Dr. Ken Russell knows first-hand that the responsibilities of CIOs are evolving. With decades of experience developing and implementing organizational change, the fractional CIO is not only aware that innovation has become essential for organizations, but is what CIOs will have to understand for the next generation. Chief Information Officers are transitioning into Chief Innovation Officers, becoming the leaders who will need to navigate through organizational structures. It’ll be important for these leaders to juggle between what Russell shares as “C” words: conversations, collaborations and community. Innovation officers will need to be able to have conversations with leaders and have those conversations turn into collaborations. In turn, these collaborations can turn into commitments and these commitments can turn into communities. The next-generation CIO will be more of a strategist that fleshes out ideas and be able to put them into motion.