As part of the run-up to next week's announcement of the 2006 InformationWeek 500, we're catching up with past winners. In today's podcast, we talk to Gregor Bailar, CIO of Capital One, our 2005 IW500 winner.

What distinguished Capital One from the rest of the formidable pack on the 2005 InformationWeek 500 was its information-based strategy, which joins all areas of its business--marketing, credit, risk, operations, and business technology--into a single, flexible decision-making structure.

From its roots as a credit card division of Virginia-based Signet Bank, Capital One has pursued technology innovation with laser-like intensity. Bailar also manages to make time in his and his staff's busy schedule for plenty of community service. If he weren't a CIO, you'd probably find him leading adventure tours and raising awareness of environmental issues. For more on Bailar's adventures as CIO, what makes Capital One a business technology leader, and who Bailar would want to play him in a movie about Capital One IT, tune in to this podcast.

Watch InformationWeek.com next week for this year's IW500; the content goes live at 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 12.