CIO Hall of Fame: Inductees Took Risks, Reaped Rewards

There are CIOs who favor the bold strike over slower, more considered moves.

They push themselves to transform rather than merely improve. They recognize and run with opportunities fraught with risk, but ultimately worth the reward.

The five outstanding IT leaders selected to join this year’s CIO Hall of Fame (see “2010 CIO Hall of Fame Inductees Tout Business Breakthroughs”) have distinguished themselves repeatedly throughout their careers, rarely resting on their laurels. “When you’re bored, get out of your comfort zone. Control your own destiny,” advises CIO Tom Flanagan of Amgen, a $15 billion pharmaceutical and research firm.

Joining Flanagan in our 2010 Hall of Fame are CIOs Filippo Passerini of Procter & Gamble, Brent Stacey of Idaho National Laboratory, Frank Modruson of Accenture and Tom Murphy of AmerisourceBergen. We celebrate their accomplishments at an induction ceremony next week at the CIO Year Ahead Summit in La Quinta, Calif. This year, we added one more special place in the Hall of Fame—an honorary membership—for CIO magazine’s founder Joe Levy, who led this publication from 1987 to 2002 (see that story here) and created the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Our judges, who are themselves members of the Hall of Fame, evaluated the applications of more than 30 highly accomplished CIOs to select this year’s honorees. They weighed criteria including demonstrable business impact, significant IT successes, acknowledged industry leadership, and respect among peers. “It takes time to prove you can survive and to show all dimensions of capability and leadership,” says Barbra Cooper, group VP and North America CIO of Toyota and a 2007 Hall of Fame alumna. “Here are people representing the highest standards in our industry.”

As lofty as that sounds, our cover story makes it real by detailing the practical business lessons, core personality traits and striking “ah-ha moments” that shaped the leadership spirit of our newest Hall of Famers. As AmerisouceBergen’s Murphy puts it, “Sometimes you have to move people to places they didn’t want to go.”

“There’s a constant balancing act between how much do I think and how fast do I move,” adds P&G’s Passerini, a former competitive chess player. “The same is true in business.”

Maryfran Johnson is the Editor in Chief of CIO Magazine & Events. E-mail her at mfjohnson@cio.com.