CIOs are on the move

For those of you betting on IT as a key to our recovery, you’ll be happy to know that Vivek Kundra, has been reinstated this week to his post as federal CIO.

In less widely covered news this week, Lumber Liquidators, a specialty retailer of hardwood flooring, has appointed Seth Levy as senior vice president of IT and chief information officer.

Fran Sullivan, formerly senior director of product development and technology at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has been promoted into the newly created CIO position.

Also this week, PPL announced that James Schinski, CIO and VP of HR (a dual role that I always find particularly fascinating) for Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, will join the power utility as its CIO on March 30. James will replaced Edward Novak, who is retiring.

Jeff O’Hare, who has lead IT at a number of companies, including Cendant and West Corp, is joining Selling Source, LLC, a financial services solutions provider, as CIO.

ID Analytics, an on-demand identity intelligence company, appointed Jim Pathman as CIO.  Jim joins ID Analytics, from the Small Business Finance Division at Lehman Brothers, where he was CIO.

Russell Branzell, is part of what I believe will be a wave of CIOs joining the wonderful world of consulting over the next 12 months.  Russell was most recently CIO and VP of HR (there it is again) at Poudre Valley Health System,  and joins Beacon Partners, a healthcare management consulting firm.

CARE USA announced the appointment of Vida Alexandria Durant as CIO. Most recently, Vida led the Global Capacity Strategies Program at Johnson & Johnson, after a wealth of a track record of service to the non-profit world including CIO spots at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and AARP.

Earlier this month, Jim Haar joined Blue Coat Systems in Sunnyvale, CA as CIO. “Despite the economic conditions, the company continues to grow,” says Jim. It’s a very cool company and I’m very pleased to be here.”

And finally Charles Hunsinger, former North America CIO at Corporate Express in Broomfield Colorado, just started a new job as CIO at Musicians Friend in Oregon.

So clearly, despite the market (or perhaps because of it), companies are hiring CIOs. But be warned, the average length of an executive job search is increasing, so if you plan to be on the market in the near future, start early….

That’s it for this week. Thanks so much to everyone who is sending me news. Keep it coming!  mheller@zrgpartners.com

Martha Heller

Managing Director, IT Leadership Practice

ZRG Partners