New CIO at H&R Block

Richard Agar begins his new job as SVP and CIO of H&R Block today. He reports to Mark Ernst, chairman and CEO of the tax preparer, and is a member of the executive team. Agar succeeds Marc West in the CIO role; in April, West moved into a new position as group president of commercial tax markets.

Agar comes to the Kansas City, Mo.-based company from Swiss Re‘s commercial insurance business where he was COO and information technology integration leader. He joined Swiss Re in 2006 after a 23 year tenure at General Electric. He served as global CIO of GE Insurance Soluitions, global CIO of GE Silicones, CTO of GE Plastics, and he held positions in operations management and six sigma during his career with GE. Prior to GE, Agar worked for Berkshire Bank in western Massachusetts and Savings Management Computing Co. in Boston after receiving his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. Agar has come along way since his early days in Boston.

Michel Everaert is leaving his post as CIO of GFI Group‘s e-commerce business on June 30 “to pursue new opportunities in the development and growth of financial technology businesses that are not competitive with GFI’s business,” according to thepress release announcing his departure from the NYC-based securities firm.

Everaert has worked for GFI since 2001, when he joined as global head of product marketing. In 2005 he was named CIO of e-commerce. GFI has no immediate plans to name a replacement for its CIO as several executives will take on Everaert’s responsibilities.