House of Fraser has third CIO this year

Retailer House of Fraser has just announced the appointment of Julian Burnett to the role of Chief Information Officer, with effect from 5 October 2015.

Burnett will have responsibility for the continued development of technology led solutions across the business and the integration of business needs with IT strategy and delivery, in line with House of Fraser’s strategy to further develop its multichannel offer, the department store business said in a statement.

The CIO will also be part of the Executive Committee and will report directly to Nigel Oddy, Chief Executive of House of Fraser. Burnett replaces former ASOS CIO Peter Marsden who acted as interim CIO following the departure of Uday Kotla.

Kotla joined the retailer in April 2015 from Infosys, a supplier to House of Fraser, but left again by the summer, providing Marsden with an interim position.  Kotler was Global Head of Technology Consulting at systems integrator Infosys, responsible for enterprise architecture, IT strategy and digital initiatives for customers including Walmart, Adidas and Tesco. Kotler has also worked with Wells Fargo, Visa and Charles Schwab.

Marsden left online fashion retailer Asos in September 2014 having replaced Dan West, who went on to lead IT at New Look.

Burnett has over 25 years’ experience working for consumer facing businesses. He previously held the role of Chief Technology Officer at department store rivals John Lewis from 2012 to 2015. Prior to joining John Lewis, Julian was Chief Technology Officer for supermarket chain Sainsbury’s where he built and led the Technology Planning function with overall responsibility for IT strategy, IT investment and delivery planning, IT architecture and technology innovation.