Government CIOs Have More Clout, Shorter Terms

Government chief information officers stay in their positions one year less on average than their private sector peers, according to new research by Gartner.

The government-specific results of a worldwide CIO survey, which included 398 public sector CIOs from all tiers of government, found that the average tenure of a government CIO is 3.8 years, compared to an average of 4.8 years across all other industries.

In addition, most government CIOs have responsibilities outside of information technology, spanning areas like business, management and finance. Seventy-six percent of CIOs surveyed said they have significant leadership responsibilities outside of IT, with only 24 percent having no responsibilities outside of IT.