InformationWeek Chiefs Of The Year: Where Are They Now?

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When we interviewed Bank of America's Cathy Bessant, this year's InformationWeek Chief of the Year, she briefly turned the tables and asked us a question: What stands out over the years among the CIOs chosen for this recognition? After thinking the question over a bit, InformationWeek editor in chief Rob Preston responded: "For one thing, they do things their own way."

[ Read the related feature story, IT Chief Of The Year: Bank Of America's Cathy Bessant. ]

Look at our honorees over the past 20 years and you'll find no cookie-cutter pattern. There's not a dominant IT strategy -- some Chiefs of the Year were adamantly against IT outsourcing, for example, while some made outsourcing core to their innovation plans. There's also no standard resume. Some Chiefs moved up the IT ranks, some through various business units (even -- gasp! -- marketing).

That same career diversity holds true of Chiefs after they were honored. Some moved on to broader executive roles. Former Schwab CIO Dawn Lepore became a CEO, former Starbucks CIO Stephen Gillett became a COO. Others who remained CIOs, such as GM's Randy Mott and FedEx's Rob Carter, redefined their charters or branched into other roles along the way. Some, such as Gillett and Eli Lilly's Roy Dunbar, went on to work for tech vendors; others, such as former Chase CIO Denis O'Leary, stepped out of daily business operations and became board members and investors.

Lepore, Mott, Carter, Wal-Mart's Linda Dillman, and Procter & Gamble's Filippo Passerini were honored after spending 15 years or more at a single company, showing the value of understanding a company's culture and an industry's dynamics. While an outside change agent, like Gillett was at Starbucks, can sometimes provide the right ingredient, that's the exception.

We asked this year's Chief of the Year -- Bessant, who led a number of Bank Of America business units before getting tapped to head IT and operations -- whether she aspires to become CEO of BoA. No, she replied, saying the 24/7, all-consuming demands of that position aren't for her, even though she's a hard-charger herself.

What follows is a "where-are-they-now?" look at the career paths of past InformationWeek Chiefs of the Year. We've selected Chiefs of the Year since 1986, sometimes with multiple selections in a single year, as we did in 2001 and 2013. Here are just 10 of those leaders.

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