Editor's Note: Hats Off To This Chief Of The Year's Creativity

You've probably had one of those moments where you were so incredibly thankful, relieved, and otherwise happy that you would still have a job tomorrow because FedEx got something to somewhere or to someone in the nick of time. And you not only had the whew! factor, but you also had the stress-reducing, anxiety-stemming factor of knowing when the package arrived and who signed for it. The last time FedEx saved the day for me, it was personal business. It was last Christmas, when I had an "I-must-have-this-or-it-will-be-the-end-of-the-world" toy delivered to my house on Christmas Eve. I have FedEx to thank for my sanity.

Of course, FedEx is much more than a package-delivery company. If you ask CIO Rob Carter, InformationWeek's 2005 Chief of the Year, he'll tell you FedEx is in the business of engineering time. By that he means the company's infrastructure has to ebb and flow at the speed of customers' needs. For some, that may be instant. For others, it may be consistent and predictable delivery of specific products. And for still others, it may mean creating an extension to their supply chain or to their office (think FedEx Kinko's).

I've heard other CIOs talk about Carter as a "rock star" in the business-technology community, many wishing they had the same level of strategic influence, clout, and open-door access to the CEO's office. Around here, he's become known as a boxing star, participating in a lively debate at a recent InformationWeek conference wearing a boxing robe. Hey, a CIO's job can be fun, too. So can life outside of the job. Rob can readily tell you about great restaurants in Memphis, his phenomenal collection of music, and even NASCAR, with which FedEx is getting more involved.

He and his team are nearing the end of a three-year transformation project designed to improve customer satisfaction, establish global infrastructure standards and processes, simplify information access, and much more. It has been the most important business-technology project of Carter's career, but one that has been disrupted by disasters--the natural kind, that is. As editor-at-large Larry Greenemeier reports this week, reacting quickly and in creative ways has become a signature of Carter's management style.

Stephanie Stahl, Editor-in-chief
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