Managers may or may not need to be very technical. It depends on their role and the business you are in.

CIOs certainly need to be technical and experienced in a number of technical capacities (development, network management, operations management, competitors offerings) but, as importantly, need to understand the business and the business' long term objectives. CIOs also need to be effective leaders and understand the political landscape.

Good luck.

While I am also an aspiring CIO, I am currently in a management position (at a Fortune 500 company) and have people reporting to me. Here is some advice from my management-level perspective.

What I can recommend is making an effort to help solve the business problems other departments have by applying technical solutions, where necessary and applicable. If you are approached for help by one of the other departments (sales, finance, marketing, etc.), you can really become a "go to" person if you go above and beyond the call of duty and make their lives easier with the use of technology.

While I'm not sure what type of engineer you are, it's hard to give any further specifics. I have found that recommending/suggesting ideas involving technology that will help capture market share, give a competitive advantage, or improve existing business processes will be a homerun for nearly any department.

Your ideas that went to the CIO were a good start, I would also make an effort to making yourself known in other departments as much as possible. For example, in my position, I am responsible for managing web development and internet marketing but am now getting other departments coming to me for help with other technical solutions that don't directly relate to the web. Being a "go to" person is about delivering a working solution when departments/employees come to you with a problem, but also identifying and solving problems that others may not see. People will want to get you more involved in their projects early on if you can bring that strategic element -- rather than leaving you to get involved until the very end (and making you wonder why they made the choices they did...if only had been involved early on, you could have provided better direction!).

Your manager should also be helping you plan a career path. The next logical step is to be promoted to a management level where you can begin to develop and demonstrate your management capabilities (i.e. managing people). If you have not already discussed this and your career aspirations, then definitely make a point to cover the topic at your next review. Good luck and don't get discouraged about current managers not knowing enough about technology -- you'll get that in any business.