Midmarket Salary and Careers Survey: How Does Your Career Path Compare

Profile: John Dunbar's Steps to a Satisfying Career

How John Dunbar's 20-year career in IT landed him a CIO role.

By Michael Ybarra

While studying finance at college in Florida, John Dunbar put himself through school tending bar and waiting tables at a hotel. One day a colleague told him about a job as a programmer at a point-of-sale (POS) systems integration firm, Postec Inc., in Marietta, Ga.

"They said, 'We need someone who knows the business; we can teach you the technology,'" recalls Dunbar, who joined the company in 1987 and stayed there for nine years before eventually becoming CIO at EMS Technologies Inc., a fast-growing midmarket company. "I got pretty good at technology."

Dunbar's path to becoming a midmarket technology executive has involved one small step after another. While he made many smart moves -- gaining wide business and technology experience and credentials -- Dunbar's career is less the story of calculated résumé-building moves than that of a technologist who positioned himself to take advantage of the opportunities that he happened upon.

"I think I've found just about every position through colleagues," he says (as have more than one-quarter of survey respondents to this year's survey).

For CIOs who want to change jobs, as roughly 60% of CIOs responding to our survey say they do in the next three to five years, it's important to take the right path. In many cases, incremental moves will bring you toward your ultimate career goal, says Kirsten Smith, a partner in the technology practice at New York-based recruitment firm Battalia Winston International.

"It's good to move your career in small steps," she says. "A lot of times, people who try to move in one fell swoop fail. Take smaller steps, and be solid."

While at Postec, for example, Dunbar earned a master's degree in computer information systems at Georgia State University. "I knew my first position was too narrow and focused, and I made a decision to branch out," he says.

Then, in 1996, he jumped to BTG Americas Inc., where he was IT manager for the American unit of a Swiss company that makes machinery for the pulp and paper industry. In 2000, Dunbar became the company's global IT director while still based in Norcross, Ga.

"Bringing all these islands of IT together was a challenge to get everyone to act as one global company," he says. "Global experience is very important today for anyone."

But while Dunbar worked closely with all aspects of the business, his role was strictly IT support, and he wanted a more strategic position. That chance came in 2003, when Dunbar became CIO at EMS Technologies, a $300-million maker of wireless and satellite systems in Norcross, Ga.

"I have an opportunity to work with finance, operations and drive competitive advantage for the business," he says. "You've got to prove to the other business managers that you understand the business. You're not just a technologist, but you can help them achieve their business goals. You've got to be a communicator. The title might get your foot in the door, but you've got to prove yourself."

Dunbar's ultimate career goal is to work for a bigger company, and Dunbar thinks EMS will be that company.

In the meantime, Dunbar maintains an active networking schedule. He's treasurer of the Atlanta chapter of the Society for Information Management, a board member of the Georgia CIO Leadership Association and a member of the Atlanta CEO Council.

"We talk about up-and-coming talent," he says. "I send opportunities out and try to do what I can to help."

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