Welcome to the Fall 2007 issue of the JB Homer Market Intelligence Report.

Fall is a great time for doing self-assessment of your career growth, and comparing your performance against the goals that you have set for yourself at the beginning of the year.

By the fourth quarter, you should have a strong indication of how you and your company have been performing so far this year, and how that can potentially impact both your bonus and future career decisions.

That's why we've decided to make the focus of the Fall issue your personal search strategy, and also to discuss some new career options for today's IT leadership.

"Your Personal Search Strategy" discusses some of the tried and true basics of preparing for interviews and the importance of networking and staying motivated while going through a career transition.

We have seen the role of the CIO and CTO undergo an interesting transformation - with more companies moving to a co-leadership model in many of their top positions including the office of the CIO. The article "Co-CIOs - An Increasingly Popular Leadership Model" discusses the advantages of establishing joint leadership.

In "CIOs, Corporate Boards And The Search Firm Role" we discuss the benefits of CIOs taking on outside board assignments, from an individual standpoint as well as to the CIO's own company, how to market oneself for a Board of Director position, the level of commitment involved, and the search firm's role in assisting both the candidate and the client company during the vetting process.

As we move toward the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, we will continue to examine the vital issues facing the technology industry such as corporate compliance, process improvement, outsourcing/vendor management, CIO compensation, the diminishing division between IT and the business, and new innovations in technology.

A majority of people seeking a new position believe they know exactly how to approach and prepare for the all important interview. People have a perception that the only ones who make mistakes at job interviews are young people just out of school who are entering the work force for the first time. In reality this is far from the truth. Even seasoned professionals, with many years of experience, make crucial errors that prevent them from getting the position they are interviewing for. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Keeping things simple - basically, if you have been working at the same company for a number of years and have been elevated to a senior level position, you are probably used to people listening to what you have to say. Therefore, you will be tempted to overreact and start rambling on; you are just talking too much. You must be able to answer the interviewers' questions concisely, clearly and quickly.

Having an outdated resume - your resume needs to be concise and represent your most compelling accomplishments. Even if you have twenty years of employment to summarize, along with several companies in different capacities, it still must be concise and interesting. Therefore it is important to only put your most important accomplishments at each position. Interviewers see hundreds of resumes and only have time to scan them looking for key criteria that are required in the open position. Often times you can have the skill set for several positions and your resume might be leaning towards the incorrect skill set for the position you are interviewing for. Therefore it will be necessary to hone your resume to represent you correctly for this position. Obviously, review for dates in chronological order and check for grammatical errors.

Stay motivated - everyone knows it is not easy and is emotionally draining when you lose your job or are simply looking for a new one. Money is seldom the indicator of a good job. When you have a job you like, you look forward to going to work and it creates an identity for you. If you lose your identity it is hard to stay motivated and focused. If you have been looking for a position for awhile it is important not to get discouraged or depressed, and to maintain your focus. Don't stay home: get up, get out, meet people, network and you can join organizations that can present opportunities that on your own you would not have heard of.

Ask for help - many people are afraid to ask for help. Your friends and in general, most people, are pretty compassionate and if they can help someone they will. Networking is extremely important and effective. You never know who knows who. A friend may know someone who heard of a position or went out on a position and was unsuccessful in securing it - that could be the perfect opportunity for you.

Project Management - it also helps to have a plan in place as you try to secure a position. You should treat it as a project you are undertaking. Plan your day, your times, and your actions as far as what your day will consist off during your search. Set goals and be accountable for completing them. Don't approach this project with a negative attitude.

Looking for a job is never easy, it requires hard focused work. Avoiding some of the common pitfalls I have mentioned above may help you in securing the position that will be gratifying to you and advance you to the next step in your professional career.

The role of the CIO or CTO is undergoing an interesting transformation. Recently we have seen more of our clients moving to a model of having co-heads in many of their leadership positions including the office of the CIO.

This move to divide up the role is viewed by many sitting CIOs with both concern and skepticism about weakening their power and influence. However, the CIOs who have moved to a co-leadership model have praised the advantages of establishing joint leadership.

Here are some of the advantages they have cited:

• Partnership - having a true equal partner who will share the responsibilities of the position, and can offer a peer's views on how to create an effective IT strategy without any hidden agendas. Both partners work in unison to achieve common goals and to increase the value and productivity of the office of the CIO.
• Creation of a positive leadership model for their Direct Reports and their organizations - every CIO asks his or her Direct Reports to partner with their peers to provide a unified vision for technology and to deliver their enterprise-wide technology roadmap. Those working within the co-head model say that is more productive to set an example of partnership rather than to just mandate it. This contributes to having all of the staff within the technology organization adhere to a company wide policy of cooperation.
• Coverage - what CIO at times hasn't wished to have the ability to be cloned so that in a global organization they can be at corporate HQs meeting the needs of the leadership based there while at the same time having the ability to travel to other corporate outposts to offer those locations the same level of attention and responsiveness. Dual leadership also affords both leaders more time with key decision makers and more effective problem resolution.
• The Power of 2 Factor - having dual strong leaders increases internal client satisfaction -demanding clients feel they will have the opportunity to have their individual needs better serviced if they have 2 leaders sharing the role.
• Perspective - being able to float ideas past someone before having to present them to the company's business leadership or Board of Directors. Both partners understand the issues faced by the position and can come to a common solution of how to navigate within their company's culture to get those issues resolved.

We've now seen multiple clients endorse moving to this model, by demonstrating that they are willing to pay each co-head what they would have paid an individual CIO before - and these are very generous compensation packages based on increased company satisfaction.

We believe that in the future the office of the CIO will now more frequently have two names on the door; and be occupied by leaders with the ability to present one unified approach to delivering technology solutions successfully.

More and more CIOs are taking on outside corporate board assignments than ever before. In the past the primary qualifications for an executive joining an outside board were a close business relationship and friendship with the CEO, the ability to direct significant business to the company - and the prestige associated with this role. Nowadays, with the predominance of corporate board members in their late 50s and 60s who are not particularly savvy in understanding technology issues, and knowing that companies can't function without technology, CIOs are becoming more prevalent in the composition of these boards. Regulatory issues and technology's strategic importance to the bottom line are also factors in the influx of CIOs to corporate boards. The company thus benefits from the CIO's expertise and business acumen and the CIO can benefit for a number of reasons including:

• Increases the visibility of the CIO's company by broadening its brand across a varied network of executives.
• Increases the visibility of the CIO by expanding the circle of potential advisors, provides insight into the ways other companies work - learning how they handle problems and applying this to their own company when situations arise - and giving the CIO credibility in the corporate world.
• Establishes relationships with board members and upper management which can expand the CIO's business network and lead to other corporate board appointments.
• Sitting on an external corporate board can be a key to advancing the CIO's career.

The actual process of marketing oneself for a seat at the Board of Directors' table can vary depending on industry experience and visibility. The bulk of board seats are filled by seasoned, high-visibility executives; and predominantly by invitation. These types of executives can also let the corporate world know of their intentions of joining a board by working with an existing network of executive search firms who specialize in board services. CIOs and lower-visibility executives who are not well connected with search firms can start out by looking at board assignments or even in advisory roles with small to mid-size companies and IT consulting firms as a way to eventually segue into board positions with larger companies. The smaller companies generally welcome the technology experience a CIO can provide, while at larger companies, even though CIOs are being considered more and more for board positions, the CEOs at these companies still tend to have a prevailing view that technologists are less likely to impress outsiders and are less of a contributor in the strategic part of their businesses - unless the CIO (or a former CIO) has used technology to greatly impact a company's bottom line.

Search firms that specialize in board services can streamline the process for their client because they have the resources and knowledge to learn about the company culture, can help to formulate and execute the board composition and succession, and find the right slate of candidates through their established search process which in turn creates an independent board to primarily serve the shareholder's interests. Search firms are also cognizant of the fact that limits are now in place on non-CEO board members (for the most part five exclusive of their own company's board) thus they are more carefully qualifying board candidates on the basis of industry and functional expertise; opening the door wider for a varied board composition, including CIOs.

Before considering a Board of Director position, the level of commitment to the role should be fully understood and appreciated beforehand. Not only is there potential travel commitment on a quarterly basis throughout the year, but as governance processes have increased due to public disclosure acts such as SOX, the amount of preparation for board meetings (especially for members of audit and compensation committees) has dramatically increased and the fact that board members can be held personally liable for their actions must be taken into consideration too. The CIO must inform their CEO of any board involvement to avoid any issues of non-disclosure - and be wary of any conflicts of interest as boards are being held to higher standards.

Having a seat on an external board can be a key to advancing a CIO's career and increases their visibility and status within the corporate world. Asking advice from their own board can be helpful in the process and the CIO who imparts knowledge across all areas of expertise during service to the board, and participates in board committees outside their regular scope of business acumen is looked upon favorably and increases their chances for re-election to the seat.

The following is a sampling of high-profile CIOs and some of the outside boards they currently serve (outside board company in parentheses):

• Gregor Bailar - EVP/CIO - Capital One Financial (Endurance Specialty Holdings)
• Michael Baresich - EVP/Global CIO - The CIT Group (CoKinetic Systems Corporation)
• Rahul Merchant - EVP/CIO - Fannie Mae (GCI, Inc.)
• Ralph Szygenda - Group VP/CIO - General Motors Corporation (Handleman Company)
• Stephen Yates - EVP/CIO - KeyCorp (Applied Industrial Technologies)
• Joseph Antonellis - Vice Chairman - State Street Corp. (Boston Financial Data Services Inc.)
• David Ching - SVP/CIO - Safeway (TJX Companies and Petco)