As the CIO role evolves over the next decade, industry veteran Charlie Feld predicts that those who hold the post will be non-tech business leaders who know a lot about IT. They’ll also be seen as natural successors to CEOs, just as their finance counterparts are today.
As the CIO role evolves over the next decade, industry veteran Charlie Feld predicts that those who hold the post will be non-tech business leaders who know a lot about IT. They’ll also be seen as natural successors to CEOs, just as their finance counterparts are today.
“In the late 1980s, early ’90s, CFOs became business leaders who got involved in strategies and mergers and acquisitions, and moved to CEO roles. We’re seeing the same thing happening in IT – but with a 10-year lag,” Feld says.
Feld served as CIO at Frito-Lay, Delta Air Lines and Burlington Northern before founding IT consultancy the Feld Group. According to Feld, employees at PepsiCo (owner of the Frito-Lay brand) who are being groomed for C-level positions are encouraged to experience other technical and non-technical positions around the company to build their overall business acumen. He says this helps executives enrich their business knowledge.
Outside of PepsiCo, Feld himself moved around different industries, and the experiences he gained helped the Feld Group attract such Fortune 500 clients as Coca-Cola and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Feld Group, which was staffed by a group of former CIOs, including Steve Schuckenbrock, ex-CIO at PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, aimed to provide a common language between CIOs and general business leaders. Feld describes it as helping CIOs get their agendas across in the boardroom.
The formula matched EDS’ strategy of putting former CIOs in front of customers, and the services giant acquired the Feld Group in January 2004. Feld, now EDS executive vice president of product management, and Shuckenbrock, EDS executive vice president of global sales and client solutions, joins Dave Clementz, former Texaco Chevron CIO and now EDS executive vice president of service delivery, as senior tech execs turned business leaders at the services company.
Feld says that once IT pros have solidified their tech backgrounds, they should move around in their organization to soak in different experiences.
“Learn about the different aspect of the company. People shouldn’t be so single-tracked that they have the same experiences for 10 years,” he says.
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