Norfolk Southern CIO Takes COO Job at Canadian Pacific

Plus: New CIOs at Oildex, Community Bankshares, DriveCam and more.

Canadian Pacific railroad hired Norfolk Southern‘s CIO as its new EVP and COO. Kathryn McQuade joins Calgary-based Canadian Pacific on June 1. She will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and integration between the railway’s operations, information technology and strategic sourcing groups. Brock Winter, Canadian Pacific’s SVP of operations; Allen Borak, the VP of business information and technology; and Jonathan Legg, the vice president of strategic sourcing, will all report to the new EVP. McQuade currently works for Norfolk Southern in Virginia as the company’s EVP of

planning and CIO. McQuade has more than 26 years of senior management experience with the North American railway industry.

First Niagra Financial Group appointed its CIO as interim EVP of consumer banking. Frank Polino replace Michael Gianquinto in the consumer banking role. Polino has been working for First Niagra since 1999. Michael MacKay, the bank’s first VP of operations, is taking over IT management responsibilities from Polino until the company hires a permanent leader for its consumer banking group.

Oildex hired a CIO to serve as a senior product manager for the company. Claude Joseph joined the provider of e-payment services for the energy industry from Venoco, a natural gas production company, where he was CIO. Joseph was hired for his experience with high-growth energy companies and for his knowledge of the industry. Peter Flanagan, Oildex’s president, referred to his company’s recruitment of Joseph as a “coup” in the press release announcing Joseph’s hire.

Jason Starnes joined Community Bankshares as its EVP and CIO. He is based at the company’s headquarters in Orangeburg, S.C. Starnes, a native South Carolinian, previously worked for The South Financial Group, most recently as its director of data

delivery. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in MIS. 

DriveCam hired three new IT leaders last week. Tom Fisher joined the driver risk management company as its VP and CIO, and Arvind Gidwani and David Hock were hired as senior IT directors.

Fisher most recently worked for Qualcomm, where he was VP of IT for its CDMA Technologies business unit. Prior to Qualcomm, he worked for eBay as its acting CTO and vice president of architecture and technology strategy; for Gateway Computers as its chief

architect and VP of global architecture, security and vendor management.

Gidwani also comes to DriveCam from Qualcomm. He worked for the telecom for six years as its chief IT architect. Hock most recently worked for Starcut USA as its vice president of technology and founding partner.

PR firm Ketchum elected two IT executives to its management team: Andy Roach, its SVP, CIO and B2B technology practice leader and Esty Pujadas, Ketchum’s SVP and director of its global technology practice. railroad’s CIO as its new EVP and COO. replaces