Former Trump CIO Joins Isle of Capri Casinos as Pres. and COO

Isle of Capri Casinos snatched up Virginia McDowell, the former EVP and CIO of Trump Entertainment Resorts. She lost her job with Trump in early July in what appeared to be a cost-cutting move.  McDowell begins her bigger (and hopefully better) job as president and COO of the St. Louis, Mo.-based casino company on July 30, 2007.

McDowell has 26 years of experience in the gaming industry. She’s worked in sales, marketing, operations and IT. Before joining Trump Entertainment Resorts, she worked for Argosy Gaming Company for eight years, rising from vice president of sales and marketing to SVP of operations.

McDowell wasn’t the only former Trump exec Isle of Capri picked up this week. The company also added James Perry, Trump’s former CEO, to its board of directors.

The Associated Press reported yesterday  that voice-over-IP phone service provider SunRocket suddenly closed up shop. This shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, given the 30 employees the Vienna, Va.-based company laid off at the end of June and the two executives it dismissed (including the CIO, Robert Kramer) the same day.   

Risk management consulting firm Kroll hired Jeff Kubacki as its new CIO. Kubacki most recently worked for Ecolab. He joined the cleaning products company in 2002 and served as its VP of IT business operations and vice president of global operations.  He was the 12th person to take charge of IT at Ecolob in 20 years. Ecolab has a history of high CIO turnover, which we wrote about in 2004.  Kubacki received a computer science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the University of South Florida. He also attended West Point Military Academy.

CRM Holdings named Richard Ackermann CIO of its Compensation Risk Managers and Majestic Insurance Co. subsidiaries yesterday. Ackermann has 25 years of experience managing IT in the insurance industry. He spent the last six years of his career with One Beacon Insurance. He also previously worked for CNA Insurance.

Mark Yelcick started a new job with OnCourse Systems for Education as its CIO on Monday. Yelcick’s professional background is different from most CIOs: He began his career in 1987 as an accountant with Deloitte & Touche responsible for audit engagements and training staff

in newly developed audit software. He later served as Hahnemann University’s director of finance before starting Polaris Consulting and Information Technologies. Yelcick most recently served as CTO of another company he started, Infinity Technology Partners/Altara. The Summa Cum Laude graduate of UPenn’s Wharton business school earned his bachelor of science degree in economics.