Building Tech for Scale — Q&A with Sharms Bala, Orgill’s Chief Digital and Information Officer

Orgill’s new chief digital and information officer, Sharmeelee “Sharms” Bala, discusses customer focus, efficiency and practical AI adoption.

Sharmeelee “Sharms” Bala brings more than two decades of retail technology experience to her new role as chief digital and information officer at Orgill. She joined Orgill’s leadership team Dec. 1, 2025, after executive roles at major retail organizations, including CIO and head of product management at JCPenney, where she led a digital overhaul that generated significant incremental sales and modernization of core systems. Earlier in her career she held leadership responsibilities across global engineering, merchandising systems, logistics and enterprise data platforms at Gap Inc. and Walmart.

At Orgill, Bala oversees the recently restructured internal technology organization, with early focus areas centered on enterprise digitization, supported by enterprise architecture, software engineering, project management and ongoing-modernization of the distributor’s technology infrastructure. She is also guiding broader digital efforts tied to dealer- and customer-facing tools, data analytics and improved supply chain visibility. Orgill’s president and CEO, Boyden Moore, says her background aligns with the company’s vision for a digitally empowered future for Orgill and the independent retailers it serves. In this Q&A with Hardware Connection, Bala addresses how her retail experience informs her work at Orgill, discusses the technology trends she’s watching and offers advice for hardware retailers who are investing in technology.

Hardware Connection: How does your career experience shape what you bring to Orgill, and what are you looking forward to doing there?

Sharmeelee “Sharms” Bala: I spent 20 years with Walmart, then Gap, then JCPenney, all in retail technology. Throughout my career, my focus has consistently been on customers and the customer experience. That customer-first mindset has guided my work and shaped how I approach technology as a way to help organizations better serve the people they support.

What made retail interesting to me is that I’m a customer myself, so I can relate when things go well and when they don’t. Having that customer focus has always helped me come up with the best solution for whatever we’re trying to solve. The second focus for me has always been efficiency. There are multiple ways to solve a problem using technology, but the right way almost always comes down to experience and efficiency.

Whether it’s supply chain—which I’ve been deeply involved in at previous organizations—automation or data and insights, the question is always: How do we use data to our benefit to generate insights that help our customers and, in turn, help us create the cash flow and margin we need? All of that is needed here at Orgill. It’s no different. The playbook may be slightly different, but it’s very similar, and those experiences will come in handy.

What specific skills or background have already started to click for you at Orgill?

I think the retail experience is especially relevant when we’re dealing with our dealers. If you see them as retailers and as our customers, you want to build something simple that can scale. That’s something I can bring to the table.

In large retail environments, off the shelf solutions often fall short. To solve that, we built innovative systems which are designed from the ground up to not just work, but to scale. Everything was designed with scale in mind— not hundreds but millions (skus, transactions) through the business.

That mindset is going to help, especially with our focus on customizing for our dealers. You’re not just building something once; that’s easy. You’re building something that can cater to different dealers with different needs, but in an efficient way so you’re not rebuilding everything for every customer. Building it correctly the first time, in a scalable way, will play a huge role for us.

What about Orgill’s culture or direction appealed to you?

A lot of things. The first thing that struck me was the focus on the customer. In my first conversation with Boyden, that focus was very clear. Like I said, I’ve always been fascinated by building for the customer. If I only wanted to build technology, I could have gone to another product company. I’ve stayed with companies that focus on making life easier for their customers.

That’s what clicked when I spoke to him, and when I spoke to [chief human resources officer Dr. Laura Freeman and chief financial officer Julie Albrecht]. They all emphasized that we’re here to make our customers’ lives easier. That resonated with me. And of course, there are so many opportunities with technology to simplify things even more for our customers. That’s why I’m here.

What technology trends are you watching that are most relevant to where Orgill is headed?

There are several. First: data, insights and AI. There is so much we can do. At the same time, there’s a lot of cleanup work that needs to happen across the industry before we can fully use it effectively.

AI isn’t just for end users. It’s also for technology teams. Today, I can build many things using AI that would have taken much longer a few years ago. I can simplify development processes, generate test scenarios, build test cases and create data. There are tools where I can simply ask for something and receive it immediately. We need to make sure we’re using those tools so we’re not reinventing the wheel.

Then we can focus on what actually makes sense for Orgill—what brings IP and value to Orgill—rather than spending time on things that already exist elsewhere.

Is there a trend you believe will have an immediate or near-term impact?

With AI, there is a lot we can do immediately in terms of efficiency. In our supply chain alone, there’s a great deal of opportunity. We don’t have to transform everything overnight—that’s the long-term goal—but in the near term, we can focus on improving efficiency.

We can evaluate processes that have existed for years and ask whether they still make sense. Can we approach them differently? AI and data insights can play a major role in that. Bringing more consistency in how we think about processes will have a significant impact for Orgill.

For hardware retailers, investing in technology can be expensive and uncomfortable. What advice would you offer?

A couple of things. First, don’t chase the shiny object. Choose something simple. Most retailers aren’t looking for solutions that work for 200 or 2,000 stores; they need something that works for a smaller number of locations.

Second, don’t focus only on technology. You also have to focus on process. Make sure you understand how your processes need to change so you can use the technology effectively.