CIO Profiles: David R. Guzmán Of Acxiom

Career Track

How long at current company: I've spent 18 months at Acxiom, a global interactive marketing services company.

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: At a former company, getting to the No. 1 spot on the InformationWeek 500 ... twice.

Most important career influencer: David Fuente, CEO at Office Depot, because he taught me that there shouldn't be a distinction between the way you treat people at work and the way you treat people at home. He's a great business leader and an even better man.

Decision I wish I could do over:L eaving a CIO role at a Fortune 500 company to chase an entrepreneurial dream.

Also, while every career move was a step up, sometimes I wish I'd moved my family around less. That's the wisdom of hindsight.

On The Job

IT budget: About $350 million

Size of IT team: 1,500 employees

Top initiatives:

How I measure IT effectiveness:

Vision

Advice for future CIOs: Change careers! Other than that, stick up for your convictions and stand up for the people who make you successful.

What the federal government's top technology priority should be:Vivek Kundra is a great leader who doesn't need any advice from me--our country is lucky to have him at the helm. My advice to our government leaders would be: Listen to him. I've had the pleasure of meeting him at the White House and find him to be singularly impressive.

Kids and tech careers: I wouldn't steer kids toward a technology career. The pinnacle of the career is CIO, which jokingly stands for Career Is Over. I've experienced the pressures generated by the unrealistic expectations behind that joke--needing to be perfect, fast, and cheap in a world where complexity and lack of consensus around requirements work against those expectations.

Personal

Colleges/degrees: Yale, BA with honors; PhD at Yale not completed

Favorite sport: Golf

Tech vendor CEO I respect the most: Apple's Steve Jobs, for having the consumer's pulse

Favorite president: Abraham Lincoln, for his courage of conviction amid tumultuous upheaval

Biggest business pet peeve: Corporate antibodies that fight change and transformation

If I weren't a CIO, I'd be ... a Latin percussionist!