Rebecca Straka is the CIO of Weyerhaeuser (WY (NYSE)) since 2019, where she leads the company’s global technology, AI, and data organization. A seasoned technology and business transformation executive with more than 30 years of experience, she has built and led enterprise capabilities that enable growth, strengthen resilience, and improve operational performance. Her leadership spans large-scale, multimillion-dollar initiatives across supply chain, manufacturing, customer solutions, cybersecurity, data, and workforce productivity. At Weyerhaeuser, she established the company’s AI and data practice and created a digitally focused strategic workforce plan. Rebecca is the 2026 SeattleCIO ORBIE Global Company award winner.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CIO Magazine, Rebecca shared insights into how her career began with customer-facing market research, teaching her that tech only creates value when it’s tied to business needs and customer outcomes. As CIO of Weyerhaeuser, she’s leading the shift from “lift and shift” to intelligent, adaptive platforms, and sees talent and trusted data as the biggest gaps between AI ambition and reality. Her words of advice for aspiring CIOs: move beyond technical excellence to focus on enterprise value, risk, and outcomes, and learn to communicate in clear business terms. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Rebecca. Your career spans Fortune 500 and privately held companies, leading global IT, AI, and data at enterprise scale. What was your first technology role, and what did it teach you about the intersection of tech and business value?
My first role in technology was conducting market research for the technology products and services my company was bringing to market. It was a humbling experience to cold call companies to ask them multiple questions for our research. As you can imagine, most people do not want to participate in market research; they either hang up or say “no”. This experience gave me a real appreciation for the challenges employees working with customers/prospective customers on a daily basis face to maintain relationships and generate revenue. This taught me early about the importance of “customer at the center” of everything we do and that technology only creates value when it is clearly connected to a business need and communicated in a way that resonates with the customer.
What do you love the most about your current role?
What I love most about my role, beyond the people, is the opportunity to have a broad view across the company. It gives me a front-row seat to business strategies, how the various organizations operate, and how technology is / can be leveraged to create value. Few roles offer the ability to work across all lines of business while also engaging in everything from innovation to new ventures to the operational processes that keep the company running day to day.
ERP and HCM modernization is shifting from “lift and shift” to “reinvent.” What trend will define successful enterprise applications in the next five years?
The defining trend will be the shift to intelligent, adaptive platforms that enable companies to continuously improve how work gets done, rather than simply modernizing legacy processes in a new system. The most successful enterprise applications will combine automation, embedded intelligence, and simplified user experiences to help organizations make faster decisions, reduce manual effort, and respond more quickly to changing business needs.
Another defining trend of successful enterprise applications will be those that can be implemented quicker and in a nimbler fashion will garner more share of the market. Multi-year, multi-million-dollar implementations are difficult and costly for companies. Software vendors who can more easily scale and adjust faster will come out on top. My hope is that software companies will also simplify their licensing models. The licensing models are becoming too complicated and costly. With the advent of advanced automation and AI, software companies need to adjust as other toolsets can take their place.
In my view, modernization efforts will create the most value when companies resist the temptation to customize around old ways of working and instead use the opportunity to rethink operating models, standardize where it matters, and build on a strong data foundation. As an example, in a recent ERP program, we moved from approximately 5000 customizations in the legacy environment to less than 1000 customizations in the new environment. It was hard work, but work that has real value at the end of the day. Technology is important, but the differentiator will be an organization’s ability to pair modern platforms with clear governance, process discipline, and effective change adoption.
AI and data platforms promise enterprise-wide insight. Where do you see the biggest gap between AI ambition and operational reality in large companies?
The biggest gaps between AI ambition and operational reality are talent and data. Most companies understand the potential of AI and large data platforms, but many underestimate what it takes to build the right capabilities and foundation to scale it to obtain enterprise-wide insights. Companies need to have strategies and aggressively execute against those strategies to address both gaps. Workforce training plans, management of change efforts, and ability to leverage partners are critical for success to address needed skills and capabilities. Data is the foundation for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Organizations need alignment around what constitutes trusted or “certified” data and which platforms will serve as the enterprise standard.
Data needs to be defined, appropriately structured, accessible, and governed to execute against plans. This is easier said than done. It takes investment and commitment to obtain quality and timely insights at any level.
Regulatory and compliance demands are accelerating globally. How should CIOs design governance so compliance enables speed, not slows it?
CIOs should design governance so that compliance is built into the operating model rather than layered on after the fact. It needs to be embedded in the organization’s culture. When governance is clear, risk-based, and embedded into day-to-day processes, teams can move faster because expectations, guardrails, and decision rights are already understood. The goal is to make the right path the easiest path.
It is also important to not underestimate management of change and the art and science of “bringing people along”. Team members need to understand the why behind both the business goal and the compliance needs and that both urgency and compliance can be achieved if everyone works together. This requires close partnership across technology, legal, security, privacy, and the business, along with controls that are standardized enough to scale but flexible enough to support innovation. When compliance is treated as a business enabler, not just an audit requirement, it helps organizations move with greater confidence, speed, and resilience.
Talent models are shifting to product-aligned, agile, and global teams. What will the high-performing technology org of 2030 look like compared to today?
The high-performing technology organization of 2030 will be even more integrated with the business, more product-oriented, and more focused on outcomes. It will bring together global talent, cross-functional capabilities, and platform thinking to deliver solutions faster, with more resilience, and in closer alignment with enterprise priorities. I believe the shift will continue from traditional functional silos toward teams that own products, services, and business outcomes end to end. This shift is a journey and will take time. For many companies, it will likely take the form of a hybrid model – traditional and product – depending on the needs and maturity of the organization.
Just as important, the talent model will reward adaptability, collaboration, and learning agility. Leaders will need to create environments where technical depth and business acumen grow together, because the strongest organizations will be the ones that keep evolving as business needs change. In my experience, the best organizations invest in people as intentionally as they invest in technology.
Winning the 2026 Seattle CIO Global Company ORBIE Award is peer recognition at the highest level. Our readers would love to know the secret mantra behind your success.
I do not think there is a secret mantra as much as there is a consistent set of core beliefs. For me, it starts with respect. Everyone wants to feel respected; respected for their points of view, experience, and style. Respect garners team trust, and trust enables successful business outcomes. I also believe in staying grounded in the business, building strong teams, leading with integrity, and being willing to make hard decisions.
Awards like this are meaningful because they reflect the impact of a team, not an individual acting alone. I have been fortunate to work with talented people, strong business partners, and leaders who value innovation, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. That combination has shaped both my approach and the results we have been able to achieve together.
If you had a completely unscheduled weekend with no devices, how would you spend it, and what would that reveal about what matters to you?
I would spend it at home with my family and friends. I like my downtime and quiet time, especially walking outside in the fresh air. It is rejuvenating for me, and it helps me think more clearly. A former leader of mine used to call it “levelling up.” Meaning, take the time to step away from the work tasks at hand and you’ll be amazed by how much your frame of mind is positively impacted. Those big problems are either not so big or are much easier to solve by stepping back to reflect. However, I admit being always on is a problem for me personally, and it is something that I constantly work at balancing.
What is your biggest goal? Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
Implementing and leveraging technology to enable the business to grow and execute against its strategies, as well as developing a team who can lead without me are my two biggest goals. This is what I see as success.
Five years from now, I hope to continue in a role where I can mentor the next generation of leaders. This is where I get my personal energy. I have spent much of my career leading and executing hard, complex initiatives. There have been many learnings. I want to continue to share those learnings with the next generation with the hopes they can use what has worked and learn from the opportunities.
For aspiring CIOs coming from engineering or infrastructure, what’s the biggest mindset shift needed to succeed at the board level?
The biggest mindset shift is to think broader about enterprise value, risk and business outcomes. It is no longer about technical excellence. It is about growth, customer impact, resilience, and how technology enables the business. Communicating simply, in business terms, and understanding core business fundamentals such as financials, competitive landscape, operational dimensions, and business strategies are crucial to success at this level.