AS executive vice-president and chief technology officer at Nasdaq-listed Symantec Corp, Mark Bregman shoulders the challenging responsibilities of guiding investments in advanced research and the company’s development centres in India and China.
He is also responsible for the Symantec Research Labs, Symantec Security Response as well as shared and emerging technologies, architecture and standards, localisation and secure coding, and developing the technology strategy for the multinational information technology security vendor, which is ranked 353 on the Fortune 500 list.
Still, had it not been for an impulsive decision to step inside the doors of the IBM Research centre in New York City 27 years ago, Bregman might have found his life calling in the hallowed halls of academia today instead of being at the global forefront of cutting-edge information security, storage and systems management solutions.
A life changing moment
“As a young boy, I never thought about a career in IT (information technology). I always wanted to be a scientist,” recalls the 54-year-old Bregman, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard College and a master’s degree and doctorate in physics from Columbia University.
After completing his doctorate, Bregman harboured ambitions of doing research and becoming a professor at an American university.
At that time, he was working in a laboratory at Columbia University, New York City.
“The laboratory was very close to the IBM Research centre, and I would see it everyday while driving home. So, one day, I thought I should stop there and ask about job opportunities.”
Bregman filled in a job application form, which was obtained from the front desk receptionist, and two weeks later, he received a phone call from the director of the physical sciences department at the IBM Research centre.
“He asked me to join him for lunch the following week. I was thinking I am a graduate student. Free lunch? Are you kidding? I’ll go anywhere for a free lunch,” he quips.
It turned out that his doctorate work in experimental high energy physics had caught the attention of IBM Research.
“At that time, their experiments in measuring the mass of the neutrino was very closely related to my doctorate work.”
IBM Research offered him a salary which Bregman says was “much more than what an assistant professor would get in most universities.”
Still, he had not given up on his dream of being a university professor.
“I was planning on staying with IBM Research for only a few years, and after that, move on to a university.”
However, IBM Research turned out to be a snare that was too fascinating for Bregman to leave for the next 16 years.
“I found so many interesting things happening. You would sit down at the cafeteria and get introduced to people like Robert Dennard he invented dynamic random access memory or RAM. And after some years in research, I realised that some business issues were perhaps more challenging then scientific problems. I also became very interested in the problem of innovation how does a big company like IBM continue to innovate?”
Driving the innovation process
Bregman is mainly driven by coming up with ways to improve the process of turning innovative ideas into successful products.
“Lots of people, engineers and universities have good ideas and inventions but most of them have no impact in the marketplace. This is the challenge for innovation.”
This was among the reasons behind the set-up of the Symantec Incubator division three years ago.
The start-up style Incubator division allows engineers the freedom of working on new projects, outside the company’s traditional product development processes.
Bregman says many ideas from the Incubator division were better than the ones the company paid consultants to provide.
“My role is to look beyond the next product, and help to set the direction for the company’s technology and investments. So I always challenge our engineering teams Look, if these are the trends for the next three to five years, what are we going to do about them?”
He says Symantec has to constantly innovate in helping its customers to secure and manage information.
“We cannot be effective in defending against malicious attacks if we just wait for the next attack. We have to stay ahead of the attackers.”
Being candid and upfront
For Bregman, the story behind his second marriage is a good example of his personal values.
“About eight years ago, I was divorced, and had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, California. My youngest brother and sister-in-law were often staying in my apartment as they had started a new tech business with clients in the Silicon Valley. One night during dinner, they brought a woman who was their old friend, and she looked me in the eye and told me, “According to your father, I am his next daughter-in-law.” So later, we went out on a few dates and found that we actually liked each other. She is my wife now,” he recalls with a laugh.
Among his core values in business management is openness.
“For example, I am told that certain information is too sensitive to share with other employees. My view is, we should share the information. If the employees violate our trust, they should not be in the company anymore.”
Bregman also believes in promoting employees within the company rather than looking outside to fill vacant positions.
“I have a positive view of human nature. My experience has been, when you set high expectations for people, whether it is trust or performance, most people will rise to your expectations.”
Meanwhile, he does not consider himself to be a workaholic although he puts in between 70 and 80 hours of work a week.
“I get to work by 7.30am and I come home by 7pm. Then again, I also work at home and during half the weekends. So, well, I don’t go sailing very much anymore.”
Life as a global citizen
His work entails plenty of travelling, and Bregman considers himself extremely fortunate to be able to combine one of his passions with work.
He recalls visiting the Asian region 20 times last year.
The only continent he has not visited is Antarctica, he chuckles.
“Having such a global experience is definitely among the highlights in my life. I have colleagues and friends all over the world,” muses Bregman, who lived in England for five years as a young boy.
“When I was eight years old, my family moved to London because my father, who was in the advertising business, got a job there. So I was an English schoolboy, and wore short pants, a tie and knee socks, and played rugby, cricket and soccer. Also, I spent a year working at a laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland as a graduate student. And when I was with IBM, I ran a semiconductor plant in Japan for almost four years near Kyoto.”
At the time of this interview, Kuala Lumpur was the third stop for Bregman, after Indonesia and China, in a whirlwind week.
He relishes being exposed to different cultures and societies.
“I find it really rewarding,” says Bregman, who recommends a book entitled “The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home” authored by Pico Iyer.
“He talks about the same experiences I have and being a global soul.”
He is also fortunate that his wife, who works for Intel Corp, understands the need for frequent business travel.
