Off the Cuff: Houston Astros Baseball Club

Brad Bourland

AGE: 30

TITLE: Senior director, procurement and technology

COMPANY: Houston Astros Baseball Club

ANNUAL REVENUE: $200 million

INDUSTRY SECTOR: Entertainment (professional sports)

TIME IN JOB: Six years

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else.

FROM WHOM: My dad

BEST CIO DECISION EVER MADE: Bringing knowledge in-house. When we work with vendors, we make sure we understand how everything works together or how they resolved a problem. This has reduced our costs tremendously.

IF YOU WEREN'T A CIO, YOU WOULD BE: In sales

FIRST JOB: Winn-Dixie grocery sacker (at age 13)

FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE: Food

GOLF HANDICAP: Terrible

LAST BUSINESS BOOK YOU READ: Winning by Jack Welch

BEST PERSONALITY TRAIT: I will not be denied.

WORST PERSONALITY TRAIT: My wife would say I'm hardheaded, but she hasn't convinced me.

WHY YOU WENT INTO TECHNOLOGY: I believed that it would open doors. I knew business leaders wouldn't be extremely interested in what a 24-year-old right out of college had to say about business issues, but I believed they would listen to what I had to say about technical issues.

FAVORITE PASTIME: Baseball, of course!

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