Salesforce.com Hires Former Siebel CTO

Score one point for Salesforce.com: In the CRM on-demand wars, Salesforce.com chalks up a point for hiring a new CTO from nemesis Siebel. The employee in question, one Bernard Pech, is charged with developing higher-end capabilities and drawing in enterprise level customers, according to Computer Business Review. Pech worked as Siebel’s CTO for seven years. 

File this next announcement under: Don’t Send Your Resume To This Company…Bassam Fawaz will be leaving his post as SVP of worldwide operations and CIO of marketing services firm EMAK Worldwide at the end of the month.  I don’t know the details surrounding Fawaz’s imminent departure, but given the fact that EMAK announced a restructuring last December and given that the press release mentioning Fawaz also references streamlining the company’s management structure, consolidating functions and driving out costs, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think Fawaz is being restructured out of a job. What do you think? Ya think EMAK is eliminating the CIO post to cut costs, just as they did with the CFO post a few months ago?  Use the feedback form to speculate.

Here’s another interesting press release I came across today: RehabCare Group hired Jay Shreiner as its new SVP and CFO.  Shreiner is definitely a finance guy, but he did once serve as CIO of Kellogg.  RehabCare’s CIO, Natasha Hawkins, will report directly to Shreiner once he starts on March 27.  I ask you, dedicated readers, is Shreiner’s stint as a CIO a good thing or a bad thing for Hawkins?  Use the feedback form to elaborate.  Please.