A coffee chat with CIO Brianne Bustos
Brianne Bustos is a Chief Information Officer and an executive on the Influence Board platform. Her time is in high demand, and for good reason. With deep experience in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, she’s led complex, enterprise-wide projects and knows what it takes to keep systems, people, and strategy aligned.
We met for coffee at a local shop near both our neighborhoods. She ordered a matcha latte with lavender syrup and joked that she’d accidentally quit coffee, but not because she meant to.
“I was working 12- to 14-hour days on a huge project and just stopped drinking it. It fell out of my routine and I never picked it back up.”
That comment said a lot. It’s easy to forget how much weight executive leaders carry until you hear something that simple and real. Coffee didn’t just get forgotten. It got deprioritized during a stretch of long days and long decisions.
So when Brianne told me how much her cold outreach had exploded after stepping into her CIO role, it wasn’t a surprise.
“It has been a monumental difference for me, just based on the sheer amount of cold calls I get now. Email, LinkedIn, everything. Especially in IT from a sales standpoint, it just doesn’t stop.”
That kind of noise takes up more than just time. It chips away at your ability to focus. To rest. To think clearly.
So she did something about it.
“Now, I have automatic reminders and responses set up for email cold calls and LinkedIn messages. I don’t even think about it. Everything automatically defaults through Influence Board so they can filter for me. I send the response once, and that’s it. The only way I’ll end up connecting with someone is if they really are a fit, and if it’s something I can actually support.”
Influence Board became her filter. It’s now the only place she takes vendor meeting requests. Everything else (the cold calls, messages, spam) gets deflected using our Vendor Deflection tool (right now, that’s as easy as forwarding to vendors@influenceboard.com).
“Every week, I set aside about 20 minutes to go through my LinkedIn and spam messages and use those auto responses. Last week I sent over 140 Linkedin Responses.”
But this isn’t just about pushing people away. It’s about saving time for the right conversations.
“The biggest thing I look at when I get a request is value for the company right now. If it’s not a project or resource I can use at this particular time, then I won’t take the meeting. But if it might be useful in six months, or even two years, then yeah, it’s a valuable connection.”
“This helps with transparency on both sides. I’m not wasting their time, and I’m not wasting mine.”
“Honestly, vendors shouldn’t want to meet if it’s not aligned. And this gives them that clarity too.”
And then there’s the part that matters to Brianne the most.
“At the end of the day, what matters to me is giving back. I don’t need to personally benefit from these connections, so it’s far more meaningful to see that support go to a good cause, especially when it’s tied to building valuable, professional connections.
Brianne sits on the executive advisory board of the Milaan Foundation, a nonprofit that supports marginalized girls through education and health initiatives. Their work started in India and is now expanding into Uganda and the U.S., with a focus on girls impacted by early marriage, limited access to education, and a lack of long-term support.
The foundation’s flagship Girl Icon program helps young girls gain access to school, leadership opportunities, and mentorship. It started with just ten girls. Now they’re working toward a goal of 100,000.
“One of the key objectives of the Girl Icon Program is prevention of child marriage, and we’ve seen it as a core outcome in action through the leadership and empowerment work with girls in India and Uganda.
“This is a way that I can start doing some of my fundraising goals too. As part of those connections, I can also speak to the good that we’re doing for the nonprofit that I sit on. So it’s really a win-win in all areas for me.”
“At this point in my career, I don’t need another coffee gift card or fancy dinner. I want conversations that do something. That move something forward.”
When I asked her what she’d say to another executive considering the platform, she didn’t hesitate.
“The time savings alone make it worth it. It’s helpful for both vendors and execs. You know the connections are valuable. We’re not wasting time. And we’re doing good in the process. Just do it. It makes sense.”
There’s no fluff in that answer. Just clarity.
For leaders like Brianne, time is not just a resource. It’s a responsibility. When every meeting counts, the only ones worth taking are the ones that do some good.
As we wrapped up our coffee, she was already off to her next meeting. I kept it brief, out of respect for her time, but left feeling energized. It’s rare to meet someone who has both heart and structure. For Brianne, making an impact isn’t a side project. It’s part of how she leads.
✨ Written by Crystal Hatch, Director of Product & Design at Influence Board. Grateful for leaders like Brianne who remind us that even in high-pressure roles, it’s possible to create space for purpose-driven conversations that make a real impact.
