Are CIOs The New CEOs In The Making?
CIO, Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026
With the levers CIOs have at their disposal now, it's expectation, not just ambition, to eventually secure the top spot in the organization. But the path isn't always evenly paved.
We've already seen people like Tim Buckley, former Vanguard CEO, and Thaddeus Arroyo, former chief executive of AT&T's business and consumer arms, ascend to the top from their CIO posts. But that trajectory may no longer be exceptional, with some experts positioning the CIO as the new CEO-in-waiting.
'I don't think it's ever been a better time to be a CIO,' said Anjali Shaikh, Deloitte's US tech C-suite programs leader, who's been analyzing this space since 2009. 'Technology fits a big part of how organizations are thinking about their revenue streams. CIOs today influence revenue, workforce strategy, operating models, and AI. Most importantly, they think about risk, which has really strong parallels to other C-suite members.'