, 51, was CIO at Austin Energy when he was named a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader in 2006. At the Austin-based electric utility, he helped lead the creation of one of the first smart electric grids in the nation and reported directly to the CEO during the project.

When the CEO post opened up, he threw his hat into the ring. But Carvallo later chose to withdraw when he realized he lacked mandatory experience with utility rate hearings and negotiations.

That set the wheels in motion. "I thought to myself, do I sit here and continue to polish this diamond that we have built, or do I leave and try to polish other diamonds somewhere else?"

Carvallo took a job as a chief strategy officer at Grid Net, a San Francisco company that builds software to run smart electric grids. Then, in May 2011, he joined Proximetry, a San Diego-based vendor of wireless network performance management systems.

As executive vice president for energy solutions and chief strategy officer at Proximetry, Carvallo is in charge of research, strategy planning and execution, marketing and more. "It's a huge change" from his work as a CIO, Carvallo says. "Here, I'm the expert on grids, the technology and the products. I open doors for the company and help with marketing strategy and business development."