New CIOs at Borders and Best Buy

Proving that a willingness to leave the US can be a career catalyst, John Von Stein, formerly CIO of Options Clearing Corporation, began as the COO of the Saudi Stock Exchange on June 1.  “The Saudi Stock Exchange, known as Tadawul locally is a relatively young exchange that is off to a great start,” says Von Stein. “I have long envisioned that my next career step would be towards a COO role so this is a great next step for me.

Two significant hires in retail this week:  Borders Group, Inc. has named Scott Laverty as CIO.  Laverty was formerly a partner with IBM for two years, where he was the SAP retail practice leader for the U.S. and directed programs for cosmetic and optical retailers.  From 2001 through 2006, Laverty was a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting, where he conducted IT project management for retailers. Laverty also served as a principal consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was project manager for a number of retail clients.

Also this week, Neville Roberts was named CIO for all of Best Buy Co.   Roberts moves up to corporate CIO after holding the same title for Best Buy International since joining the retail chain in January 2008. He will continue to report to Bob Willett, CEO of Best Buy International, whom Roberts succeeds as enterprise CIO. The CIO position oversees technology operations and developments for Best Buy, including web-enabled multichannel infrastructure.

Prior to joining Best Buy, Roberts worked at Accenture, most recently as senior partner in the consulting firm’s Global Retail Practice, where he worked on e-commerce, multichannel, supply chain and customer relationship management projects for clients that included Wal-Mart International and Tesco plc.

Solveras Payment Solutions, a provider of electronic payment services for businesses, announced that Jeffrey A. Fisher has joined the company’s executive team as CIO. In this position, Fisher will be instrumental in charting the company’s technology strategy as well as its development, delivery and implementation. Additionally, he will be responsible for the company’s existing IT infrastructure and all mission critical systems currently operated by Solveras.

Fisher comes to Solveras by way of the Federal Reserve Bank where he led the implementation of large scale technology initiatives supporting both the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Treasury.

ProVest, which specializes in process service provider management for the mortgage default industry, has new leadership in its IT management. Jim Eddy is the new CIO at the Tampa-based company.  Previously, Eddy was CIO at Financial Insurance Management Corp. in Sarasota.

Kevin Hart joined Clearwire as CIO on June 1. Most recently, Hart served as CIO for Level 3 Communications. Before that, Hart was VP of Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment at Capgemini

Paul Smith has been promoted from VP of IT to SVP and CIO of Hanover Life Re.  Smith has been with the company since 1997 and has directed the IT department since that time. He has served on Hannover Re’s International IT Steering Committee, which is responsible for the coordination of Hannover Re’s global IT efforts, since 2001.

Michael J. Geppert has joined architectural and engineering firm HDR as its new CIO.  Prior to joining HDR, Geppert was SVP at First Data Information Services, and president of First Data Solutions, both divisions of First Data Corporation.

Jay Jones is our most recent entry in the somewhat unusual category of CIOs turned CFOs.  Jay Jones was just named interim CFO of KANA Software. Before joining KANA as Chief Administrator Jones two years ago, Jones was SVP of Operations and CIO of VERITAS.

The board of trustees of Northwestern Mutual has elected John Balboni, SVP and CIO International Paper Company, to serve on the company’s board. Balboni previously served as chairman of Northwestern Mutual’s Policyowners’ Examining Committee, an independent group appointed each year to take an impartial and unrestricted look at the company’s operations, management and strategic planning.

And last but not least, in military news, the Air Force said President Obama will nominate Maj. Gen. William T. Lord for promotion to a three-star rank and a new assignment as the service’s CIO and chief of warfighting integration.

Lord, who is currently commander of the Air Force Cyber Command (Provisional) at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., replaces Lt. Gen. William Shelton, who will become Air Force assistant vice chief of staff.

Thanks for listening and for sending me news.

Martha Heller

Managing Director, IT Leadership Practice

ZRG Partnersmheller@zrgpartners.com