Vincent P. Melvin, 2009 Honoree
- Title
- Vice president, CIO
- Employer
- Arrow Electronics Inc.
- Location
- Melville, , N.Y.
- First job:
- "Repairing cars and pumping gas at my grandfather's service stations."
- Most valuable career advice:
- "Brave and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
- Favorite vice:
- "Buying baseball gear for my children."
- What do you love about IT?
- "The ability to truly change the competitive landscape. The challenge to go from technology to business framework/value, and the need to understand both."
- Best mentoring relationship:
- "My first sponsor in IBM, Carla Pariser; she taught me how to treat people when they are looking for guidance and learning."
- People you'd invite to your dream dinner party:
- Ben Franklin, Joshua Chamberlain, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
- Favorite sport:
- Basketball
- Twenty years ago, I was...
- "A systems engineer for IBM, just out of college and adjusting to the working world."
- Favorite book:
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Favorite TV show:
- Cheers
- What about you would surprise the people you work with?
- "I'm tone-deaf and colorblind."
- Leadership philosophy in a nutshell:
- "Don't ask anyone to do more than you would do. Lead by example. Understand technology to the benefit of the business. You must understand technology to manage and lead technology innovation."