Robert Carter
Executive vice president and CIO, FedEx Corp.

Six months ago, this self-described family man stepped into one of the most coveted technology jobs in the world, chief information officer of FedEx. But even before that, Robert Carter had become an icon in the IT community.

Carter's competence is so coveted inside corporate raiding circles that CIO predecessor Dennis Jones announced Carter's promotion months in advance, just to keep the headhunters at bay.

As CIO, Carter is responsible for FedEx's prized state-of-the-art global network. He also shoulders operations of the company's 24-7 data centers in Akron, Ohio; Los Angeles; Memphis; Orlando; Pittsburgh; and a newly opened center in Dallas. He'll also construct a seventh data center in Colorado Springs.

But those aren't even the sweet spots of his new role at FedEx. This Taiwanese native gets to decide how to spend the company's $1.5 billion infrastructure budget. We've already seen glimpses of what those decisions will entail from projects completed during his reign in 2000. They include an alliance that lets consumers upload printer-ready documents to a Kinko's Web site and specify when and where to have FedEx deliver them; and an $80 million data collection project for tracking ground packages.

Peter Solvik
CIO, Cisco

Solvik's insight is so valued that he's on the advisory board of Akamai Technologies, Agillion and Oblix. He's also on the board of directors for Internet Capital Group, Context Integration, Cohera, Asera and myCFO.

Throughout it all, Solvik has kept a low profile. He keeps his head down but his eyes focused on building an Internet prize that could be the most powerful argument yet for transforming the corporation.

Ralph Szygenda
CIO and group vice president, General Motors

For example, he is the man that put OnStar into GM's luxury cars. OnStar gives cars a human-friendly interface. It provides directions, offers vehicle diagnostics and even links drivers to live concierge assistance, among other features. Oddly, this CIO views himself as more of a businessman than a technology guy, although his CIO post at GM was preceded by the CIO post at Texas Instruments. This businessman self-image lets him see two years down the pipe, he says. This allows GM to stay ahead of the IT game.

With Szygenda as a model, IT executives at GM have assumed more say in all business areas. His team has quickly led GM into Internet waters. GM owns gmbuypower.com, an e-commerce portal representing all its brands. Likewise, it's been a shaker in business-to-business e-commerce and is a founding member of Covisint, the exchange currently under construction that will let the Big Three automakers trade with suppliers over the 'Net (pending a final nod from the Federal Trade Commission). Szygenda envisions this business-to-business effort not only as a method of gaining efficiencies with suppliers, but also as a means to link with dealers, gaining those same efficiencies for build-to-order manufacturing. A single electronic supply chain is the Holy Grail for e-business, and this CIO is ahead of the curve in building his now.

Szygenda isn't interested in technology for technology's sake. His billions in IT spending achieves a business goal: keeping the nation's top car company first across the finish line.