Off the Cuff: Professional Association of Diving Instructors

Off the Cuff: Professional Association of Diving Instructors

Sharon Dill

AGE: 47

TITLE: CIO

COMPANY: Professional Association of Diving Instructors, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

ANNUAL REVENUE: $70 million

INDUSTRY SECTOR: Education/recreation

TIME IN JOB: Five years

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: Integrity is what you do when no one is looking.

FROM WHOM: A fortune cookie

WORST JOB EVER HAD: A swimming instructor. Teaching 2-year-olds how to swim when they couldn't keep their orange juice down was a challenge.

BEST CAREER MOVE: Getting my MBA with a focus on IT. It helped solidify that I was serious about this career.

IF YOU WEREN'T A CIO, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING: I would have gotten a Ph.D. in sports medicine and would do something in the health industry.

BEST TECHNOLOGY DECISION: Implementing a CRM system called E-synergy from Exact Software because it allows us as a global company to have one place to go for all our information.

LAST BUSINESS BOOK YOU READ: Ideas Are Free by Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder

FAVORITE PASTIME: Swimming

TECHNOLOGY YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT: An iPod. I can't clean my house without it.

Megan Santosus, a former senior editor at CIO Decisions, is now a features editor for SearchDataCenter.com. Write to her at msantosus@techtarget.com.

This was first published in September 2006