New Reporting Structure for CIO and CTO at Qwest

Plus: The Planet and Onvia hire new IT execs.

Qwest Communications yesterday revealed a new reporting structure for its CIO, Girish Varma, and its CTO, Pieter Poll. Effective June 29, 2007, Varma and Poll will begin reporting to Dan Yost, the communications company’s EVP of product management. The two technology executives currently report to EVP of Operations Barry Allen, who is retiring from the company on June 29. Allen’s retirement is the catalyst for the change in reporting relationships.

On Monday, June 4, IT infrastructure hosting provider The Planet announced it had hired Steve Reichert as its vice president of information technology and operations. Reichert reports to the chairman and CEO, Douglas Erwin, and is responsible for software development, IT infrastructure and the management of the company’s six data centers and its global network operations center.

The Planet tapped Reichert for his experience managing data centers and working with end-customers, which the company hopes to leverage as it grows. Reichert joined the Houston-based hosting provider from another IT services provider, InfoCrossing, where he most recently served as its vice president of client services. He also served as InfoCrossing’s VP of service delivery and operational data center support. Previously, Reichert was CIO of Allied Riser Communications and Pagenet. For more information on Reichert, check out the press release The Planet issued.

Eric Gillespie joined Onvia, a provider of government sales intelligence for companies that want to milk the cash cow that is American government (whoops, did I say that? I know, it’s mean and unfair to all the hard-working civil servants. I apologize for the shameless dig.) CIO. In his new role as CIO, Gillespie is responsible for developing and implementing a strategic technology plan for the company that will reduce both business and IT costs and support the company’s products and growth.

Gillespie joined Onvia from The Patent Board, a company he founded in 2004. He most recently served as The Patent Board’s EVP and COO. Prior to The Patent Board, he was vice president and managing director at The SBI Group (formerly Scient) and previously held senior leadership positions at Sears Roebuck and Company, Computer Sciences Corporation and IBM.