HP CIO Randy Mott, who last year completed a sweeping transformation of HP's IT operations that flipped the ratio of IT spending on maintenance/innovation from 80/20 to 30/70, tops a list of the five best-paid CIOs at public companies in the U.S. Other public companies whose CIOs made the list: Best Buy, State Street Corp., American Express, and JC Penney.Mott, whose powerful leadership of the IT transformation at HP was the subject of an excellent analysis late last year by my colleague Chris Murphy, earned $24.65 million in total compensation for 2008, according to a BusinessWeek article based on a report from compensation firm Equilar.

Widely regarded as one of the best if not the best CIO in the world, Mott had a total compensation package including a base salary of $690,000; a bonus of $7.07 million; non-equity incentive plan of $16.07 million; stock awards of $638,820; and other compensation of $185,418, according to BusinessWeek.

In second place on the list for top CIO compensation in 2008 is Best Buy's Robert Willett, who parlayed a great performance as CIO last year into a promotion last month to CEO of Best Buy International. For 2008, Willett's compensation totaled $9.88 million: base salary of $821,157; option awards of $1.19 million; stock awards of $7.83 million; and other compensation of $44,047.

Third on the list is Joseph C. Antonellis of State Street who, like Willett, has been promoted from the CIO role he held in 2008 to a broad-based executive role. Antonellis is now vice chairman of State Street, with responsibility for Investment Servicing North America, with responsibility for Sales, Investment Manager Outsourcing, Global Product Management and Global Services. As CIO in 2008, Antonellis had total compensation of $8.82 million, BusinessWeek said: base salary of $713,462; option awards of $2.62 million; stock awards of $5.35 million; and other awards of $140,367.

Fourth on the list is American Express CIO and executive vice president Stephen Squeri, who's held that spot since 2005. In 2008, Squeri earned a total of $4.69 million, including base salary of $600,000; bonus of $1.65 million; non-equity incentive plan of $675,000; option awards of $1.08 million; stock awards of $500,000; and other compensation of $180,621.

At #5 on the list is JC Penney executive vice president and CIO Thomas M. Nealon, who two months ago teamed with CEO Mike Ullman in laying out for securities analysts a new corporate strategy that would put IT "front and center" on all of the retailer's efforts. In 2008, Nealon earned a total of $3.6 million: base salary of $518,750; non-equity incentive plan of $220,000; option awards of $1.94 million; stock awards of $874,961; and other compensation of $43,744.