Aidan Coleman moving to Scentre Group

Aidan Coleman is leaving his post as CTO at property group Charter Hall and moving across to Scentre Group in the new role of general manager, tech platforms.

Coleman has been at Charter Hall since May 2014 and will now report to director, technology, Richard Webby at Scentre, which owns and operates Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand. Webby, a former Walt Disney Company senior executive, joined Scentre earlier this year.

Coleman told CIO Australia that it’s exciting to be joining Scentre at a time when the impact of digital technology and disruption is such a key strategic focus for the company as it prepares for the future state of retail in ANZ.

“In my role as GM, technology platforms, I assume responsibility for technology architecture and platforms across the group, covering all back-end and customer-facing infrastructure and applications, with a distinct focus on agility, scale and customer experience,” Coleman said.

Coleman said his initial focus will be to work with Webby, the technology team and broader business to institute a holistic architecture and technology strategy that enables Scentre to capitalise on technologies such as cloud, agile development, e-commerce, customer-centric design, AI and machine learning. Other areas of focus will include the blockchain, virtual assistants, video analytics, and the Internet of Things.

“An additional priority will be to enable innovation and new business development through leading the definition of software and data platforms and the underlying cloud, DevOps and systems platforms to transition emerging technologies into production and continue Scentre’s digital transformation,” Coleman said.

Scentre has been broadening its digital capabilities. In 2016, the company created Westfield Retail Solutions to build on the work done by Westfield Labs, a global innovation hub created out of San Francisco in 2012.

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