Top IT executives are cherishedby their companies today. Over the years, they've beenforced to demonstrate their value. Many have risen to the occasion;others did not.

It is easy to find the companies with good IT leaders—they arethe successful companies.

Successful IT leaders have grown hand-in-hand with thetechnology solutions that enable insurance carriers to achievesuccess in their market. It is possible for companies to havesuccess with good technology in place and less than adequateleadership, but success is even more likely when you have good ITleaders in place.

That's because good IT leaders prove every day that they canbring value to carriers even while working with antiquated systems.The right combination of leadership and technology sets companiesapart, though, and that's what the five executives we are featuringas the 2011 Insurance IT All-Stars have in common.

2011Insurance IT All-Star: Judith Haddad

Judith Haddad knows there is a specificgoal in mind for Patriot National Insurance Group, aworkers' comp carrier located in Florida.

“We want to think of premier solutions and be creative when itcomes to our industry”, she says.

2011Insurance IT All-Star: Larry Fortin

Larry Fortin believes many changes are in store for IT leadersover the next five years, but given the insurance industry's marketcycle and the normal domestic economic cycle, speculation on thosechanges amounts to simply guesswork.

2011Insurance IT All-Star: John Campbell

The pace of change in technology is faster than at any time inJohn Campbell's 35-year career as an IT leader. To address thebrave new world of insurance IT, Campbell, senior vice presidentand CIO of American Modern Insurance Group, feels it is importantto have what he calls “vision-inspired leadership.”

2011Insurance IT All-Star: Joan Falcetta

Joan Falcetta has held a variety of positions within the IToperations of MetLife over her 23-year career with the financialservices leader—both on the technical side and in leadershippositions—but of the technical roles the one she loved the most wasthat of a data architect.

2011Insurance IT All-Stars: Carlos Correa

Carlos Correa may not be the first person who asked thequestion, but in a varied career that has crossed from finance tooperations and finally to IT, he says he still wonders, “Do peoplereally pick insurance or do you kind of just go there?”

For a look pack at previous Insurance IT All stars here are thefeatures from 2007,2008, 2009,and 2010.