CIO Announcements re: Bipin Patel, Fran Dramis, Ramon Baez and more

Bipin Patel, Ford Motor Company’s North American CIO, is retiring from the company on March 1, 2007. He has worked for Ford for 26 years and is a member of the Information Technology Global Operating Committee. Prior to moving into his current role, Patel served as the director of North American IT business operations for Ford from December 2004 to December 2006. In that capacity he oversaw information technology for product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and service operations.  He also previously led the creation of Ford’s application development service in Chennai, India.  From December 1999 to November 2003, Patel oversaw the launch of Ford’s global intranet as well as IT development and support for HR, healthcare, finance and accounting as director of management systems. Before joining Ford North America, Patel was IT manager for Asia Pacific Operations. He joined Ford in Europe in 1981 as an undergraduate trainee. 

Fran Dramis, who left his job in the aftermath of AT&T’s purchase of BellSouth, joined the board of directors of RealOps, a provider of IT process automation software. Dramis most recently served as BellSouth’s chief information, e-commerce and security officer. He held that post for eight years, after joining BellSouth as its CIO in 1998. For more on Dramis’s career, see the press release RealOps issued announcing his election to its board.

Puffs tissue maker Kimberly-Clark hired Ramon Baez as its new vice president of information technology services and CIO. Baez most recently worked for Thermo Fisher Scientific, a manufacturer and distributor of scientific research instruments, supplies and services, as its CIO. He didn’t stay in the CIO post at Thermo Fisher Scientific for very long, having joined in September 2005. Prior to that, he was CIO and VP of IT at Honeywell International Automation and Control Solutions Group. He began his career with Northrop Grumman.

Jeff Zon is the new CIO at outdoor gear retailer REI.

Diet program Jenny Craig tapped a veteran of the education industry as its vice president of information services and CIO.  Shoukry Tiab (at left) is one of a number of new executives the diet program has recently hired. Before joining Jenny, Tiab had a short stint with Alliant International University as its CIO. From October 2000 through June 2006, he worked for New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in different positions, including vice president and CIO. He previously worked for International Education Corporation for eight years, including four years as its CIO.

Steven Van Wyk, ING U.S. Financial Services’ CIO, hired Dave Schoenholz as the company’s new head of infrastructure services. In that role, Schoenholz is responsible for the corporate technology infrastructure across ING Insurance Americas. He previously worked for General Electric for 12 years in a variety of IT management positions, most recently as its global leader of infrastructure operations for its infrastructure shared services organization. Prior to joining General Electric in 1994, Schoenholz worked for PepsiCo in a variety of roles. He also worked for Arthur Andersen as a senior consultant.

CRM software provider RightNow Technologies hired Laef Olson as its CIO. Olson most recently managed global hosting operations for Orbitz as the online travel company’s group vice president of global technology operations. He previously served as CTO of cars.com and as a vice president at Chase Bank.