Across the C-suite, there is no position that demands as much invention as that of CIO, says Tony Scott, CIO of Microsoft and one of our honorees. Scott is also the former CIO of The Walt Disney Co. and former CTO of General Motors.

"We put all the business sensors in place, connecting all the parts. We can see where the friction in a company is. With that," he says, "is the responsibility to be part of the solution."

This year's CIO Hall of Fame inductees join 44 past recipients honored for work that has shaped the business technology landscape, demonstrating both creative vision and practical IT leadership. This year, a panel of 15 former CIO Hall of Fame honorees helped us judge our nominees, naming 13 finalists as well.

While we recognize this year's inductees for their many outstanding career successes, it is also instructive to consider the collection of experiences—good and bad, happy and not—that got them here. During their careers, our honorees have capitalized on or created the room to build stronger companies. Looking back, they recognize as milestones some events that at the time seemed modest or even took them by surprise. They have developed notions about how to do IT that survive up-and-down economic cycles, management fads and the latest product hype. And now, with a sobering decline in the number of college graduates entering enterprise IT, this year's Hall of Fame inductees are keen to share ideas for enticing the next generation to take the CIO journey.

CIOs have "broad entry into the entire organization," says Pat Skarulis, CIO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a $1.6 billion healthcare powerhouse in New York City. "You have the opportunity to be innovative and work with the most innovative thinkers in your organization—the ones who want to do something differently. You're always excited by new technologies and new processes. That sense of opportunity is always there."