CIO — Wanted: Seasoned, experienced Chief Information Officer.

Must be willing to work long hours, endure lengthy public debate over day-to-day minutiae, answer hostile, intrusive questions from reporters, build a senior management team under severe financial and bureaucratic constraints. Tenure uncertain, linked to boss’s political performance. Salary as much as 70 percent below market value. No stock options. No bonuses. No relocation expenses.

Not exactly a job you’re dying to nail? Well, during the past 18 months a slew of top CIOs from corporate powerhouses such as Disney (Stuart McKee), EDS (George Newstrom) and Verizon (Thomas Jarrett) have said yes to jobs very much like the one described above: the job of state CIO.

It’s something of an emerging trend. All over the country, senior technology executives are jumping from the private to the public sector. Their motivation, surprisingly, isn’t entirely post-9/11 altruism or, conversely, disgust with corporate financial scandals. Being a government CIO, it turns out, can be a great job, and it can be a great stepping stone to the next job.

Of course, you won’t get rich. Salaries run 20 percent to 70 percent less than what’s being offered in the private sector. (One state CIO now earns less than he used to pay in taxes at his old job.) Instead of cash, the state CIO position offers compensation in the form of power and authority. State CIOs exercise control over a broad range of services, and they possess budgets (ranging from $30 million to $425 million) that can rival those of Fortune 50 organizations. Plus, they often have a surprisingly free hand with which to operate.

"It’s a challenging career move," says Gerry Wethington, president of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). "Because of the economy, states are confronting a whole new set of issues, like business process efficiency, where the private sector has an opportunity to help."

And public service, whether it’s at the federal, state or big city level, teaches CIOs skills that the private sector is finding ever more essential. "Negotiation skills, appropriations, how to work with a legislative body," lists Wethington, who is himself CIO of Missouri. "Many corporations today are stymied by their ignorance of the business processes of government. If and when you go back to the private sector, you’ll have a better understanding of how to work with government." Former Washington state CIO Steve Kolodney, long considered a superstar in government IT, is now vice president of digital government initiatives for American Management Systems, a Fairfax, Va., IT consultancy.

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