Tyson Moves One-Time CIO into Consumer Products Position

Plus: EnerNOC hires former Puget Sound Energy CIO as its COO, and Green Dot promotes its CIO to chief operations and technology officer.

Tyson Foods appointed Donnie Smith group vice president of consumer products. Smith, a 27-year veteran of the Springdale, Ark.-based company, most recently served as its group vice president of logistics and operations services.

Smith began his career with the company in poultry operations before joining the commodities purchasing group and later becoming a senior leader in the purchasing and supply chain departments. In 2005, he was named SVP of Project Won, a multi-year business process reengineering effort that brought him into contact with the information services department. He was named SVP and CIO in January 2006. Five months later he was given responsibility for purchasing and distribution in addition to IT. He also served as group vice president of logistics and operations services, which included responsibility for purchasing, environmental, health and safety initiatives, food safety and quality assurance, manufacturing services, information systems, logistics and aviation. Smith holds a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Tyson is an example of the growing number of companies cycling business executives through IT leadership positions. For more information on this trend, read 2008: The Year only Strong IT Leaders Survive.

EnerNOC recruited Darren Brady from his post as CIO and SVP of customer service and IT at Puget Sound Energy. Brady began his new job as the Boston, Mass.-based energy management solution provider’s SVP and COO on Monday, January 7. He is in charge of operations, engineering and IT. He’ll also be working on moving the company into new markets. Brady has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Prepaid debit card provider Green Dot gave its CIO the green light for a promotion. Mark Goldin was named chief operations and technology officer. He is responsible for all IT infrastructure, retail distribution, supply chain management, call center operations and application development. In his new role, he will also play a bigger rolle in the company’s strategic planning process. He reports to Steve Streit, president and CEO of the Los Angeles, Calif.-based company. Goldin has worked for Green Dot since 2005, when he joined the IT department from Thomson Elite. At Thomson, he was CTO for 13 years.