Stories by: Mary K. Pratt

In April 2010, when Wayne Shurts stepped into the role of executive vice president and CIO at SuperValu, a U.S. grocery retailer and distributor whose brands include the Albertsons and Shaw's/Star Market chains, he brought skills he had honed as an IT executive at Cadbury, as well as two decades of experience in finance, marketing and sales at Nabisco. Shurts, who has an MBA in marketing from Seton Hall University, also spent several years as head of his own consulting firm, which specialized in transformational technology strategies. He's now working to help the IT department at SuperValu better support the company's overall business.

Dean Haddock has seen how highly skilled IT workers can be sidelined: He has witnessed more than one colleague develop deep skills in an IT specialty, only to be displaced -- in a flash -- when a new technology comes along.

Melissa P. Dodd speaks passionately about children and the importance of their education. That's not surprising, considering Dodd has a master's degree in education from Harvard University. Dodd opted not to teach, however, and instead chose to support teachers and students through technology. She worked as an educational technology administrator at Tufts University before moving in 2003 to the Boston Public Schools, which serve some 56,000 students. There she started as a technology strategic planner before becoming deputy CIO in 2006 and then CIO in October 2010. Here she shares her ideas on running a large school system's IT department.

The help desk is a hotbed of activity these days.

Mojgan Lefebvre stepped into the senior vice president and CIO job at Liberty Mutual Commercial Markets in July 2010. It was her third stint as a CIO since 2004. She held the top IT posts at BioMerieux from 2007 to 2010 and at Teletech Holdings from 2004 to 2007. Her experience as an IT executive, coupled with the skills she has gained in business-side positions such as company founder and CEO, has given her insights into what it takes for executives to manage their careers. In fact, she recently spoke on that topic at an event sponsored by Women in Technology International. Here she shares her views on running a successful IT shop and managing one's career.

The key to Bhupesh Arora's job at Avery Dennison is mitigating risk while delivering value.

Michael Del Priore's team spent the past 18 months developing and implementing a global ERP system and data warehouse that supports 95% of the operations at his company, Church & Dwight.

Jimmy Z. Wang, vice president and CIO at Teva Pharmaceuticals-Americas, says all his decisions carry risk -- it's the nature of IT -- but he has strategies to manage it. One way is to rely on others, he says. "I gather with my direct reports to tell me what they think, what challenges or risks they see that I don't."

Dennis L. Strong has used technology to make shopping easier for customers of McCoy's Building Supply, wherever they might be.

Greg Taffet is scouting for talent.