Simplify First, Scale AI Next with Vulcan Materials CIO Krzysztof Soltan

0:00So you can't just put something in place without considering impact on how the process is going to change or how people's roles are going to change or what does that mean from a supportability perspective. So we have to take change management into consideration, which is a big deal and fundamentally comes down to prioritization and value.

0:24Peter High: Welcome to Technovation. I'm Peter High, president of Metastrategy. My guest today is Christoph Sultan. Christoph is the Chief Information Officer of Vulcan Materials Company, the nation's largest producer of construction aggregates and a major supplier of asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. Vulcan Materials generated approximately$7.8 billion in revenue in 2025. Christoph has been in his role since 2022 and has led Vulcan Materials' efforts to modernize and scale its technology capabilities across a highly operational and asset-intensive business. His responsibilities span enterprise technology, digital transformation, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and data strategy, helping connect technology more directly to operational performance and business growth.

1:05Peter High: Prior to Vulcan Materials, he held senior technology leadership roles across multiple industries, bringing extensive experience in enterprise transformation and operational technology environments. I look forward to speaking with Christoph about how Vulcan Materials is leveraging data, artificial intelligence, automation, and modern platforms to improve efficiency, resiliency, and decision-making across its operation, as well as how technology is helping transform one of the world's most foundational industries, among other topics I'm sure we'll cover. Christoph, welcome to Technovation. It's great to speak with you today.

1:35Good to see you, and thank you for having me.

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2:15Peter High: Head to 11labs.io backslash technovation to get started for free. And now on to the interview. It's a great pleasure. I've been looking forward to our conversation, Christoph. Why don't you, if you don't mind, let's begin with more of a description in your own words of Vulcan Materials Business for those who may be less familiar with it. Sure. So first of all, if you're in a building, on a road, on a bridge, or anything made of concrete or asphalt, chances are very likely our product is in it. We are in the construction materials industry, primarily aggregates. We also have other businesses like ReadyMix Concrete and Asphalt, but we are the largest aggregates focused U.S.

3:06public company in the United States. Approximately$8 billion in revenue. We have over 400 aggregate operations across 24 states in the United States. in 2025 we shipped over 220 million tons of aggregates across that footprint and another fun fact is that we have over 70 years of aggregate reserves you know on the books which is a fantastic position to to be in and as you know as we all know rock is very difficult to replace. So it's an exciting industry to be part of and exciting company to be part of as well. Thank you, Private.

3:59Peter High: Yeah, fascinating overview. And as you highlight, very comprehensive in terms of the areas of our lives that you touch. So even for those who may be less familiar with the company, surely they've interacted with your products on many occasions. Talk a little bit more about your responsibilities as Chief Information Officer, if you would, Christoph. Sure. Well, first and foremost, I look at myself and my role as to be a business partner to everybody across the company. That's my role, first and foremost.

4:34I also think of my role as being the change agent for the company through technology, To be an educator of what's possible, enabler of capabilities across all of our functional areas with, you know, anything from the commercial space to operations, finance, back office, logistics, you name it, we touch. I'm responsible for all aspects of information technology across Vulcan materials, which include the hot topics of the day, like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data privacy, among all other areas that are typical in the IT space. But I really think about my role even more broadly because, as you can imagine, there's a lot of technology in our operations, right?

5:25And, you know, I think about, you know, the technology that's part of our mobile equipment, you know, hauling rock. And how does that interconnect with our networks? What is the data that's interconnected? All the telemetry that we gather off of it. All of that has an IT component as part of it, not only from a cybersecurity perspective, data privacy, but also how it interconnects with the broader ecosystem. So very exciting role, very encompassing. And, you know, like I said, first and foremost, business partner to everybody across the company.

6:02Peter High: Well, Christoph, I know that you've been on a multi-year digital transformation journey since you joined the company in 2022. to talk a bit about the impetus for this transformation and describe the most important steps you and the team have undertaken as part of it. Well, first, I'd say our digital transformation that we embarked on several years ago has been fundamentally driven through making sure we continue to have a competitive advantage in our industry, to simplify our processes, modernize the tech stack, mitigate risk, not only from a technology perspective, but also from a talent perspective.

6:46And also, of course, enable new capabilities that propels Volcan materials into the future. Some of the steps that we have taken, first is making sure that we have full senior leadership team alignment and support. That is critical to any such large transformation. Putting a strong team in place from a leadership perspective to make sure that everybody's focused on not just moving to the cloud or modernizing the technology, but really focus on the business value that we will be delivering as part of the digital transformation. Also, as you can imagine, these programs have lots of tentacles into a lot of different areas, finance, HR, procurement, operations, supply chain.

7:38So prioritizing and ensuring everything that we focus on through that transformation will deliver real value for working materials. So just focusing the team on some of these core tenants before we even start is fundamental and some of the biggest drivers as to the success that we've had so far and will have to the rest their journey.

8:02Peter High: So it sounds like you're both a change agent, but also an educator of sorts of making sure that the organization understands what's possible and developing alignment among them to make sure you're all rowing in the same direction, so to say. Absolutely. That is so important. You know, we all, we all, you know, hear the news and the market and we, we, we see what's on TV and in social media about AI and how, how fast things are moving. And, you know, sometimes you have to take the hype out of it and put practicality and realism to it. And of course, business value. And, you know, so education is an enormous part of not only enabling new capabilities, but also how to lead these big programs for the enterprise is fun to do and educate all the stakeholders on how to do it the right way.

9:05Peter High: And I know an area of emphasis especially has been also commercial and marketing capabilities. Can you talk a bit about areas of focus there and why you've chosen those as particular areas of emphasis? Sure. So first, the timing was right. So when I first came into Vulcan Materials, there was a lot of momentum relative to our Vulcan way of selling strategic pillar for the company, which is one of the company's strategic initiatives. And so the timing was right. The momentum was there. The organization and the people were ready for that change. and it had a tremendous opportunity that created a tremendous opportunity for us to, at the end of it, to use the data and AI to further help us grow and help us Salesforce be closer to the company, be closer to the customers, as well as spending the time where it really counts, which is with their customers, not on back office functional things and processes.

10:12So the timing was right. People were ready. And there was a great, let's say, one of the major steps we first taken to move us forward.

10:26Peter High: And I know that you've pivoted now towards a back office transformation centered on finance, human resources, supply chain. Talk a bit about that pivot. in some of the areas of focus there. Sure. Well, so when we laid out our roadmap, our multi-year roadmap, this was always the case. We were going to focus on commercial marketing first and then all the other back office functions, finance, HR, supply chain, et cetera. And because we leaned into the commercial and marketing space first and learning and educating the organization how to do these massive programs was, again, one of the big reasons why we started there first.

11:10But now to really take those learnings and apply them to the much bigger transformation was a good first step. So now we're thinking about how do you not only just modernize our capabilities, move to the cloud, use SaaS platforms, but really simplify and challenge every process as part of that. Our objectives as part of the transformation was, like I said, process simplification, simplify or modernize the technology footprint, which I think every company out there is doing something with. and really position Vulcan for the future and enabling all of our employees with best-in-class tools and use of AI so they could be more productive and really focus their time on areas that really move the needle and provide additional value add to the company.

12:08And that's probably one of those functional areas that I mentioned.

12:13Peter High: Yeah, yeah, very interesting. Thank you for sharing more about that. I know from our past conversations, Christoph, another area of focus has been simplification, reducing the number of systems to improve data quality. And I want to talk about that philosophy. I think it's an important set of undertakings that you've worked on to make sure that the complexity of what you manage doesn't impede the ability to leverage great data, which of course is the key ingredient to a topic we'll get to in a moment, artificial intelligence. Talk a bit about that philosophy. Sure. So my team will tell you, everywhere I turn around, I talk about data first.

12:56Because, you know, we've heard the saying many times, less is more. And, you know, less systems, less to maintain, less to integrate, less to train will result in more value. especially when you establish a strong data governance model to ensure that the data quality is maintained at the peak level, not only when you convert or you migrate, but also maintaining it going forward. And as we all know, we can talk about AI all day long, but it fundamentally relies on really good data. So that is one of the key pillars for us is not only to maintain, but also govern and ensure that data quality is front and center.

13:50And it's part of almost every discussion we have because of the importance of it, not only for the transformation program, but for also for the future of, you know, how we're going to continue to differentiate ourselves from our competition. And I always say, you know, we all companies have lots of data, but we have good data and we will have even better data as time goes on, which it's a great question. I appreciate you asking it.

14:18Peter High: No, it's a great answer. Even more importantly, you've also spoken to me in the past about the importance of talent as a foundational element to a data strategy. Talk a bit about the roles or skills that have been created or augmented as a result of your data journey. Sure. Sure. Well, nothing happens without people. At the end of the day, it's the reason it's foundational to everything that we do, especially in the IT, in the digital space. So it all starts with people and the talent. And specifically the data strategy, we hired, one of the first things we hired was a new leader that has transformed not only the team, but also how we think about data, the value that it provides to the enterprise across local materials, how we create that cross-functional expertise that has a keen eye on the future technology stack that we should be using and why.

15:22And we're constantly upskilling our existing talent to ensure that the data is a strategic asset for walking materials. You know, I mean, fundamentally, you know, whether you bring people from the outside or you upskill, you know, the team, it's always a journey and you may be making the right decision for the right time in terms of what you need to be able to solve for. And, you know, for us, data is fundamental and having a strong data analytics AI team that enables all that is critical. And so both upskilling and hiring externally is, you know, just two of many different approaches that we take to our workforce.

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17:59Peter High: there across the entire organization? Sure. So several years ago, we, not only as part of the transformation program, you know, it was clear that back to your, you know, earlier question on data quality, mastering data is fundamental to success. And it's not as easy as you may sound, You know, as it may sound, it takes real leadership. It takes having those tough conversations. It takes focus. It takes a broader organization to assign not only business resources and ownership on who owns the data, who are the data stewards, you know, how do we, from an IT perspective, manage and govern it and monitor it.

18:51So just understanding and educating the broader organization at the importance of it was also critical. And it's just part of the culture now. We have a data governance program that's established. It's part of how we work. It's part of the transformation. And it's just part of the cover. This is hard, but it's critical.

19:13Peter High: Yeah, interesting. You've also developed an IT boot camp experience. You call it VIBE. Can you describe the program and the value you hope to derive from it? Oh, sure. So we're very proud of our early career. Survive is our early career program. It's a program that's two years in duration. It has several rotations for each candidate. And the end of the two years, they all land with a full-time role somewhere within the organization. You know, it's had so much success already through a number of our cohorts that, you know, we're seeing a lot of value, new fresh thinking, challenging status quo, the level of energy that they bring.

19:59You know, of course, it's also risk mitigation to, you know, areas that perhaps we don't have enough skill anymore. Some of the big areas that there's a lot of interest in, I would say there's three. One is cybersecurity is always top. Data is another one in AI. And third is also, you know, first folks kind of come in and thinking that they want to be a technologist. But what we do that's, I think, special is we put them through a rotation in the business first to really understand the company. And, you know, we have leaders in the company that are not in IT that actually are so impressed with them that they want to pull them.

20:41And so to me, that's a great vote of confidence and that the program is working and we're bringing in the right talent. So we're very proud of this program. We're definitely going to be continuing it. And, you know, we've had a lot of success with the folks that we brought in so far. You know, lots of energy. And I love the fact that they're challenging status quo, challenging the people that have been here for a while in terms of how they think and how they solve problems. So it's really great to see those folks flourish.

21:11Peter High: I love that. I can only imagine some reverse mentorship that's happening as a result of what you've described as well. I want to turn to artificial intelligence, Christoph. I know now that you have the foundation that we described, you're layering in AI to a greater extent. And I'd love to understand where do you see the most immediate opportunities and impacts from artificial intelligence? Sure. Well, first, I'd say. We've been doing AI before AI was a bar's word and part of every conversation, you know, and. there's a lot that goes into the artificial intelligence kind of realm, you know, whether it's machine learning, analytics, you know, there's lots of different components that go into AI.

21:54Now, generative AI, agentic AI, and that continues to explode. And so we've been doing it for quite some time now. As I mentioned earlier, we have lots of data, like many, many companies, But our data is good, and we're really proud about that, and especially in our operations. So part of our Vulcan way of operating strategic pillar, we've deployed a capability that is standardized across our operation. and utilizing AI to drive efficiencies out of how we produce our final product is really critical. One of the first programs that we talked about, commercial and marketing, now that that's live and well and operational and kind of baked in, if you will, to the organization, we now have the data to be able to put AI on top of it and start driving value out of it.

23:00But again, I'll say foundational to AI is the data. Smart people utilizing innovative solutions and just having a culture of learning. and we're actually, you know, like many do, we're conducting a hackathon to see how folks are using AI to solve real business problems within a very short period of time. So we'll be conducting that in the next month or so. But everything that we do is, you know, a lot of companies talk about doing pilots and proof of concepts. You know, we certainly have done that, But what we are focused on is identifying those few big needle mover opportunities and driving that use of AI for those versus trying to solve a lot of little problems.

24:02And what we're trying to do is really prioritize where and how we apply it to solve, you know, and to move the needle for the company in operations, commercial, back office functions. Once we're finished with a transformation, we're all primed for use of AI and we've been doing it and are going to only accelerate in this space.

24:25Peter High: Fascinating. And what do you think about the balance between buying versus building when it comes to AI, out-of-the-box enterprise platforms versus, or as well as, as the case may be, custom solutions that are developed internally? How do you think about that? Sure. Well, if it's available out-of-the-box of a solution that we implement, first we'll look at that, right? I mean, why reinvent the wheel? Every company, the SaaS solution provider, everybody's implementing AI solutions within them. They want you to use their platforms. So our first approach is, let's see what we have available simply out of the box.

25:15It's most likely if they've solved it for somebody else, we can apply it too. And if it's a commodity type of a skill or a process, well, why try to reinvent the wheel if there's no additional value add? So first, we'll always look at, you know, what comes, what do we have available to us already and just apply it and then fine tune it for our processes and our needs. Where we would build is, you know, in areas that we believe, you know, there's a competitive advantage, there's intellectual property, or something that we want to really have, you know, good controls over. And it's very special and unique to Vulcan and the industry.

26:01That's where we would consider building those capabilities using AI. That's how kind of we differentiate going one direction or the other. And you know what, in some cases, it might be a hybrid, where you need to use some pieces of what's out of the box, but then you have to just really build it for your own purpose, you know, custom. So, you know, we're evaluating all of it. And, you know, we always try to apply what works best for Vulcan materials. And, of course, this space is moving so fast that it's hard to keep up. So comparing notes with other leaders in the industry, as well as my peers, is critical.

26:51Peter High: Yeah, fascinating. I'd love to, looking further ahead, Christophe, what's the path towards greater automation or even autonomous operations in your plants? What needs to develop or be in place in order to continue to make progress from that perspective? Sure. Sure. So we have, specifically in our operations, we have a vision of where we think we want to be in the next five or 10 years relative to that space. The focus and the path for that, the path moving forward is to focus on the largest value drivers, understanding what technology is ready prime time now versus in experimental stages. and there's lots of those.

27:40You know, cybersecurity and change management are a big deal, right? So you can't just, you know, put something in place without considering impact on how the process is going to change or how people's roles are going to change or, you know, what does that mean from a supportability perspective, right? So we have to take, you know, change management into consideration, which is a big deal. And fundamentally it comes down to prioritization and value. Readiness for change, right? So we talked about digital transformation before in some of these areas. It's no different here, right? Where, you know, you might have a function or a group that's really ready for change and you want to capitalize on that and you want to move fast, whereas others might need a little bit more time to get their head around and really see the value and the vision of what we can do with automation for the future.

28:42So readiness for change is a big deal. And ultimately, it comes down to how will we enable our employees to really focus on things that add even more value, right? So we make them more productive, we provide more bandwidth, well, where do we make sure that they pivot to ensure that they can scale, that they can, you know, focus on things that the company really needs and that we haven't been able to focus on in the past. So it's, automation is a big deal. We think about it every day. And some of the components that I talked about, you know, prioritization, value, readiness for change, change management, experimenting versus, or technologies that are in experimental mode versus ready for prime time.

29:35All those things need to be considered. And of course, risk management, right? So, you know, how do we think from an enterprise risk management perspective, you know, are there things that we have to go look at first versus something that might be an enterprise as risk, but not as important today because of how fast things are moving, especially what you can automate in the industry.

30:01Peter High: That's great. A great overview, Christoph. Thank you. I wonder, also looking to the future, are there other trends that excite you as you contemplate the road ahead? What's making its way onto your roadmap? Sure. Well, there's a number of things. Obviously, AI is a big deal. So the agentic space is something that's front and center, very exciting. And this human agent collaboration is how do you, you know, take and not only utilize agentic AI and putting those agents in place to do work for you, but also how do you have that collaboration with the humans, right? The employees. That's something that's very exciting.

30:43We talked a little bit about operations, so autonomous mobility with physical AI. So how does that look going forward, especially in our industry? If you think about the autonomous vehicles on the roads, it's kind of solved for, if you will. It's a little different in a quarry, right, where you don't have lights and you don't have lanes and you don't have all that. It's a little different, more rugged. So the challenges are different. So I'm looking forward to seeing how that continues to evolve. Self-improvement and coding with AI is something that's on top of mind. And then lastly, I would say AI at the edge.

31:29So right now, what you hear about is data centers, hyperscalers, being built out all over the country. And then there's moratoriums happening on data centers or ability to build them and the competition in this space. So if you think about how can you solve that problem and doing the processing, the AI at the edge where the data is close to the actual equipment is something that's very on top of mind as well. Because it changes the paradigm, not solving the problem in a hyperscaler or a big data center. You're actually solving the problem close to where the data actually sits and resides. So, you know, it changes the equation a little bit and you're not dependent on the big guys, if you will, out there so much.

32:21Peter High: I'd also be curious, what do you read or listen to in order to stay current, Christoph? Anything that you'd recommend to others? So I'm a big fan of, you know, talking, you know, with peers in the industry, in the IT technology space. So just staying connected is something that I, to be honest, I probably learned the most because there's nothing better than comparing notes and discussing trends or common challenges and reality of what's actually happening. you know sometimes you know you get on LinkedIn as an example and you'll get five different perspectives which by the way I love you get five different perspectives for five different people about a particular topic and then you make up your own mind right so looking at you know platforms like LinkedIn for diverse trends and opinions and listening to just a variety of books.

33:21And they don't have to be technology books. They could be history, personal development, business. And believe it or not, every book I read, it's amazing how much technology discussion is in them, even if you don't think that the book is about technology. Right now, I'm listening to a book about Winston Churchill in World War II. And it's amazing how much discussion in this book is about technology and how fast they had to solve problems, you know, to win the war. So it's a fascinating book. I'm still in the early stages of it, but it's already amazing how much discussion on technology is in there.

34:04So I don't have any particular author or a book. I would just say I just like to listen to a variety of them just because they give you different perspectives on lots of different things in technology and how, you know, how it evolves and industries change over time is very fascinating. I would encourage others to do so as well.

34:28Peter High: Yeah, I love where you began your answer as well, that the importance of your ecosystem and reaching out to peers and understanding who's doing what, what's working, what isn't. There's nothing that replaces that give and take that one can have with a great group of peers. Well, great suggestions and great stories across this conversation, Christoph. Fascinating to learn more about the transformation that you've led at Vulcan Materials. And thank you so much also for a look into the future as to what you see coming as well. Give us all something to keep on the radar for ourselves. And I look forward to continuing the conversation, hearing more about the progress you continue to drive with your team.

35:10Peter, thank you for having me. And as always, good to see you.

35:13Peter High: Thanks for listening to Technovation. If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe and leave a rating. It helps more leaders find our podcast. Thank you. And I look forward to seeing you next time.