Starwood Hotels Hires Former JetBlue CIO; JetBlue Appoints New CIO

Starwood Hotels hired a former JetBlue executive as its new CIO.  Todd Thompson joined the White Plains, NY-based hospitality company yesterday.  Thompson reports to Vasant Prabhu, Starwood’s executive vice president and CFO, and is a member of the company’s senior leadership team.  Thompson left JetBlue over the summer, having joined the company in 2003.

Also yesterday, JetBlue announced it named its CTO, Charles “Duffy” Mees, VP and CIO.  The low-cost airline hired Mees in August 2006 to design and implement specific technology projects intended to make the company more efficient.  In his new role, Mees is responsible for all IT projects and operations.  Mees reports to JetBlue founder and CEO, David Neeleman. 

Notably, Thompson did not report to the CEO when he worked for JetBlue: He reported to the CFO, John Owen. Last May, Owen was put in charge of IT—over Thompson—as the company’s EVP of supply chain and information technology. Thompson left Jetblue sometime after Owen was named EVP of supply chain and IT. I can’t help but wonder if JetBlue realizes it made a mistake with the Owen-Thompson reporting structure and is trying to correct it by having Mees report to Neeleman. Anyone want to hazard a guess?