CIOs who are really serious about senior management, and who might be positioning themselves for the ultimate brass ring at the helm of an enterprise might want to take a page from the book of Doreen Wright, CIO of the Campbell Soup Company. She is on the front end of what may prove to be a key trend in the strategic positioning of the CIO role: She has been sitting on the board of directors of several companies for the past decade and a half. 

In the process, Wright has made a ton of influential contacts, and developed a perspective on business that you just don't get from the network operations center. But the benefits don't just run in one direction. Most people invited to sit on independent boards are veterans of the corporate world, who have been brought in to share their decades of wisdom with the companies that they advise and oversee. With the average age well over 60, the boards do not often get a chance to get a first hand account of the role technology plays in the strategic operations of a company, and the impact that investments in IT can have on shareholder value.

For more on whether you should consider a board seat:
- read the article [1] in CIO