Happy New Year, CIOs!

Happy New Year, CIOs! 

I trust everyone has had a relaxing holiday and you are feeling rested and ready to battle it out in a new year.  It’s just too early in the year (and I’m still recovering from my own New Year’s celebrations, to be honest)  to make pronouncements about the 2010 hiring market for IT executives.

So, I’m going to take a pass and refer you instead to my new column, The CIO Paradox, in CIO magazine. (Forgive the blatant self-promotion; you should be used to it by now.)  The goal of the column is to spark some dialogue about the “problem of IT” to allow us to move past it once and for all. If the spirit moves you, please take a moment to post a response to the column. 

Now, onto the news!

John Crowther is the new CIO at network services provider Ciena. Ciena recently announced the acquisition of the Nortel Metro Ethernet Network business, which will double the size of the company. So, Crowther and his team have a major integration ahead of them in the coming year.  Before assuming the CIO role with Ciena in November 2009, Crowther was Group Chief Information Officer for Invensys, a global technology company based in London.

With more than 11 years of information technology experience, Crowther joined Invensys from Diebold, Inc., where his positions at the Company included Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Strategic Enterprise Management.  Prior to that, he held many roles at Cummins Inc., a global power leader, including Vice President and Chief Information Officer; Executive Director, Corporate Marketing; and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Fleetguard, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Andres Mendes is the new CIO of Voice of America, responsible for technology leadership for all of the US government TV, Radio and Internet distribution abroad. Prior to Voice of America, Mendes was CIO of Special Olympics and of PBS before that.

Joe Marotta has been named to the newly created post of CIO of Michael C. Fina, a firm that provides employee recognition strategy products and services. Prior to Michael C. Fina, Marotta Joe was CIO of Fortunoff and Lord &Taylor.

Aviva USA named Jeff Frazee as CIO of its life and annuity business. Frazee comes to Aviva from West Bend Mutual Insurance in West Bend, Wis., where he was CIO responsible for all Internet technology functions as well as corporate strategic planning.

Pendum has recently announced that Kirby Slunaker is its new CIO. Slunaker comes to Pendum with more than 20 years of experience in leading information technology efforts for venture-backed, start-up companies and Fortune 500 companies, including Visa, Total Systems, Plus System, eBags and MDC Holdings. Most recently, he served as a consultant for Palmaris Solutions providing strategic technology solutions for a variety of clients.

Kevin Walker as joined Iberdrola USA as COO.  Most recently, Walker was CIO of American Electric Power Company and president and COO of AEP Ohio from 2004 to 2008.

PharmaNet Development Group, a provider of clinical development services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device companies, announced today that Stephen Kasay has joined the company as CIO.

Kasay has over twenty years of experience providing direction to IT departments in global pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations.

We have a few promotions to report as well:

John Tonnison is Tech Data’s new CIO as of February 1.  He will be replacing CIO Joseph A. Osbourn, who will retire next June. Tonnison joined Tech Data as vice president, worldwide e-business and was promoted to senior vice president of IT in 2006.

Kyle Quinn has been promoted CIO of PACCAR. Quinn has been with PACCAR since 2005, prior to which he directed Boeing Commercial Aviation’s enterprise application center. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University and an M.B.A. from Seattle University.

The MITRE Corporation’s President and CEO, Alfred Grasso, has announced the appointment of Joel Jacobs to CIO. Jacobs will assume the role vacated by Robert Mikelskas, who will retire in January 2010. Jacobs had been deputy CIO since 2003.

Not bad for the first week of the year.  Thanks for listening and send me news!

Martha HellerManaging Director

ZRG Partners