Candid Conversation with CIOs
One of the Torchbearers of retail technology and a Tech Icon, "Annie Mathew" the CIO of Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd. She carries more than three decades of work experience, in diverse domains through having worked in organisation’s like NOCIL – a Shell-Mafatlal company (India), Bharat Shell (India), Datacom Systems (NZ), Fonterra (NZ) and Xenacom (NZ).
What's your favourite way to unwind after a long day at work?
Home, sweet home always. I rarely miss my evening workout routine as it keeps me fit & energised. Then I inevitably end up watching movies and OTT because it helps me destress and reset for the next day.
Do you have any Hobbies or Interests outside of Technology & Business?
I love being outdoors, I use every opportunity I get to do so. I used to play Squash quite regularly, I'm on a break now. I love listening to music, in fact my favourite weekend activity is cooking with the music blaring away. I love baking, mainly cakes and muffins, during the pandemic that expanded to bagels, cookies and breads too.
What's the most memorable vacation you have ever taken and why?
I think one of the best destinations that I traveled, is Greece. We were lucky to go there just before the pandemic. Being a history buff, the visits to all the monuments, especially the Parthenon were spiritually very up lifting. Till you see the Aegean Sea, it is impossible to understand ‘sea blue’. The ferry ride from Mykonos to Santorini is etched in my memory forever.
A short but memorable trip was our 2 day stay in Paris. I spent most of the time at the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay and other nearby museums. Would love to go back to experience the city.
In India, a beautiful trip to the mesmerising Northeast covering Shillong, Cherrapunji, Gangtok etc was truly memorable.
Some of my most memorable trips have been with my team. Almost every year, we would go on a team building and strategising exercise and we started enjoying adventure activities like rappelling, river crossing, rock climbing etc. The team grew stronger as a result, overcoming fear and encouraging each other to do the same.
What’s the last great book that you read or a movie that you watched?
A book that I read recently is "Becoming" by Michelle Obama, and a recent movie that struck a chord was "A Man Called Otto" featuring Tom Hanks.
Are there any Hidden Talent or Skills you possess that people might not know about?
Ah... Not exactly, I'm pretty much an open book, the only thing not known is that I have been learning Spanish. I recently completed 1000 days of learning Spanish on Duolingo. I chose Spanish as it is widely spoken across the countries in my travel bucket list.
What's your go to strategy for managing stress in a high-pressure role like yours?
II do a bit of Yoga and I make sure I do it quite regularly. I also try to avoid bringing work home and to achieve that I work quite late. However, life in IT has the occasional crises so I have had my fair share of all nighters too. Also, I have accepted that stress is a part and parcel of the job and we can only tackle problems by prioritising them. And the fact that I really enjoy my work makes it easier.
*This is part of a community building initiative. The content is not produced by the editorial team and no Techcircle reporter was involved in its creation or publication.
Memories in Frame
Acropolis Of Athens - The Parthenon makes you feel the presence of Gods and awe of the intellect, vision and ambition to craft a monument of perfect proportions and architectural ingenuity.
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