Former Curtin CIO to join Lotterywest as IT chief

Former Curtin CIO Christian Rasmussen has been named the CIO of Lotterywest, a role he starts in August.

Rasmussen is currently a CIO/COO adviser of BDO Advisory; prior to that consulting role he held the CIO post at Curtin University for over five years.

Rasmussen told CIO Australia at the time of his departure from Curtin University that he was leaving the role to seek a “fresh challenge”. Jason Cowie, formerly of Gartner for five years, took over from Rasmussen as the Curtin CIO.

While at Curtin, Rasmussen led a team of more than 300 professionals that oversaw the improvement of Curtin IT Services (CITS) and Curtin’s learning and teaching technologies.

He was responsible for leading the analysis, development and enhancement of the delivery of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enable the university to achieve its strategic goals.

As reported in CIO Australia, he overhauled the IT services organisation into a “plan, broker, integrate and orchestrate” model, which lead to a higher speed of delivery and a transformed working culture. The group also rid the university of a substantial shadow IT issue, and brought the function closer to other business units.

In his new role as CIO of Lotterywest, based in Perth, Rasmussen will report to the general manager of corporate services.

His key responsibilities will be to provide advice and guidance regarding Lotterywest’s technology: strategy; roadmap; delivery model; methodologies; standards; controls and processes.

He will also be required to provide specialist technical advice on technology issues, trends and opportunities to address strategic business issues.

Essentially, he will lead Lotterywest’s Information Services section in order to provide effective, reliable and user friendly technology for customers, retailers, staff and other stakeholders.

According to Lotterywest, the role has dual responsibilities: front office and back office.

As part of his front office duties, Rasmussen will be tasked with developing, supporting and operating Lotterywest’s core gaming system, networks, databases and infrastructure.

As part of his back office duties, he will be tasked with developing and supporting Lotterywest’s support technology services (business systems, office systems, security systems, websites, portals and applications).

According to Lotterywest, Corporate Services is responsible for the financial, human resource, information, physical and technology related support functions critical to Lotterywest’s operations.

In addition to the support role, the business unit is responsible for overarching financial management, governance, statutory compliance and technology partner for the business critical gaming system.

The business unit comprises six streams: business services; Finance; legal; information services; people and culture; and audit and risk management.