Biography
Martin "Marty" Curley was born in Ireland and built one of the most influential IT careers of his generation, spending over two decades at Intel. He joined Intel in 1991 and rose to become Vice President and Global CIO, responsible for Intel's worldwide IT infrastructure and strategic technology initiatives. Simultaneously, he founded and led Intel Labs Europe — Intel's research organization in Europe — and became one of the most prominent voices in the global IT leadership community on the subject of innovation management and digital transformation.
Curley developed and championed the concept of "Infinite Potential" IT — the idea that IT organizations should continuously experiment and innovate rather than simply maintaining existing systems. He wrote extensively on innovation management, IT maturity models, and the measurement of IT value, co-authoring several influential frameworks. After Intel, he moved into public service, leading Ireland's Health Service Executive digital transformation and then serving as EU Director General for Digital Innovation, where he was responsible for the European Commission's digital health strategy. His career arc — from corporate CIO to national health CIO to EU digital policy leader — represents one of the broadest impacts any IT executive has achieved beyond a single company. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and has been recognized as one of the most innovative IT leaders globally.
Core Philosophy
Innovation is a discipline, not an accident. Curley has argued consistently that large organizations can systematize innovation — not through inspiration but through process. His Innovation Value Institute framework defines IT maturity across five levels, from basic IT reliability to innovation leadership. His conviction: organizations that measure innovation progress can manage it, and organizations that manage it can accelerate it. Luck is not a strategy.
The CIO must be the Chief Innovation Officer. Curley advocates for CIOs taking ownership not just of IT operations but of their organization's innovation capacity. In an era when technology is the primary enabler of every business model innovation, the CIO who manages the status quo while other people manage innovation has misunderstood the role. The CIO should be in every product development and strategy conversation, not just the infrastructure ones.
Famous Quotes
"Innovation is not what innovators do. It is what organizations do when they have built the right systems, culture, and measurement discipline."— Marty Curley
"The CIO who only manages what exists is protecting the past. The CIO who experiments with what could exist is building the future."— Marty Curley
"Digital health is not about digitizing existing healthcare. It is about reimagining what health means when data, connectivity, and AI are universal."— Marty Curley, on EU digital health
Notable Achievements
- VP and Global CIO at Intel for over two decades — one of the longest-serving CIOs at a major tech company
- Founded and led Intel Labs Europe — Intel's European research organization
- Co-developed the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF) used by hundreds of organizations worldwide
- Author of multiple books on IT innovation management and digital leadership
- Led Ireland's Health Service Executive digital transformation
- EU Director General for Digital Innovation — EU digital health and innovation strategy
- Member of the Royal Irish Academy
- Named one of the most innovative IT executives globally by multiple publications
Lessons for the CIO Suite
Curley's IT-CMF framework: measure your innovation maturity, set targets, and manage progress. Organizations that leave innovation to chance get chance results. Innovation management is a discipline like any other.
Curley ran Intel Labs Europe alongside his CIO role. Internal innovation labs — small, fast, separate from operations — test ideas that production systems cannot. Every large organization should have one, and the CIO is the right sponsor.
Curley's maturity framework measures IT value in revenue, speed, and innovation capacity — not cost reduction and uptime. CIOs who measure what they manage will be managed by what they measure. Choose the right metrics.
Curley's post-Intel work — national health and EU digital — shows that CIO skills (data management, systems thinking, digital transformation) are as valuable in government as in business. The best CIOs think beyond their employer.