GREGG DAVIS, Senior VP and CIO Webcor Builders

How long at current company: 14 years

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: I'm most proud of the fact that I started my own IT consulting business and ran it successfully for many years. I then sold the company to Webcor and have been able to serve happily as its CIO.

Most important career influencer: Andy Ball, the president and CEO of Webcor, who shares my love of technology. He envisions cutting-edge technology helping every aspect of our organization, and I get the great joy of researching and implementing these ideas with unwavering support.

Decision I wish I could do over: I had a knock-down, drag-out dispute with a vendor that I helped accelerate. OK ... I threw major fuel on the fire and eventually terminated the vendor agreement, and we got involved with litigation. We chose a competitor and were extremely happy until it was acquired by the vendor we terminated. Can you hear me eating crow now?

The next big thing for my business will be ... virtual building. We're leading the way with new tools and innovations to produce multidimensional models of our projects and their complex systems.

Best advice for future CIOs: Learn business. You need to be able to dissect business publications and basic financial reports, including balance sheets and P&L statements.

View on offshore outsourcing: Use caution about what you outsource and to whom, but if managed properly outsourcing can be a home run.

IT budget: $4 million

Size of IT team: Around 25

Top three initiatives:

• Implement a browser-based ERP system.
• Implement a browser-based construction-project management system integrated to the ERP system.
• Avoid a divorce and/or a stress-related heart attack when managing the first two items.

How I measure IT effectiveness: I'm not a true believer in most ROI studies since I can get them to say almost anything I want. We do use metrics from our systems to measure our effectiveness, but it's happy, productive employees that really matter. We've won numerous awards for the best place to work!

Colleges/degrees: BS, the University of Arizona

Computer: I use a Windows PC at work and an Apple at home.

Favorite sports: Hockey (go Sharks!) and golf

Best book read recently: Appaloosa. I love a good shoot-'em-up Western.

If I weren't a CIO, I'd be ... a physician.