Captain Brian Erickson, SFMBA ’21, joins Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, to talk about his career from a 17-year-old service member in the Coast Guard to its first Chief Data Officer. Capt. Erickson explores leadership and innovation in a 233-year-old organization. He talks about growing up in a small town in Washington State, and the opportunities and experiences of serving in the U.S. Coast Guard for over 30 years. He’s been an engineer and pilot and had participated in the rescue of over 35 people. Just before Sloan, Capt. Erickson was a budget reviewer for Coast Guard headquarters operational capabilities offices and was responsible for program requests for $1.3B and over 14,000 personnel. He was the Commanding Officer of a 110-member Coast Guard Air Station serving the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and North Florida, before being selected for the MIT Sloan Fellows program in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.  He has some great insights into leadership and innovation as he reflects on his time at MIT Sloan and what it takes to succeed in ever-increasing positions of responsibility, leading to his current role as inaugural Chief Digital Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard. Capt. Erickson can be reached on LinkedIn and welcomes talking with alumni and prospective students. Support the showThanks for listening! Find more episodes on our website Sloanies Talking with Sloanies and learn more about MIT Sloan on Twitter and Facebook. To support this show or if you have an idea for a topic or a guest you think we should feature, drop us a note at [email protected] © MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT