Srinivas Koushik is the first and only enterprise chief technical officer Nationwide has ever had, filling that newly created position when he joined the company in January 2002. Nationwide had an enterprise chief information officer, with line-of-business CIOs reporting to him, but no CTO.

If you think of the CIO as being concerned about what IT is going to accomplish and aligning that with the business needs, then the CTO is concerned about how it is going to get accomplished, Koushik explains. Nationwide, a worldwide carrier based in Columbus, Ohio, has 11 primary business units. One of Koushiks first goals was to hire line-of-business CTOs. Ive hired six excellent ones so far, he says, noting some were recruited from within Nationwides ranks and others from the outside, and hes still hiring. Each one reports directly to his own CIO, he adds, and theres an almost-solid line coming back to me, as well.

Koushik brought a strong technology background and global experience when he joined Nationwide. He earned a bachelor of science in physics and electronics from the University of Madras and a masters degree in computer science from the University of Bombay, both in India. Since moving to Ohio, hes added an MBA from Ohio State University. His 18-year career includes 10 years at IBM, where his final position was architecture and technology executiveAmericas of the Business Innova-tion Services unit at IBM Global Services. IBM designated Koushik as an IBM Distinguished Engineer in 1998 and elected him to the IBM Academy of Technology the next year, a dual honor that has been given to fewer than 250 of IBMs 150,000 technical professionals. Im most proud of that, he says. With two patents pending, Koushik already holds one patent and has co-authored the book Patterns for e-business, available online and elsewhere.