Init Intelligence Atlas

Mark Settle

3 min read

Mark Settle

Seven-time enterprise CIO — Okta’s first-ever CIO and ex-CIO of BMC Software — now an independent advisor to startups and VC firms, and author of the ITSM canon Truth from the Trenches / Truth from the Valley plus the newsletter The Modern CIO.

Snapshot

  • Now: Independent advisor — serves on advisory boards of several VC firms and personally advises multiple startups; publishes the The Modern CIO newsletter and ongoing CIO.com / thought-leadership columns. Not in an operating CIO seat today.
  • Archetype (for init): Strategic / Operator — ITSM domain authority + CIO buyer-angel (bullseye). Literally wrote the book on IT management; carries validator credibility and the buyer’s-eye view of an ITSM purchase.
  • Warm path: Okta lineage — overlaps the Ryan Carlson / Okta network (Carlson was Okta CMO 2016–2021; Settle was Okta’s first CIO from Aug 2016). Also sits on multiple VC advisory boards, a plausible secondary intro surface.

Why an init.inc angel target

  • ITSM domain authority. Author of Truth from the Trenches and Truth from the Valley — the de-facto practitioner texts on IT/service management. An init angel check from him is third-party validation in init’s exact category.
  • CIO buyer credibility. Seven-time CIO across Okta, BMC, and Fortune 500 enterprises — he is the archetype of init’s buyer. His public framework (“what CIOs want to hear in a vendor’s sales pitch”) maps directly onto init’s GTM motion.
  • Reach into the CIO buyer pool. Through The Modern CIO (incl. a CIO Spotlight interview series) he has a standing audience of sitting CIOs; seven of his former direct reports are themselves sitting public-company CIOs — a referral/design-partner network init wants.
  • Strategic-angel fit. Lean, named, credibility-dense — exactly the profile for init’s OPEN strategic-angel allocation rather than a generic financial check.

Conflict screen

  • Clean. No angel/advisor/board position found in any init competitor. He appeared as a guest on Atomicwork’s “Atomic Conversations” podcast (a direct init competitor) discussing the evolution of IT/ITSM — that is neutral commentary, not affiliation; do not imply otherwise.^[single-source] His prior operating roles (BMC, Okta) are career history, not angel-investment conflicts.

Background

  • Okta’s first-ever CIO (Aug 2016 start; LinkedIn shows the tenure running ~2016–2019) — Okta’s own announcement and the WSJ “Okta Hires First CIO” coverage both frame him as the company’s inaugural CIO, hired in the run-up to its IPO.
  • Seven-time CIO and three-time CIO 100 honoree, with prior CIO roles spanning enterprise software, high-tech distribution, financial services, and oil & gas. Beyond BMC and Okta, his prior CIO seats include Arrow Electronics, Visa, Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), and IHS.^[single-source]
  • Author / thought leader. Truth from the Trenches: A Practical Guide to the Art of IT Management (2017) and Truth from the Valley: A Practical Primer on IT Management for the Next Decade (2020); ongoing columnist and writer of the The Modern CIO newsletter.
  • Today: advises VC firms and startups; positioned as an active thought leader rather than retired (per the Dec-2024 CIO.com profile).
  • Formally trained as a geologist (MIT BS/MS, Brown PhD); former Air Force officer and NASA program scientist. Reported to be based in Nashville, TN.^[ambiguous]

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