InformationWeek is looking for nominations for its Chief of the Year. If you know of a worthy tech exec -- a person who's visionary, innovative, influential, an impact player -- please let us know.What does it take to be a world-class CIO? We can probably enumerate an appropriate set of characteristics: expert in technology, business strategist, effective leader, innovative thinker, consensus builder, a person of integrity and trust.

But very often the qualities necessary to excel at such a dynamic and demanding position are a combination of an individual's character and the situation that person finds himself or herself in. Think of some of InformationWeek's past top technology chiefs, and the profound impact they've had on their organizations: Dan Drawbaugh, CIO, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Rob Carter, CIO of FedEx; Ralph Szygenda, CIO of General Motors; and Randy Mott, (then) CIO of Wal-Mart.

That's not to say that circumstance trumps character. Randy Mott was InformationWeek's Chief of the Year in 1997 when he was at Wal-Mart; he's on his second CIO assignment since then and has been highly successful -- and impactful -- at both companies (Dell and Hewlett-Packard). But it's also true that Randy Mott has had the (continued) good fortune to work at companies where the contributions of technology are very highly valued. That and a supportive CEO go a long way.

What do you think? What are the characteristics that make an effective technology leader -- and what role does circumstance play in that equation?

And who's your best candidate for InformationWeek's Chief of the Year for 2007? Comment below, or send me an e-mail at jsoat@cmp.com.