The answer came from his CIO lunch colleagues, who formed the Voluntary Technology Advisory Committee. "We offered advice and used equipment, we engaged vendors and used our collective leverage to get the aquarium favorable prices, and we helped them hire their CIO," says DeRodes.

The CIO volunteers' companies became a virtual pool of IT expertise for the aquarium, he says. "A [group] member would say, 'Let me take this issue; I have someone on my staff who's an expert in that space.'"

Community culture

Atlanta has a special culture of community at several levels, the CIOs say. "I was in Washington and New York a lot when I was CIO at Solomon Bros. and Citibank and Bankers Trust," Dramis says. "What I found here was a really good collaborative spirit with people who loved the community and had a good sense of the company's importance to the community. There really is a genuine interest in sharing information and helping each other."

Dramis stops short of saying Atlanta is unique in this regard among U.S. cities, but he does say, "Atlanta is a big small city. The community and its companies are woven together."