New CIOs at Walgreens, Allianz Life and more

From my vantage point, the hiring market for IT executives is improving — and may well be  better than what we’ve seen over the past 18 months.  However, we are still a far cry from where we were 24 months ago.  We are currently playing a zero sum game where new CIO placements are the result of vacated positions, not growth and org chart expansion.  For the last year and a half, we’ve had these big dry buckets with no water in sight. Now, drops are actually starting to fall from above, but they are still just drops in the bucket….

For those of you who write to ask me to post to this blog more frequently, I promise to do so as the market improves. I like to have more than one entry at a time! (And if I’m missing new appointments that are happening out there, please send me news…)

Now, let’s get to it!

Walgreens has made some significant changes to its technology leadership team.  Tim Theriault. The company’s new CIO,  joins from Northern Trust, where he held a range of leadership positions during his 25-year tenure with the company, most recently serving as president of corporate and institutional services. 

Theriault has a background in technology, having also served as president of worldwide operations and technology, and as chief technology officer while at Northern Trust. He first joined Northern Trust in 1982, and from 1989-1991 he worked in advanced technologies at SC Johnson and Son.

Denise Wong, who previously served as Walgreens chief information officer, was named corporate vice president of information technologies, focusing on elevating the company’s in-store retail and corporate shared services IT systems.

The company has also appointed Abhi Dhar as its CTO and divisional vice president in Walgreens e-commerce division, responsible for delivery, development and innovation of the online platform.  Dhar;s background includes a role as CIO of TravelCLICK.

Cross Country Home Services, Inc. (CCHS), a provider of home warranties, home service plans and homeowner emergency assistance programs, announced the appointment of Joel Steigelfest, as the company’s new CIO.

Steigelfest brings over 24 years of information technology experience to the role including positions at Spherion, United Stationers, IBM, Ryder and Kemper Insurance. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics from Tulane University, and a Masters degree in business administration from the University of Miami.

John Meighan joins Baltimore based Davis Calibration its new CIO. Meighan comes to Davis Calibration with more than 17 years of experience in business operations, technology leadership and consulting, and program management, most recently at CTO for OneWorld Lab.

Former Lehman Brothers CIO, Bridget O’Conner, has joined The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) as Managing Director and CTO. O’Connor reports to the DTCC’s COO and President and is responsible for overseeing the critical information technology infrastructure at DTCC, including core networking services, processing and messaging systems, distributed systems and business continuity.

OptumHealth, recently announced Christopher Bayham as CIO for OptumHealth Specialty Benefits.  Bayham has more than a decade of information technology experience in the healthcare, insurance, and financial services industries. Prior to joining OptumHealth, he held leadership positions at Freddie Mac, Diamond Management and Technology Consultants, and Accenture.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has named Tom Bauer, who served in an interim capacity for the last three months, as its CIO. Bauer joined Allianz in 2003 as vice president of customer services, and subsequently led application and infrastructure services. Prior to joining Allianz, Bauer held positions at EDS, Chrysler Corporation and Best Buy.

Drug development services company Covance has a new CTO.  Reporting to CIO John Repko, Dave Schoenholz will be responsible for facilitating the continued evolution of IT Technical Shared Services to support Covance’s growth. Schoenholz has more than 24 years of IT leadership experience most recently serviing as CTO forING Americas and General Electric.

Finally, Craig Sisler left his role as CIO of Capital Printing Systems for a role as Senior Consultant for Financial Printing Services with Newgen Publishing and Data Services, and is leading the company’s business development efforts in the U.S.

Thanks for tuning.  Until next time,

Martha 

Martha Heller

Managing Director, IT Leadership Practice

ZRG Partners

mheller@zrgpartners.com