Three British CIOs leading US business technology

British CIOs fill three major business technology leadership roles in the USA following today’s announcement that Target, the second largest discount retailer in the US, has recruited Tesco CIO Mike McNamara.

Mike McNamarais the latest UK CIO to move to the USA following in the footsteps of former Telegraph and News UK CIO Paul Cheesbrough and Maggie Miller.

In late 2014 Maggie Miller, herself a former UK supermarket CIO, became CIO of New York State in December 2014 following a successful career as CIO of Warner Music and the Girl Scouts associations since leaving retail. Miller was CIO of Tesco rivals J Sainsbury’s from 2001 to 2005.

Paul Cheesbroughwas promoted to CTO of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in September 2012 having been CIO of News International from August 2010 and overseeing a difficult time for the publisher of the Sun tabloid and The Times broadsheet newspapers. Cheesbrough joined News UK from the Telegraphy when Australian Murdoch was trying to merge his newspaper empire in the UK with his growing broadcasting business BSkyB, however the Leveson Enquiry into phone hacking by News UK journalists and editors meant the merger could not happen.

US brand giants Nike that manufacture and sell sports clothing also joined in the US spree of recruiting UK CIOs in 2014 when it recruitedBarclays Bank CIO Anthony Watson in February 2014. Watson left Nike in December of the same year.