AGE: 30
TITLE: Senior director, procurement and technology
COMPANY: Houston Astros Baseball Club
ANNUAL REVENUE: $200 million
INDUSTRY SECTOR: Entertainment (professional sports)
TIME IN JOB: Six years
BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else.
FROM WHOM: My dad
BEST CIO DECISION EVER MADE: Bringing knowledge in-house. When we work with vendors, we make sure we understand how everything works together or how they resolved a problem. This has reduced our costs tremendously.
IF YOU WEREN'T A CIO, YOU WOULD BE: In sales
FIRST JOB: Winn-Dixie grocery sacker (at age 13)
FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE: Food
GOLF HANDICAP: Terrible
LAST BUSINESS BOOK YOU READ: Winning by Jack Welch
BEST PERSONALITY TRAIT: I will not be denied.
WORST PERSONALITY TRAIT: My wife would say I'm hardheaded, but she hasn't convinced me.
WHY YOU WENT INTO TECHNOLOGY: I believed that it would open doors. I knew business leaders wouldn't be extremely interested in what a 24-year-old right out of college had to say about business issues, but I believed they would listen to what I had to say about technical issues.
FAVORITE PASTIME: Baseball, of course!
Stefanie McCann was formerly editor at large at CIO Decisions magazine. To comment on this story, email editor@searchcio-midmarket.com.
This was first published in May 2006