When Paul Lemerise joined an apparel manufacturing company as its first vice president of MIS, he had quite a leadership challenge on his hands. The company’s IT infrastructure was in such disarray that upward of two months were needed to close the books. When systems were down—as they were 50 percent of the time—manufacturing operations came to a halt. To gain control of IT, Lemerise got rid of IT contractors and hired a full-time staff. Unfortunately, the only place to house the nascent IT department was in a men’s room, so Lemerise had to rip out the stalls, toilets and sinks to make room for the cubicles, chairs and PCs.

As fundamental as these challenges were, however, they weren’t Lemerise’s biggest hurdle in the new job. Harder still was learning the intricacies of an industry in which he had no experience; his previous IT job had focused on sales and marketing but provided no insights about manufacturing. "When you change industries, you’re disadvantaged because you don’t know what suppliers expect," he says. "You don’t know about the software needed to support the suppliers. You don’t know what systems your competitors are using or what is the best application for your particular industry."

That was in 1980. Since then, Lem-erise has spent 25 years as a CIO or equivalent in a multitude of industries, including aerospace, wholesale distribution, insurance and retail. Now a partner with Tatum CIO Partners, a rent-a-CIO outfit, Lemerise is proof that changing industries isn’t a barrier to leading an IT organization. Switching industries is something that an increasing number of CIOs are doing, according to Carl Gilchrist, a partner and leader of the CIO practice at executive search company Spencer Stuart. "Inside every business there are supply chains, distribution processes, HR and finance systems," he says. "That’s why it’s easier for CIOs to move among industries than CEOs."

Still, CIOs can’t change industries without doing considerable legwork. With any new job, it’s necessary to acclimate to the culture, learn the intricacies of the business, get up to speed on relevant technology and build strong relationships with peers. Making the move to a new industry, however, presents CIOs with a steeper learning curve, say those who have done it.

And industry switchers typically don’t have a lot of time to waste. In order to gain the trust of executives and establish credibility among the IT staff, new CIOs typically have a 90-day window or less in which to make their mark. The reason for the urgency: When a company taps a CIO from outside its industry, often it’s because the company is in dire need of fresh blood. In other words, CIOs who switch industries had better be prepared to hit the ground running.