Last month I was privileged to be a member of a panel presented by SIM NY on the issues encountered by women technology executives as they moved up the corporate ladder, and how they've met these challenges.

My role on the panel was to give the audience my impartial perspective as someone who identifies and evaluates technology leaders for some of the top firms in the country, and to offer some insights into the success factors our clients are looking for in the IT executive roles they are seeking to fill in today's competitive talent market.

The distinguished women panelists represented a wide spectrum of industries ranging from financial services to consumer products to insurance to Big 3 consulting to advertising. What all of these women had in common was their passion for developing technology solutions to improve the businesses they support, and a drive to succeed.

A challenge that they all shared was how to achieve a balance between their personal and professional lives without derailing their careers. Our society has always assumed that a man has someone to handle the issues at home, and that a woman executive will be handicapped by her need to divide her attention between work and family.

In response to this challenge each of the panelists agreed that they had to establish a good support system at work and at home in order to be successful. In several cases, their spouse had assumed primary responsibility for childcare and for maintaining the home front. I think this is a major life lesson for all of us to absorb - that you need as strong a team at home in order to free you up to focus on your day to day challenges at work.

Each panelist was also asked to give an example illustrating when they hit the glass ceiling in their career and how they were able to break through it. Many women starting out in technology today may not recall that before equal opportunity laws were passed there certainly wasn't a level playing field for women to establish their careers. One of the reasons I became an entrepreneur and inspired to start my own firm was because I too had to overcome the perception that a woman leader may not be as focused or as committed to success. The panelists agreed that their breakthroughs were based on their commitment to first of all putting out at least 150% effort to be seen as on a par with their male counterparts, looking for opportunities to establish their credibility and then delivering those solutions, while maintaining a professional demeanor at all times - downplaying the effort needed to balance the professional and personal parts of their lives.

Another important common thread uniting the panelists was their need to both seek out and to be a mentor. Everyone agreed leadership is a continuum - you have much to learn from those who came before you, as well as a responsibility to help those who are coming up behind you. Every panelist gave examples of how they have mentored people in their firms as well as extended out to their communities. We all share a common desire to give back.

I think the strongest message that I left the audience with as both an observer and evaluator of technology executives was that today's executives, both women and men alike, have to be the complete package - talented, passionately committed to their vision, team players and team builders - and they have to present this package with an element of style and grace.

Historically the traditional path to becoming a CIO was to move up through Applications Development. Recently, we have begun to see a definite trend of more companies selecting their CIOs out of the Infrastructure discipline.

Several factors have influenced this shift which we've observed taking place both here in the US and in Europe. One of the most significant is the simultaneous outsourcing of large portions of a company's Applications Development and insourcing of their Infrastructure. Many firms are keeping only the most proprietary of their Applications in house, but have decided to take back control of their mission critical desktops, networks and Data Centers. A large part of today's CIO's responsibilities is the day to day monitoring of the viability of their company's networks and systems and with the changing regulatory environment addressing their increasing needs for storage and capacity in order to maintain the required data.

The Head of Infrastructure is also now much more involved in helping to set the day to day strategic plan for their firm's technology. If you look at the technology budget for many of the Fortune 500 corporations the spend is being weighed more heavily toward investment in the Infrastructure. The executives in charge of the Infrastructure are leading huge enterprise wide initiatives and are responsible for negotiating contracts that can extend into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Another change is the perception of the value of the Infrastructure to the success of the business - it has gone from being just a support function to being viewed as giving their company their competitive edge in their marketplace. For example, if you look at the financial services industry success is gauged in the fractions of a second it takes to complete a transaction; there is increasing need to monitor and control the stability and capacity of the systems supporting these high trading volumes.

As the executives heading Infrastructure increase their visibility and impact they are also interacting more frequently with the top business leadership of their firms. They have a seat at the table when strategic decisions are made that impact the direction of the business and the need to align the Infrastructure to support those decisions. These executives are earning greater respect and acknowledgement for their contributions as a direct result of their greater face time and closer working relationships with the business.

It's always best to have a well rounded background when seeking a CIO position - to have spent time leading both Development and Infrastructure. But as the value of the Infrastructure to the success of the business and the cost of that technology investment increases -Infrastructure executives are going to be considered with increasing frequency as desirable candidates for that top role in the technology organization.

Are CIOs being pulled in too many directions? As we become more reliant on being connected electronically the role of the CIO is moving away from an internal support function to an external growth mode. The expanding world of e-commerce is creating a competitive advantage for many companies thus putting the CIO in a position to deliver mission critical projects or chance missing the opportunity the business has strived so hard to achieve. They not only have their internal business needs to meet, which can be arduous at times, but must deliver on their customers needs for advanced technologies.

The CIO is also expected to understand the business details of the company, regulations of their industry, and keep up to date on all the new technologies that are on the market. Along with this responsibility they must be strategic thinkers and have leadership and persuasive skills to not only manage their I/T staff but to build alliances with other business partners. Along with this we must not forget that they must have a through understanding of the financials and how the business will be affected.

So, how does the CIO handle all of these issues along with the latest security threats, software patches, regulatory compliance, hardware problems and a vast assortment of the day to day problems that must be addressed?

The major way to conquer these issues is to build an infrastructure, an I/T team that can be depended on so the CIO can be freed up to address issues within the business, and leverage technology to achieve business goals. Building a reliable, scalable and flexible staff is the first component. Without a strong support team that needs little direction the CIO is undoubtedly spending too much time on issues that will not impact the business and less time partnering with the business units building a cohesive relationship that will have impact on the bottom line.

Additionally, to extend the reach of the CIO there must be process put in place. In today's fast paced environment most I/T departments are inundated with requests for projects that will strain their resources. One solution that has yielded exceptional results is the formation of an I/T initiatives committee. This committee is comprised of department heads from all of the business units as well as I/T and finance. All I/T initiatives are filtered through this committee and reviewed as to their importance to the businesses bottom line and must pass certain criteria established by the committee.

The key benefit to this procedure is that less time is wasted on projects that don't pass the test and frees up resources to tackle initiatives that can move the business forward for a competitive advantage. With the CIO freeing up valuable resources, the impact I/T can have on the business can surely make the CIO a more valuable business partner.

Q-	As the CEO of a mid-sized broker-dealer, can you tell me how the huge compliance and regulatory demands brought on by Sarbanes-Oxley, Reg NMS, Basel II, and others have impacted clients you deal with, and do they see any intrinsic business value beyond the need to comply?
A-	Of course, our publicly traded clients, particularly in financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals have had to commit from 15% to 25% of their technology and operations resources to mitigate risk and comply with the various regulations that apply to their businesses. In many instances, this has reduced resources available for updating and expanding business-enabling technologies. Regarding intrinsic value to the business, complying with these relatively new regulations have helped companies define, develop and automate business processes which were dealt with more casually in the past. Additionally, the ability to organize, access and utilize key financial, marketing and sales data more effectively in competitive markets has been a definite positive fallout of a seemingly thankless process.
Q-	As the SVP of Human Resources with a major financial institution, compensation issues for senior executives, particularly in technology and operations are of ongoing interest to us. Have you seen any changes in trends regarding cash vs. equity requirements of talented executives that are in high demand in the marketplace?
A-	It has been a strong seller's market this year, although buyers, i.e., companies continue to be very thorough and demanding when selecting candidates for key leadership positions. Hotly pursued candidates today are expecting their total compensation packages to increase by at least 20% for new positions. Regarding the cash/equity trade-off, cash remains a very important part of the total compensation package. Many candidates are reluctant to move without an increase in their base salaries, but will look at the total cash offered especially if the first year's targeted cash bonus is guaranteed, which has been the case this year. Additionally, a cash sign on bonus can help to offset lower base salaries offered by the interested company. Restricted stock and/or stock options are still valued by most candidates, but cash is still king!
Q-	I am currently the CFO of a large consumer products company. From your experience this year, have there been any significant shifts in the demands business users are placing on their technology leaders?
A-	Yes, the main shift is requiring CIOs and CTOs to run their technology departments like a business so that any significant resource allocation is supported by a strong business case with ROI and other metrics, presented in easily understandable business terms. Additionally, CIOs are expected to play a more active role in prioritizing capital and human resources in order to meet enterprise-wide business goals, including unforeseen shifts in senior management priorities, with an eye toward minimizing dissatisfaction among business users that have lost technology support due to these shifts. In other words, to be successful in today's complex business environment, CIOs must be nimble allocators, arbiters and aligners with their internal clients in order to be perceived as partners who add value, even when there are bumps in the road.