His calendar on one autumn Monday lists eight meetings, but his day begins long before the first one, scheduled for 9 o'clock.

5 a.m.

Popolano departs from his New Jersey home for AIG's headquarters on Pine Street in New York. On other days, he might commute to AIG's office in Jersey City, N.J., or to the company's data center in Livingston, N.J. Through the magic of voice over IP, one telephone number locates him at any of his three offices.

6 a.m.

Popolano reads and answers e-mail, then reviews information from the prior night's data center activity, including application upgrades, patch deployments, security issues, remediation work and telecommunications updates. He prepares for the day's meetings by reading reports that staff members have prepared. On some mornings, Popolano holds 7:30 a.m. breakfast meetings, either with external technology vendors or with his staff. He sometimes schedules "meet the CIO" sessions where a hundred or so of his employees can query him about strategies or standards.