Kark believes the number of CIOs who have a traditional technology background is decreasing because it's no longer necessary in an era when third parties are taking over management of IT infrastructure.

Ellen Barry, the former CIO of Chicago's Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, thinks more CIOs may come from other business functions in the future because those individuals will have had more life experience--and thus greater comfort--with technology than previous generations of executives. She points to the omnipresence of technology in the lives of middle- and upper-class kids. Having grown up with technology, they understand its capabilities and will be able to envision innovative ways to use it in business. "They're not intimidated by technology," she says. "If that's the case, we may see more people from the business side coming over."

There are plenty of executive recruiters who see CIOs without IT backgrounds as an aberration.

"There are some non-IT people who become CIOs. They are examples of where IT is broken and needs to be connected to the business, and they help bridge the gap," says Mark Polansky, managing director of Korn/Ferry International's North America Information Technology Officers Center of Expertise. "They are the exceptions and not the rule."

Pappalardo doesn't believe a business executive can simply replace a CIO. "CIOs are facilitating business every day," he says. "Real products, real ideas are going around the globe because of IT, not because of finance or anything else. That's a special talent, and we need more of it."