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After completing a digital transformation as the CIO of American Cancer Society, Jay Ferro left for ISP EarthLink in 2016 as CIO and chief product officer, overseeing both IT and the company’s enterprise product strategy. Ferro began working with then CEO Joe Eazor on a turnaround strategy in which he helped build enterprise products.
But later that year EarthLink merged with Windstream, and Ferro was offered a role at the combined company that no longer included purview over product. He declined the role and is now CIO of TransPerfect. "The direction of the organization just wasn't what I was interested in," Ferro tells CIO.com.
On average, CIOs exit companies every 4 years. As with Ferro, a CIO’s departure is often spurred by broad changes in corporate strategy or role. CIOs also exit because they can’t shake free the budget they require or they find their strategy de-emphasized. And sometimes CIOs leave because they don't mesh with the corporate culture, or fail to get their jobs done.
As businesses move more swiftly in the digital era, the CIO carousel is likely to spin faster for those who fail to execute digital transformations. There is no empirical evidence that this is the case — yet. Most enterprises are still formulating their digital strategies, so it may be too early for CIOs to fail. But with the stakes so high, it’s bound to happen.
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“I have seen a fair amount of churn, but not necessarily more," says Chris Patrick, global CIO practice leader at Egon Zehnder. “The job is getting...