Xerox Taps Strategy Exec for CIO Post

Plus: New CIOs at Columbia Bancorp, Behringer Harvard, TRX and more! 

Happy New Year Devoted Movers & Shakers readers!  I am so sorry I haven’t updated the page since December.  I’ve feebly trying to catch up on the post-vacation work onslaught over the past two-and-a-half days. I’m happy to report that I don’t think I missed any announcements about CIOs taking new jobs while I was on vacation last week.  But as the new year commences, the newswires are buzzing once again with press releases from companies hiring and promoting IT leaders.  With that, I give you the low-down…

Xerox yesterday announced that it named John McDermott (at left) its new CIO.  He replaces Patricia Cusick, who retired last year.  McDermott, 53, has worked for the Stamford, Conn.-based document company since August 2002.  Most recently, he served as Xerox’s vice president of corporate strategy and alliances.  His first position with the company was as its head of strategy, responsible for leading strategic management processes and development activities.  The fact that McDermott possesses this strategic planning background, I think, underscores the strategic nature of the CIO role at Xerox.  For more on McDermott, check out the press release.

After just eight months on the job, Stephen Heinmiller was officially promoted on Jan. 1 from VP of IT to SVP of IT at Tuesday Morning Corp., a closeout home furnishings retailer. Heinmiller, 56, succeeds Richard Nance in the top IT spot at the Dallas-based company. Nance retired as CIO at the end of December 2006 after 13 years with the company. Heinmiller reports to Michael Marchetti, Tuesday Morning’s EVP and COO.  Prior to joining Tuesday Morning in April 2006, he worked for MBNA as its first vice president of application development.  No stranger to retail, Heinmiller previously worked for Foot Locker, Montgomery Ward, Melville, Filene’s and Federated Department Stores.

Christine Herb has risen to the CIO ranks.  The former director of IT applications for Nationwide Insurance landed a job with Columbia Bancorp as its EVP and CIO (a new position for the Dalles, Ore.-based company.)  Her worked for Nationwide for six years. Previously, she was a project manager for Fed Meyer/Kroger, a planning and quality assurance manager for General Cinema Corp., a systems analyst for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mass., a programmer for Boston Properties and an operations analyst for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance. 

On Jan. 2, Behringer Harvard announced that Kent Barner joined the Dallas-based real estate investment company as its VP and CIO.  He most recently served as CIO of Prentice Properties, where he worked for 22 years.

Transaction processing provider TRX hired Brian Beard as its new VP of IT. He most recently worked for Recall Corp. as its VP and CIO. At Recall, he introduced key performance metrics for IT and modernized business systems. Earlier in his career, he held IT leadership positions with General Electric and Toyota Motor Sales.