Summary
Most CIOs as seen in the table above have over twenty years work experience. They are all experienced individuals in their careers with the least experienced CIO having a total of eight years of experience. The most experienced CIO on the table has an experience of thirty four years. Twenty CIOs have thirty years’ experience, only one, Robert S. Mareburger, has an experience of eight years. According to the amount of experience the companies prefers for their CIO and CTO positions, it s evident that the roles are not cut out for younger generations or novices regardless the amount of talent that they might exhibit.
The CIOs have different job descriptions which vary from company to company. These companies are large with big investments in their respective industries. The companies are involved in important aspects of life such as the health and business. Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality and Anne Arundel Medical Center are examples of companies which deal with health and medicine services.
Education wise, most of the CIOs have master’s degree in information technology and information systems. Only one CIO, John W. Sweigart, took a bachelors degree in education. Other CIOs have bachelors in technical courses such as Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. Others hold bachelors of Science in varying fields. One CIO, Amy Courter, holds a bachelors of Arts in Psychology. Few of the CIOs and the CTOs hold bachelors in Business Courses such as Applied Economics and Business Administration.
Most of the CIOs on the list did their Bachelors and Masters in the same institution for example Daniel Shull who has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration at Michigan University and Todd Davis who had a Bachelors degree in the same University.
The CIOs on the list come from different industries and are veterans in their respective fields and industries such as Information, programming, and technology which require more knowledge and creativity than capital investment.
All CIOs have previously served at top management level either as head of Information Technology or as a Vice President. The CIOs from the above table serve in industries that are almost similar to their respective training and qualifications.
Most of the CIOs are male, few are female. The CIOs and CTOs positions are male dominated with only 10% of those listed in the table above being female. The rest 90% are male. This can be attributed to the fact that the job description of CIO and a CTO is technical in nature and requires technical and technological qualifications. Females have an aversion for technical disciplines thus their low representation in the CIO and CTO roles.
Some of the CIOs studied at the University of Illinois. The longest serving CIO has been on the current job for fifteen years. The other CIOs have had short tenures of three years and below.
Most of the CIOs have a bachelor’s degree while a few possess a master’s degree. From the table above, it is evident that experience is paramount in securing a CIO job and a masters degree is not a must-have. Only four CIOs n the list have further certification over a Masters degree. John Miles, Christopher Eagle, James D Cerny, and Kevin ouinlivan all have extra certification. John Miles has an Associate’s Degree in Data Processing and Accounting and Business Administration. Christopher Eagle holds certification in some unspecified field while James D Cerny and Kevin Quinlivan possess further certification in form of an Associate’s degree in Data Processing and Accounting with Business Administration Certification in CISM respectively.
CIO and CTO positions are among the top management level careers in an organization. A lot of management experience is required for the role. Companies appoint individuals to CIO and CTO roles individuals who have immense experience at the top management levels. This is evident in the table where all the CIO and CTOs roles are held by former vice presidents and directors in different companies. Others previously served in the same capacity of CIO or CTO in their previous roles. Some of the CIOs and CTOs also double up as Vice Presidents in their respective companies.
CIO and CTO are important and sensitive roles in an organization. The health and wellbeing of a company depends heavily on the efficiency and effectiveness of data handling and processing. Company policies such as marketing and management strategies are formulated from data collected from customers and industry players. Unsecure data handling could also lead to leakage of sensitive company which can hurt the company. The companies in this list have cushioned themselves against this risk by hiring highly qualified, intelligent, and extremely experienced individuals to be in charge of data and information flow in their organizations.
