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IT's top tier: Strong and steady leadership

These 100 IT visionaries are seizing this rare moment to produce measured growth, embark on innovative pilots and build loyalty in their most valued workers

By Julia King
December 7, 2009 06:00 AM ET

Computerworld - Each year, Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders awards program shines a spotlight on 100 men and women who are driving positive change in their businesses through technology. This year, despite a struggling economy, the honorees are marked by a shared commitment to pursuing innovative strategies, while keeping their businesses humming and sustaining their employees' loyalty.

View the full listing of this year's honorees, along with their leadership philosophies, best career advice and other personal tidbits and photos. This year's class joins a fellowship of hundreds of Premier 100 alumni, each of whom has demonstrated leadership qualities throughout their careers.

To learn the secrets of successful IT leadership, check out the best management advice from Computerworld's editors and learn more about the 11th annual Premier 100 IT Leaders conference, which draws together these IT leaders alumni and other top IT executives for three career-enriching days.

2009 has been an economically tortuous year, marking the worst recession this country has seen in seven decades. It's also the year that IT at Johnson & Johnson launched a successful global collaboration and telepresence program, upgraded 120,000 desktops across 57 countries, and developed and distributed a free iPhone application for family caregivers to track physician information, prescription data, medical records and other health-related information.

"Improve, transform, innovate. You've got to play in all three areas if you're going to prepare the organization for what's next," says 47-year-old CIO LaVerne Council. "As a leader, you play for what comes next. You don't just play for now."

Brigham & Women's Hospital CIO Sue Schade is similarly focused on the future. Whereas a June 2009 Gartner Inc. report found that more than 40% of CIOs whacked their budgets midway through the year in response to the worsening economy, Schade, 56, stood fast. She funded 10 new IT projects at the Boston hospital, each in the range of $50,000 to $100,000, under the newly launched Healthcare IT Innovation Program, or HIP for short.

One of the projects was the development of a clinical portal that brings together the numerous scattered pieces of information doctors use in the course of their daily work -- patient lists, medication information and reminders about orders they need to write, to name just a few.