Alina Parast
SVP & CIO
ChampionX
Alina Parast is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at ChampionX.
Alina has more than 25 years of experience in global information technology leadership roles across various industries. She joined Ecolab in 2007 as a Vice President of Information Technology and held leadership roles in several business technology areas, including Enterprise Business Applications and Infrastructure Services.
Prior to joining Ecolab, Alina led the Global Infrastructure Services organization and other organizations at Alcatel-Lucent. She held similar positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T Network Systems. Alina has also held Research and Development, manufacturing and process engineering positions.
She received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Northeastern University, a master’s degree in technology policy management from Boston University and a doctorate in information technology management from the University of Phoenix.
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I am an engineer by training and was always fascinated by technology and problem solving. Following my graduation from Northeastern University, I spent a number of years learning and working in a large-scale manufacturing facility at AT&T. I later took on roles in R&D and IT as a technical professional and discovered that in addition to solving problems, I loved to lead large global programs and help others to learn and develop their skills.
Throughout my career, I continued my learning through graduate and post-graduate education which enabled me to think strategically and leverage research and data to solve business problems. Ultimately, it took me to working in numerous locations, leading cross functional teams and applying technology to solve business problems.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Have a one-team approach to solve business problems, and always make a difference for customers, employees, stockholders and communities.
With disruption being a key theme of recent years, where do you see the CIO role going in the next 1-2 years?
As technology leaders, we are becoming more than leaders in our own field, but advisors and partners to our business where technology becomes a key ingredient to growth and productivity.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a CIO?
Always be curious and never stop learning. Engage with your team, your business partners and your peers as everyone has a unique and valuable perspective that can contribute to your professional and personal success.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and came to the US when I was a teenager with my family seeking political asylum.
- As a teenager, I was a competitive swimmer and did pretty well in backstroke and long-distance freestyle.
- My husband and I have 3 wonderful children who are now young adults.
What is the value of joining an Evanta community?
Outstanding community of peers!
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
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