Mitchell Habib Surfaces at Nielsen (and more)

I apologize for not posting since last Friday. Here’s my excuse: We’re in the process of redesigning and upgrading CIO.com, which involves migrating over 12,000 pieces of content from the current CIO.com to the new CIO.com (which will go live in the not so distant future), and I (and my fellow online editors) spent all day Monday and all day Tuesday tagging 5,000+ pieces of content according to the new CIO.com’s taxonomy. I spent all day yesterday catching up on other responsibilities (monitoring the wires for IT news, writing an e-newsletter, etc.)

I promise to catch you up on all the big CIO job announcements that have come in since then, starting with…Mitchell Habib!

The mysterious Mr. Habib, who left his post as CIO of Citigroup’s North American Consumer Business on November 1, 2006, has resurfaced. An anonymous Movers & Shakers reader posted a comment saying that Habib joined The Nielsen Company as its EVP of Global Business Services. A quick check of Nielsen’s web site reveals a press release March 5, 2007 announcing Habib’s hire. As EVP of Global Business Services, Habib is responsible for all operational (e.g. facilities) and IT functions globally. He reports to Nielsen Chairman and CEO David Calhoun.

Update 10/23/07: CIO Senior Editor Kim S. Nash spoke with Habib about his management style, reputation and approach to transforming IT at Nielsen in this Q&A with him. Also read Senior Editor Stephane Overby’s article about Nielsen’s $1.2 billion outsourcing contract to Tata Consultancy Services.

Ohio University, which was rocked by data breaches in April and May 2006, has hired a new CIO. Brice Bible will join the university on April 16, 2007 and will replace Sean Ostermann, who was appointed interim CIO in December, four months after William Sams, the university CIO who was in charge during the data breaches, stepped down. Bible currently serves as interim CIO and assistant vice president for IT at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. At Ohio University, Bible will be in charge of an $18 million budget, 150 employees, IT infrastructure and security, and the telecom and data networks. He will report directly to university president Roderick McDavis and will serve on the senior administrative cabinet. Ohio University’s student newspaper has an article on Bible’s hire.

Hank Fitchett was promoted from director of IT infrastructure to vice president of infrastructure services at Building Materials Holding Corp. (BMHC) last week. His promotion recognizes the role he has played since he joined the company in April 2005 in executing the IT strategic plan, standardizing the infrastructure and reducing IT costs by over $1 million, according to the press release announcing his hire. In his new role, Fitchett will ontinue executing the IT strategy and streamlining the company’s IT infrastructure. He’ll also continue to report to BMHC SVP and CIO Jeff Lucchesi. Fitchett, 41, worked for Albertson’s before BMHC as its director of IT middleware engineering. Last August, Lucchesi promoted his director of applications, Terrill Rust, to VP of application services.

Partners HealthCare Deputy CIO Mary Finlay was appointed chairwoman of industry asssociation Mass Technology Leadership Council. Finlay is a 2005 Ones to Watch honoree. She has appeared in a few CIO articles including one on IT security and on making a name for oneself, which she most certainly has!