In collecting CIOs’ nominations for our best administrative assistant contest (in honor of Administrative Professionals Day on April 21), we learned that CIOs rely on their assistants to do a lot more than screen visitors and manage schedules. Our two winners share a crucial quality: They are essential to the success of their CIOs.

Esther Medrano Assistant to 3Com CIO Ari Bose; relies on trust and humor to do her job

When Medrano read about this CIO magazine contest, she jokingly told her boss, Bose, "Here’s your chance to brag about me."

He did just that, touting his administrative assistant’s ability to handle his hectic travel schedule, to manage IT purchase orders and other IT accounting procedures, and to ensure he has relevant information and time to prepare for meetings with senior management. Most important, though, Bose says that "one of Medrano’s greatest strengths is in ensuring the confidentiality of information she has access to and treating this in a very professional manner."

It’s this mix of trust, professionalism and camaraderie that makes a great administrative assistant and CIO pairing. One that can guard executive-level corporate information, but also joke about entering her for this award. Medrano has been with Bose for five years now, starting when he was director of architecture. Medrano says for her, the key to being a good administrative assistant is trust and communication. She says Bose is her boss, but also her friend.

Margie BrossettAssistant to Sears senior VP and CIO Garry Kelly; acts as an IT information hub

How good would it be to get advance word on a possible e-mail interruption or immediate notification about systems problems?not only what they were but how long before your IT team will have everything running smoothly again?

Those are some of the many things Brossett does that make Kelly say she’s the best executive assistant he’s ever had. "Margie runs my office efficiently and effectively," Kelly says. "I couldn’t get through my day without her."

No wonder. Brossett acts an IT hub, sitting with Kelly on a floor with the company’s top management (CEO, CFO and nine other executives) and managing relationships with 21 other administrative aides in IT, with whom she keeps in contact about meeting project deadlines and arranging troubleshooting sessions. She’s a fixture at Sears, having started more than 30 years ago in the accounts payable department before joining Kelly in 2001. Brossett says knowing what department?or specific person?to contact for help is crucial to her and Kelly’s effectiveness.