Ace is the place, especially if you're looking for home hardware in the U.S. or in Saudi Arabia. And no one knows this better than Paul Ingevaldson. After a 25-year with Ace Hardware, Ingevaldson retired as CIO and senior vice president of international and technology for the $3 billion dollar global hardware wholesaler. Its more than 5,000 retail hardware stores do $12 billion in annual sales. Ingevaldson was responsible for Ace's IT needs for the entire corporation, including the retail stores in more than 70 countries. Of his many accomplishments, Ingevaldson is most proud of having become an officer of the company, heavily automating all aspects of the retail operation, and having the full corporation of executive management to align IT with the business. He attributes much of his success in these areas to a stint where he moved out of IT and handled distribution for Ace Hardware. He says, "The experience enabled me to see IT from the user's perspective. I realized that we had to spend more time training people how to interact with IT."

Since his retirement, Ingevaldson has written a variety of tutorial IT management articles for both CIO and Computerworld. His topics have covered everything from improving governance to delegating authority. He also has cranked out many articles about how CIOs should report to CEOs. In fact, his article, IT Cheat Sheet for CEOs, helps a CIO to explain the mechanics of IT to a new CEO.

Ingevaldson says that there are many reasons why it's important for CIOs to report directly to CEOs, than CFOs, and to be on the executive leadership team as a peer with CFOs. He says, "When it comes to corporate funds, CFOs take a risk adverse position. If you want to move the company forward through automation, then IT has to assume certain risks. If IT isn't willing to take a chance, then it will be a follower. If you work for a CFO, you have to go into much detail about every aspect of IT. Most of all, you aren't a peer with the rest of the leadership team. I'd never take a CIO position reporting to a CFO."

In this podcast, Ingevaldson talks more about why it's important for CIOs to sit at the corporate leadership table, and how they can maintain their place at this table.

Bio

In 1979, Paul Ingevaldson began his 25-year career at Ace Hardware as director of management information systems. He moved up the ranks to become Ace Hardware's chief information officer and senior vice president of international and technology. In 2004, he retired from the $3 billion corporation, but he didn't retire from IT. Ingevaldson writes IT management articles for both Computerworld and CIO magazine.

Resources

Computerworld  - IT Survival Guide

CIO  - How Do You Know You Delegate Enough?

CIO  - Five Things I Learned After I Retired

Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive  Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio  Producer
Doug Marcis - Audio Editing