The cheekiest CIO announcement ever

CIO announcements don’t get more cheeky than this:  Playboy Enterprises, that celebration of T&A, announced today that it hired a new SVP and CIO.  Who’s the lucky stiff, you ask?  His name is Mark Laudenslager.  And I’ll bet he only reads Playboy for the articles…and to know the business, of course, as we so often advise at CIO magazine. 

Laudenslager, 41, reports to Playboy’s EVP and CFO, Linda Havard.  He joined the Chicago-based media and “entertainment” company from—of all places—Disney!  I couldn’t help but snort when I read that. He spent three years as vice president of technical operations at Walt Disney Internet Group. Prior to Disney, Laudenslager was VP of operations at ServerVault, a hosted provider of business applications.  He also previously worked for Capital One as head of its e-business infrastructure.   ServerVault and Capital One must be complete snores compared to his new environment. 

Laudenslager says in the press release announcing his hire that he’s “excited” about becoming a member of “the Playboy team.”  Naturally!

I’m curious to know if Laudenslager is married and if so, what his wife thinks about this job.  If he’s not, does he fancy himself a playboy?  Has he met Hugh or partied at the infamous mansion?  Does he get to set IT strategy in silk jammies?  And what does getting to know the business really mean at Playboy?  Feel free to submit questions you’d like me to ask him in the comment field below.  I’ll try to set up an interview with him, and if I do, I’ll post it here.