Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! If your New Year’s resolution is “Find a new leadership role in a company that truly values IT,” you’re in luck.  CIO transitions are heating up as companies realize that a sound technology strategy is the key to growth in 2011.  (Took them long enough…) Dust off your Rolodex, revise your Linkedin profile, update your resume and hit the market. Opportunity is in the air, as the following CIOs can attest:

Brand point management services provider Schawk, Inc. announced the appointment of Gary Rietz as CIO. Prior to joining Schawk, Rietz was a partner at Tatum LLC. Previously, he served as vice president and CIO at Ubiquity Brands, where he led the selection, transformation and implementation of the company’s ERP system and standardized their business intelligence profitability.

Lawson Products, Inc. a leading provider of maintenance and repair solutions, announced today that it has appointed Bob Border to senior vice president, CIO.  Border will oversee Lawson Product’s information technology organization, which includes application development, infrastructure, eCommerce and enterprise information management. His primary responsibility involves creating a sustainable competitive advantage for the company by aligning business and technology strategies and partnering with stakeholders to identify technology solutions that deliver value and achieve business results.

Marriott International, Inc. announced that Carl Wilson, executive vice president and CIO at the company since 1997, will retire March 31. Bruce Hoffmeister, a 22-year Marriott veteran, will succeed him as Global CIO on April 1.

Stream Global Services, Inc., a leading, global business process outsource (BPO) service provider specializing in customer relationship management services for Fortune 1000 companies, today announced that it has appointed Jim Radzicki as Executive Vice President and CTO.  Based out of the company’s Wellesley, Mass., headquarters,  Radzicki will be responsible for driving Stream’s overall information and technology strategy. He comes to Stream from Network Solutions, the leading provider of online services for small businesses. At Network Solutions, Radzicki served as vice president of technology strategy and governance.

Vertis Communications, a results-driven marketing communications company that delivers inventive advertising, direct marketing and interactive solutions to prominent brands across North America, announced today the addition of Ken Kaisen as CIO and CTO.  In this newly formed dual role, Kaisen will focus on leveraging technology, the Internet and software applications to advance the company’s product offerings and service platforms to meet clients’ evolving multi-channel marketing needs

Venki Rao replaces Karen Renner as CIO, Quality IT Leader and Infrastructure at GE Energy.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. announced that Todd Coombes has been promoted to Senior Vice President and CIO.

U.S. Oncology, Inc., an integrated oncology company, welcomed Karen Gibson as the senior vice president and CIO of its technology services. During her career, Karen has served as CIO for Life Technologies, a global organization developing biological tools for research scientists. She has also acted as the CIO for GE Healthcare Information Technologies, a division of GE providing medical devices and healthcare IT products. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Purdue and an MBA at Ohio University.

HealthFitness announced the hiring of Sean Katz as CIO.  Katz joins HealthFitness from Health Care Services Corporation (HCSC), where he served as enterprise technology strategist. Prior to working at HCSC, Katz was CIO at Destiny Health, responsible for establishing a technology support team and integrating all technology platforms with their international parent company and aligning to their overall corporate strategies. Sean received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Paul Stoddard has joined CareSource as its new CIO Stoddard will oversee the development of information technology strategy and delivery, business intelligence and informatics. He joins the public-sector managed care company after serving as vice president and CIO with BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York. In that role, he handled information technology, including systems development and support, business intelligence and web development. He also has managed care experience.

Miami University appointed Debra Allison to vice president for information technology and CIO. Allison, who has served as interim vice president for the department since November 2007, will start in the position Jan. 1, 2011.

Bob Wittstein was recently appointed Executive Director for FAS IT Operations at Harvard University representing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for Academic and Administrative Technology and Support Services. Bob will also support the UCIO for the major integration effort between University IS and FAS IT and will provide leadership for common University services and applications. Prior to Harvard,  Wittstein was the VP of Procurement and CIO at Sappi Fine Paper North America in Boston since 2002.

My New Year’s resolution is to publish as many CIO moves as I can, so please keep sending me news!

Here’s to a fruitful 2011,

Martha

Martha HellerPresident

Heller Search Associates