Fannie Mae Names New CIO

Plus: New CIOs at North Carolina State Ports Authority, Cargotec and more  

Embattled mortgage provider Fannie Mae announced it had hired a new CIO yesterday. Rahul Merchant joined the Washington, D.C.-based company as EVP and CIO. He replaces Julie St. John, who’s leaving the company on December 31, and comes to the company from Merrill Lynch. As Merrill’s head of global business technology, Merchant’s responsibilities included acquisition support and regulatory compliance.  More information on Merchant is available in the press release announcing his appointment. 

News of Merchant’s appointment at Fannie Mae came just before the company filed a form 12b-25 with the SEC, stating that it would not be able to file its quarterly report on time.  The filing also stated that the lending giant expects to spend over $1 billion this year on a comprehensive examination of its accounting practices and on financial statement preparations. 

Earlier this week, Matthew Peterson docked at the North Carolina State Ports Authority. The port’s new information officer reports to VP of Administration Richard Koch. Peterson most recently served as president and CEO of a consulting company he founded. Previously he served as director of client service data for Arbitron/SAMI, project manager for General Electric’s aircraft engines business, systems manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and CIO of the Anne Arundel County School System in Maryland.

Soili Makinen will start delivering IT strategy and systems for Finnish cargo handling solutions provider Cargotec when she begins her new job as the company’s CIO on December 1.  Makinen, 46, currently serves as CIO of Cargotec’s MacGregor business, where she has worked since 1993.  In her new role, she will report to Cargotec’s Senior Executive Vice President and CFO Kari Heinisto.

Bristol West Holdings elected Allan Ditchfield to its board of directors.  Ditchfield, 68, was appointed for his IT experience. He’s been in the industry for 40 years.  Ditchfield served as The Progressive Corp.’s SVP of information services from 1993 to 1998.  Prior to Progressive, he was MCI’s SVP of systems engineering.