Michael Santimaw

Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Upbound

Search every verified Michael Santimaw interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Michael Santimaw, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Upbound, has spoken about leadership and technology strategy in past appearances. In a 2022 podcast, he discussed the concept of self-permission, describing a pattern he observed while coaching where individuals sought external validation to pursue goals. He encouraged listeners to consider what permission they might need to give themselves in areas such as relationships, personal identity, or new endeavors. In a 2020 interview, Santimaw, then SVP and CIO at Rent-A-Center, described his approach to the CIO role as being a "chief integration officer" focused on building relationships across the organization. He stated that the company had simplified its IT architectures by moving to cloud and platform-as-a-service models)Skip, and that its data strategy centered on protecting customer data while providing personalized experiences. Santimaw also noted that the company was experimenting with AI tools for backend automation and self-healing infrastructure, and that its stores functioned with associates acting as customer relationship managers. He emphasized empowering teams and putting security at the core of technologies.