This issue of Cutter IT Journal asks, "Will CIOs be elevated or exterminated?" I would argue that between the opportunity of elevation and the threat of extermination lies the reality of evolution for CIOs as we weather the recession and enter the next decade. Interestingly, the questions about the state of the CIO role are no different than those that were asked nearly 15 years ago in a Yankee Group Report on "The Future of the CIO."¹ The report questioned whether CIOs could help reinvent the business.