DENIS STYPULKOSKI Executive VP and CIO, Tygris Commercial Finance

How long at current company: Four and a half years at US Express Leasing, which was acquired by Tygris Commercial Finance in May

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: Building US Express Leasing and its IT infrastructure from the ground up around five years ago and being recognized as one of the nation's top 10 independent leasing companies.

Most important career influencer: Jim Sasavage, a former VP of IT at AT&T Credit. He hired me there, and was a master at communicating the benefits of technology to his business colleagues.

Decision I wish I could do over: I wish I had attended graduate school and earned an MBA in business or finance to complement my undergrad degree, which was in computer science.

The next big thing for my business will be ... The credit crisis is forcing a transformation of the financing industry. IT systems and infrastructure will need to satisfy new business and regulatory reporting needs, so we're now building that infrastructure.

View on offshore outsourcing: Most of our competitors struggle to manage legacy systems and are forced to find cost efficiencies, which leads to offshoring. As Tygris--a new company--is starting fresh, we're unencumbered by legacy issues, letting us achieve the service levels and cost savings by leveraging domestic outsourcing partners without needing to offshore.

Size of IT team: About 20 direct, plus numerous service-provider relationships

Top three initiatives:

• Expanding our company-wide technology infrastructure and network to support the rapid growth of Tygris
• Creating the total technology capability for our corporate finance and asset finance divisions
• Expanding our existing business intelligence environment to serve all of our new lines of business

How I measure IT effectiveness: First, I measure our launch build-out IT effectiveness through our ability to meet milestones in our major IT projects. Second, our team measures our service delivery every day through direct feedback from our customers, as well as the Tygris management team and employees.

Key tech partners: Dell, Avaya, Cisco, Oracle, and Microsoft, in addition to several boutique finance and banking software providers

Colleges/degrees: Seton Hall University, BS in computer science (magna cum laude)

Leisure activities: Saltwater fishing, playing piano, going to my son's ice hockey games and my daughter's softball and soccer games

Smartphone: Motorola Q

If I weren't a CIO, I'd be ... the owner of a home-theater design and installation business.