PHIL TUGGLE Senior VP, Information Technology Services, Southwire

How long at current company: 16 years

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: I'm extremely pleased with my 16 years contributing to the ongoing success of Southwire in several "career" paths. Most recently, I've been honored to lead the most professional, intelligent, capable, and just overall great people in IT!

Most important career influencer: Lee Hunter, a former executive VP at Southwire, would be my most important mentor. Leadership, integrity, business acumen, and incredible intelligence are just a few of the words that describe Lee. He convinced me to change to an IT career, and it has been the best move of my life.

Decision I wish I could do over: I decided to bite off a really big project using primarily internal resources. It may have been a case of enthusiasm overriding good judgment. In the end, the project team has done a stellar job and delivered real competitive advantage. The experience has certainly produced invaluable lessons.

The next big thing for my business will be ... to leverage IT to make available new information, tools, and applications for our customers and beyond--to their customers! We strive to innovate products and services to enhance our customers' bottom lines.

Best advice for future CIOs: Become a strategic part of your business by gaining an intimate understanding of relevant issues and exposing your people as much as possible. A company can't fully exploit technology without IT people being business people and IT having a seat at the leadership table.

IT budget: $15 million

Size of IT team: 77 full-time employees

Top three initiatives: Our top projects are driven by customer value and aligned with company strategy to drive the profitability of our customers and Southwire. From an IT perspective, we're focused on:

• Improving our application delivery and project management
• Shifting to a new application architecture
• Restructuring our business continuity and disaster recovery plan

How I measure IT effectiveness: We have several standard metrics and constantly work to add others that better characterize the performance of our team. Ultimately, our success is measured in terms of delighted customers.

Colleges/degrees: Georgia Institute of Technology, bachelor of chemical engineering

Leisure activity: golf, diving when I get the chance

Best book read recently: Orbiting The Giant Hairball, by Gordon MacKenzie

Last vacation: Disney World with family

If I weren't a CIO, I'd be ... a teacher--I've had enough math and science!