21st Century CIO

Catherine Brune is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Allstate Insurance Company. As CIO, Catherine is responsible for enterprise-wide technology strategy, network infrastructure, enterprise applications and technology-related governance, security and compliance activities.

Under her leadership, Allstate developed an enterprise-wide business-aligned technology strategy, created a virtual data center environment, developed best-in-class monitoring systems for its Web operations, consolidated knowledge management processes, and brought an enterprise focus to information security and business resumption platforms while generating efficiency gains.

When asked how Catherine felt the CIO's role has changed in recent years, Brune responded, 'There's a lot of media hyper around technology driven innovation but those operational aspects should be considered as equally important as the daily business activities CIOs normally attend to.'

Concerning innovation, Brune finds, 'Innovation is changing the way we think and work. We?re learning that you can't wait for all of the bells and whistles to be in place before testing or you'll miss your opportunity. You have to be willing to make mistakes and get to market quicker.'