PRESENTING: the Top 25 Social CIOs in the Fortune 250

The transformation from traditional business to social business is incredibly difficult. As is the case in any organizational metamorphosis, making technology decisions must take worker behavior and corporate culture into account, since people and culture are by far the biggest obstacles to change. 

And effective change starts at the top. CIOs themselves must embrace social technologies to credibility as well as set the example for their fellow workers. As Forbes Columnist Rich Karlgaard points out: “Any CIO today that is not up on trends like social media, cloud services, and managing the delicate balance of smartphone productivity and corporate security, is a CIO who won’t last long at their company.” 

Clearly, some CIOs already ‘get it.’  But how many? We decided to find out.

Early this year, harmon.ie set out to find the most socially active group of CIOs in the Fortune 250 and Global 250 lists.  Granted, the group overall is not on the early adopter end of the social media spectrum, but within their peer group, the individuals listed below have demonstrated the most social behavior in the public social arena.

These individuals understand that when faced with expensive IT decisions, it’s important to make the right investments in technology that align with the future…to create the social enterprise.  Our list represents the people that have tested the waters, made online connections, participated in public discussions, and generally are endeavoring to enable social media to positively impact their organization.

Here are the ‘Top 25 Social CIOs’ that we’ve identified as leading the way in the Fortune 250.  Note only the highest ranking CIOs were considered.

We created the top 25 Social CIO guide using a formula by social scoring expert Mark Fidelman (an executive at harmon.ie).  The formula takes information gleaned from Twitter, SocialMention.com, LinkedIn, Google+ and Alexa into account.  Fidelman’s research and compilation of top influencers lists has been covered by the NY Times, Forbes and several other publications. 

We gave Special Mentions to Casey Coleman, CIO of US General Services Administration (Government) and Sabine Everaet, CIO of Coca-Cola Europe because of the stood out amongst the CIO group, yet didn't meet the strict criteria we set for the top 25.  Comparitively, Coleman would have ranked at the top if she worked within the Fortune 250 and not the US government. 

Why Is This Important?

Many CIOs still believe that we live in a transactional world, and maintaining transactional systems is their top priority. Yes, transactional systems, network finance and HR systems are still important, but it’s not so simple anymore. With universal connectivity to information and systems, today’s CIOs need to adopt a more holistic approach to achieving and maintaining their company’s competitive edge. 

harmon.ie believes that social tools plays an important role in achieving that competitive edge.  When integrated into people’s day-to-day work environments, these social tools enable vital communication among employees, customers and partners, helping flatten hierarchies, speed up business processes, and boost efficiency and agility.  As such, we believe the ‘Social CIOs’ highlighted in our study are better positioned to drive Social Business adoption.

Closing Thoughts 

The most striking finding of our study is that only 10% of the Fortune 250 CIOs are themselves social. The rest, apparently, do not recognize the importance of being social, or are delegating the task to a subordinate. And assigning social media projects to subordinates is one of Gartner’s “Ten Top 10 Signals That Your Management Doesn't ‘Get’ Social Media.” 

What do you think?  Are Fortune 250 CIOs equipped to drive this transformation?

• Best Buy hired Stephen Gillett, former CIO of Starbucks, as EVP and President of the company’s Digital and Global Business Services.  While we recognize he’s a social business pioneer, he’s not included on the list.
• Receiving Special Mentions are Casey Coleman, CIO of US General Services Administration (Government) and Sabine Everaet, CIO of Coca-Cola Europe (Regional) due to their CIO title - but didn't meet the "Chief IT Officer" for a Fortune 250 company.
• After going to print, CIO Michael Kirschner was promoted to Senior Vice President, Ecommerce & Direct Business Unit Leader at Office Depot.