New CIOs at Ameristar Casinos, Kinetic Concepts and more

Ameristar Casinos officially welcomed Sheleen Quish to the company as its CIO on June 28. Quish had been serving as Ameristar’s interim CIO since January. She works with CEO John Boushy, the former CIO of Harrah’s Entertainment. 

Gaming is a new industry for Quish, who previously worked in manufacturing, healthcare and insurance. She brings 15 years of IT management experience and 20 years of marketing and operations experience to her new role. Most recently, she created the CIO-at-Large title for herself as a consultant helping companies with business process re-engineering, IT department transformation, and rescuing troubled IT projects. Previously, she served as VP and global CIO of US Can Company; SVP of insurance operations and IT with Unitrin’s Life & Health Division; EVP of corporate planning and information services with affinity marketing firm The Signature Group; SVP of consultancy Bricker Associates; and EVP at Southeastern Mutual Insurance Company. For information on Quish’s many accomplishments, check out the press release Ameristar Casino’s issued about her. Also check out some of Quish’s writing for CIO: The New Glass Ceiling and How U.S. Can Built Its Global IT Shop.

Charles “Chuck” Christopherson was asked to take on the CIO role in addition to his role as CFO of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He was appointed to the CIO post because of his “get-it-done and get-it-done-right” attitude, according to the press release. Christopherson has served as the USDA’s CFO since his Senate confirmation on November 10, 2005.  USDA Deputy CIO Jerry Williams will report to him. Christopherson earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, an MBA from the Oregon Executive MBA program, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Washington.

David Ramsey left his post as CIO of PSS World Medical to join Kinetic Concepts as its SVP and CIO. In his new position, Ramsey reports to the medical technology company’s CEO, Catherine Burzik, and is a member of the executive committee. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Montana State University and has completed many executive education programs in IT and finance.

South Carolina Bank and Trust EVP and CIO Rodney Overby promoted one of his direct reports to senior vice president. Michael King joined the bank in

2001 as a network manager and was promote to VP and systems manager in 2004. “Mike’s dedication and hard work are evident in everything that he does. His leadership and expertise are assets to our IT team,” said the CIO in a statement.

My colleague Esther Schindler has posed a tricky question in her latest Your the Boss! blog entry. She wants to know how you as a hiring manager would answer a pointed–and potentially controversial–question from a sought-after candidate about your company. To get you thinking, she presents a thorny but important question a real-life candidate asked about the prospective company’s inability to retain female executives. Read the post, and tell her how you’d respond.