MARINA SHABIN VP and CIO, Sterling Commerce

How long at current company: Six months

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: Over the years, I've been able to attract, develop, and retain talented people and am proud of my Sterling Commerce team. In any economic climate, the difference between A and B players is game-changing.

Most important career influencer: Jane Vaughan, senior VP of global operations at SAP, pushed my critical thinking abilities and broadened my perspective. I continue to grow as a result of the principles she instilled in me. Jane is one of the most accomplished and brilliant executives for whom I've had the privilege to work.

Decision I wish I could do over: I believe in thinking things through before acting. I've been fortunate in my personal and professional life not to have taken any significant missteps. I've learned from those minor mistakes I did make. I take calculated risks and always leverage and learn from the mistakes others made before me.

The next big thing for my business will be ... a focus on continued innovation in software and services that lets our customers be leaders in their industries. And a commitment to R&D to drive cutting-edge solutions for business process integration, multichannel selling, and supply chain fulfillment that will transform the way companies do business.

Best advice for future CIOs: Learn early in your career that you will only be deemed as successful as your most unsatisfied customer.

IT budget: $55 million

Top three initiatives:

• Support and facilitate rapid growth in European and Asia-Pacific markets.
• Implement an IT portfolio management process and platform.
• Implement VoIP to consolidate and standardize our global telecommunications infrastructure.

How I measure IT effectiveness: The satisfaction of our business constituencies is key to IT's success. Systems performance, meeting service-level agreements, and delivering superior network availability are like oxygen--they just have to be there. Real value is determined by whether the enterprise feels IT is doing its part in propelling the business forward by making it nimble and responsive to the market.

Colleges/degrees: Manhattan College, BS degrees in marketing and computer IS

Best book read recently: Physics For Future Presidents by Richard Muller

Last vacation: St. Petersburg, Russia, and Berlin

If I weren't a CIO, I'd be In my teens, I aspired to become a criminal investigator or a profiler. I guess being a CIO is the next best thing.