Tony Karrer TechEmpower Tony Karrer, chief executive officer and CTO of TechEmpower, has a little different take on the job. He’s not beholden to developing and building upon technology for just one company; he’s CTO of multiple firms. “Most firms have a great idea and need help,” said Karrer, who has a doctorate degree in computer science, adding he works with large and small business to build software and Web technology from the ground up and/or expand upon existing technology. The company, which has 18 employees, specializes in Web, software, and database development; creation of online training programs; consulting for how to use technology to drive human performance; and boosting the quality of a company’s Internet portal for channel partners. “I normally work with companies for several years, but it goes in bursts,” said Karrer. He first consults clients on the type of technology they’re interested in building and then brings in his development team to work on the nuts and bolts. Karrer works with an average of five companies at a time and takes on two or three new clients each year. He was CTO for the first four years of the marriage matching site, eharmony.com. Founders hired the company to develop a Web application that could utilize and monetize a decade’s worth of research about human compatibility. The heart of the site is a psychometric matching algorithm that surpasses other sites in terms of match quality, according to TechEmpower. “I know that if they say they’ll get something done, it will get done even if they have to push hard to do it,” said Greg Forgatch, co-founder and former CEO of eharmony.com, in a testimonial. The eHarmony site has since grown to be one of the most popular matchmaking tools on the Web. Universal Music Publishing Group hired Karrer and company to meld four separate song libraries so staff could locate, listen to, and retrieve songs from a collection of more than 800,000 published works, then transfer songs and pitch them to potential licensees. TechEmpower built DEMI, the “Digital Enterprise Media Infrastructure,” to link the client’s libraries in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Nashville. The technology includes three Web-based applications and a Visual Basic application that work together. “It’s not about technical expertise. Everybody has that. It’s just the ticket for admission. Tony knows how to manage a project and how to turn knowledge into real, useful action,” said George Rivera, former director of New Media Technologies for Universal Music Publishing, in a testimonial. The role of CTO has become more complex since Karrer founded El Segundo-based TechEmpower. He said the increased popularity of social networking, iPhones and a host of other tech advances have upped the ante and the possibilities. “There’s ever increasing expectations of delivering more with less,” he said. The current state of the economy and more companies outsourcing work to other countries have added to the change. “But I think that’s a lot of what makes it interesting,” said Karrer. Outside of TechEmpower, Karrer organizes a monthly CTO forum in Santa Monica, where 80 software and Web CTOs from the greater Los Angeles area gather for a roundtable discussion and lecture. He also blogs about CTO issues in Southern California. Karrer said there are common traits in this unique brand of executive. “A lot of CTOs are the good communicators within the technology nerd group,” he said. “This group (referring to the forum in Santa Monica) and others are also highly entrepreneurial, starting their own companies or being involved with other start-ups.”