A chief technology officer (or chief technical officer; CTO) is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization. The role became prominent with the ascent of the information technology (IT) industry, but has since become prevalent in technology-based industries of all types (e.g. biotechnology, energy, etc.). As a corporate officer position, the CTO typically reports directly to the chief executive officer (CEO) and is primarily concerned with long-term and "big picture" issues (while still having deep technical knowledge of the relevant field). Depending on company structure and hierarchy, there may also be positions such as director of R&D and vice president of engineering whom the CTO interacts with or oversees. The CTO also needs a working familiarity with regulatory (e.g. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, as applicable) and intellectual property (IP) issues (e.g. patents, trade secrets, license contracts), and an ability to interface with legal counsel to incorporate those considerations into strategic planning and inter-company negotiations.

Padmasree Warrior is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Cisco Systems, and the former CTO of Motorola, Inc.

Padmasree Warrior, was born a Telugu and raised in the city of Vijayawada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India. She went to school at the Children’s Montessori School and Maris Stella College in Vijayawada. Warrior received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1982. She holds masters in chemical engineering from Cornell University and serves as an advisory board member at both schools.

Padmasree Warrior joined Motorola in 1984, as one of only a few women in its Arizona facility. Over the course of her 23 years at the company, serving in a broad range of roles, including as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Motorola’s Energy Systems Group, and as Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in its Semiconductor Products Sector, which later became Freescale Semiconductor. Immediately prior to becoming Motorola’s CTO, she served as general manager of Thoughtbeam, a wholly owned Motorola subsidiary chartered to commercialize Motorola’s GaAs on silicon technology that was developed at the Physical Sciences Research Laboratory in Tempe, Arizona. This position was short-lived, however, because the Thoughtbeam technology was found to be based on erroneous measurements. Her promotion to CTO after this failed venture has been called a "Dilbert moment" by observers in the technology industry. When named Motorola's CTO in January 2003, Warrior became a senior vice president and in 2005 she was promoted to executive vice president.