RSA promotes Chief Digital Officer reporting to CIO

RSA has promoted its Digital and Multi-Channel Director Ian Hood to the new role of Chief Digital Officer, reporting to Group CIO Darren Price at the international insurer.

Starting his new role on January 1, 2015, Hood will be responsible for setting the group’s global digital strategy across design, technology, data analytics and digital marketing.

Price, who was appointed to the RSA executive committee earlier this year, said: “I am pleased to have appointed Ian to my team. Digital technology plays a prominent role in our customers’ lives and to be successful we must ensure that our services and products are simple and easy to use across all the channels our customers want to interact with.

“We’ve achieved a lot in recent years with mobile optimisation, e-trading and the launch of telematics products but there is more to do. This appointment highlights the increased importance of digital to the future success of RSA and will enable greater alignment between IT and Digital and ultimately provide a better service to our customers.”

Hood added: “I am very excited to be taking on this new opportunity. Over the past 20 years, digital technology has evolved rapidly, significantly impacted businesses and the pace and scale of future change is set to be even greater. I look forward to working across the Group to build a best-in-class function which will ensure we remain at the forefront of technology and continue to provide products and services that our customers want.”

Hood will have joint accountability with the Digital Directors in the Group’s core regions of UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Canada and Latin America for the delivery of regional plans.

CIO Price reports to Chief Operating Officer Paul Whittaker, who started at RSA on May 1 this year.