Lou Amato Replaces Mark Popolano as CIO at AIG

I’ve been getting lots of tips about CIO turnover from readers.  One reader informed me that Mark Popolano stepped down as CIO of AIG a couple of weeks ago and that Lou Amato might have replaced him. A call to AIG’s public relations department confirmed this. The spokesperson for AIG told me that Popolano “decided to pursue a career outside of AIG,” and that Amato joined AIG in March 2001 as CIO of its financial services division, which is the position he held prior to his new one.

Another reader told me to watch out for CIO changes at VMware and Brocade Communications. According to this reader, VMware’s acting CIO Jim Ravelli left the provider of virtual infrastructure technology, and the company is in the process of selecting a new CIO. BEA Systems CIO Rhonda Hocker and Jim Healy, the former CIO of Informatica, are supposedly candidates for the CIO job at VMware.  At Brocade, this reader thinks the company’s acquisition of McData is expected to leave the CIO job to either Brocade’s Marti Menacho or McData’s Tim Graumann. I left a voice mail message with a Brocade PR person to see if I could find out more.

A third reader told me that Becky Wanta is allegedly leaving her post with Pepsico. She was hired as the beverage company’s global CTO in September 2003. I e-mailed a PR person with Pepsico this morning to confirm the rumor about Wanta but have not yet heard back.

Finally, a fourth reader is wondering whether Mark Torcos has replaced Karvey Koeppel  as CIO of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Business division. I left a voice mail message for Citigroup PR person based in San Francisco this morning and am waiting for a response.  

Thanks to my readers for all the insightful tips! Keep ‘em comin’!