A chief technical officer or chief technology officer (abbreviated as CTO) is an executive position whose holder is focused on scientific and technical issues within an organization. Essentially, a CTO is responsible for the transformation of capital- be it monetary, intellectual, or political- into technology in furtherance of the company's objectives.
The title is most typically found in organizations which significantly develop or exploit information technology.
Contents
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* 1 Typical responsibilities
* 2 Contrast with Chief Information Officer
* 3 Genesis of the CTO role
* 4 CTO of the United States
* 5 References
[edit] Typical responsibilities
Hell if I know. You know, when Bill [Gates] and I were discussing my taking this job, at one point he said, 'Okay, what are the great examples of successful CTOs?' After about five minutes we decided that, well, there must be some, but we didn't have on the tip of our tongues exactly who was a great CTO, because many of the people who actually were great CTOs didn't have that title, and at least some of the people who have that title arguably aren't great at it. My job at Microsoft is to worry about technology in the future. If you want to have a great future you have to start thinking about it in the present, because when the future's here you won't have the time.
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