Age: 45

Title: CIO, Diageo North America, a subsidiary of Diageo PLC , the world's largest producer of alcoholic beverages. Its brands include Smirnoff, Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Baileys, J&B, Cuervo, Captain Morgan and Tanqueray.

First IT job: A clerk in computer room at Berlex Laboratories Inc. in New Jersey.

Best moments: Developing people and building teams; working with colleagues to drive business change through technical solutions.

Most challenging moments: Keeping up with and ahead of change, both internally and externally. "With the consolidation that's going on in our industry, with the different mergers and acquisitions, there's been a lot of change within the organization, both inside IS and within the business," Carlini says. "Since we're in a regulated industry, we have to make sure that we're following certain rules, especially around social responsibility. That's something that's very top of mind for every employee. We also have a very strict, self-imposed marketing code. We have to make sure, for instance, that we are not allowing people who are under legal drinking age to access our Web site."