company’s execute their strategy. They not only help with their knowledge in the capital markets, but with expert resources to help a company grow to the next level.

What do you think about the state of the IT market?

IT is undergoing a massive transformation.  Applications and platforms are being rethought, rewritten, and relocated.  And it seems like every industry, regardless of size or geography, is grappling with a level of technical debt that is holding them back from moving as fast as they’d like.  CDS has been through multiple industry shifts over the decades – monolithic to client/server, client/server to web 1.0, and now the world of enterprise multi-cloud.   We’ve seen firsthand how MVS can help organizations reduce their spend on legacy systems, freeing up money and internal talent for more business-enabling modern platforms.

What do you bring to CDS?

I’ve been lucky to have had so many great mentors and coaches who taught me lessons when it comes to leadership, technology, and general management.  As a leader, I bring the humility that I don’t have all the answers, but I can help develop great answers by enabling high-performing teams.  Great people make great companies, or as I like to say, “don’t bet on the horse, bet on the jockey”.  As an EE major, I’ve always had an appreciation for and understanding of technology, especially all facets of networking.   And I also bring a track record of building high-performing, long-term businesses. 

Where did your focus on partnerships and customers begin?

I got the bug to build businesses pretty early during my college career.  And I learned that having a great widget isn’t enough – you need a group of customers who need and want that widget, and in many cases, partners to help you bring that experience to life.  Though I’ve been heavily involved in bringing products to market throughout my career, my “true north” been focused on customers and partners

Okay, last question: what do you do for fun?

Well, I do consider coming to work and solving big challenges with my colleagues a fun experience.  But, I suspect you’re asking a different question. Outside the office I love the outdoors and spending time with my family and friends– skiing, fishing, golfing badly, or just relaxing on the beach.  I have a standing fishing trip with old friends that is always a highlight of my year.  My family will also attest to the fact that I can make some tasty meals when time permits.

Joe, thank you very much for spending a few minutes today.  We’ll look forward to getting updates on your CDS journey in the weeks and months to come.