Sandra Hofmann is used to playing diverse roles. She spent several years teaching children with learning disabilities before putting in 14 years in management at Big Blue. When not gardening at her rural home, she enjoys target-shooting with her Smith & Wesson 686 revolver. And as CIO of Mapics, a $128 million maker of manufacturing software, she has to understand technology intimately, but she also carries a very different kind of title: Chief People Officer.

Before you snicker at this squishy moniker or feel sorry for Hofmann, hear what she has to say about combining technology and HR leadership in a single executive: "A software company’s greatest asset is its intelligence, and that asset resides in people. So HR and IT are really two sides of the same coin."

In fact, Hofmann earned the nickname Chief People Officer around the office before it ever became official. She attributes her appreciation of the effects that IT—particularly IT-driven change—can have on people to her background in education. "Being a CIO represents being a change agent, being a model for others, establishing infrastructure, challenging processes, enabling people to act—doesn’t that describe every great teacher you’ve ever had?" Hofmann says in a gentle but cheerful voice that sounds just like every great teacher you’ve ever had.

That lesson plan appears to be just what Mapics needed. Hofmann joined the company in July 2000 as vice president and general manager of its Woburn, Mass.-based business unit. But when Mapics stumbled as the recession took hold, President and CEO Dick Cook brought Hofmann down to headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Ga., to become CIO of the entire company and help keep the formerly high-flying enterprise aloft. Late last year, Hofmann added the CPO title to her business card. The dual labels reflect her huge role in guiding all of Mapics’ 750 employees through several major changes within a short span of time: reorganizing the company, taking a sizable chunk of the workforce completely virtual and introducing offshore outsourcing.

That’s a lot of change for any organization to digest. Yet at Mapics, Hofmann not only assisted in the transformation but also improved IT service. Her boss credits Hofmann’s success to her mastery of many trades. "Sandy has lots of experience working in a wide variety of functions and acting in a lot of different roles," says Cook. "As a result, she’s the consummate manager—one who understands the business very well but also has an incredible knack with people."