Making Your Data Blossom with Arnie Leap, CIO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.

As Chief Information Officer, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., Arnie oversees all aspects of Information Technology for the company, including day-to-day technology operations, software development, data governance, technology roadmap, corporate security and more.

Under Arnie’s leadership, the company has streamlined and enhanced systems used daily by the organization, as well as leveraged innovative customer-facing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Recognizing the potential of conversational commerce in its earliest stages several years ago, Arnie gathered a multi-disciplinary team to swiftly incorporate and pivot to this new technology. This quickly led to the company’s exploration and launch on messaging platforms, including Facebook Messenger and a very early adoption of a voice-first initiative with Amazon Alexa, followed by Apple Business Chat and Google Assistant. Arnie and his team continue to prioritize the identification and implementation of emerging technologies and future computing concepts into the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. business. Before joining 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. in 2013, Arnie spent 16 years at Direct Insite Corp., a provider of on-demand cloud-based software, where he worked in various roles of increasing responsibility culminating in his position as Executive Vice President, CTO, working with Fortune 500 companies on a worldwide basis. Prior to his time with Direct Insite Corp., Arnie held several software development and management positions. Arnie is a member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from New York Institute of Technology.

Steve Hamm is an award winning journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. He has been writing about the tech industry for more than 30 years, including journalism stints at BusinessWeek and the San Jose Mercury News. His book credits include Bangalore Tiger, The Race For Perfect, Making the World Work Better, Smart Machines, and soon to be released- The Rise of the Data Cloud.