Whitbread CIO Andrew Brothers checks out of role

Whitbreadhave confirmed IT director Andrew Brothers has left the multinational hotel, restaurant and coffee shop company.

Brothers, who moved to the Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owners from IBM in 2005, has been group IT director and CIO since August 2009 and was praised in this year’s edition of the CIO 100 for championing mobile technology strategy at the organisation.

Group CIO at Tetley tea owner Tata Global Beverages, Julia Warrack, has been named interim director of information systems and takes over the IT estate behind 50,000 hotel rooms, 1,600 Costa Coffee shops and restaruant chain Beefeater.

Previously Brothers spent 10 years working in operations roles at Sainsbury’s, whose IT director Rob Fraser is stepping down in April. Brothers said in a 2010 CIO profileWhitbread was running a majority-outsourced IT operation with his estate looking at innovations that could add value to the customer.