New CIOs at Cardinal Health, Hilton Hotels, Arch Coal and more

The good news this week is that the hiring market for IT executives seems to be picking up. Not only do I have nice list of CIO placements to report in Movers & Shakers, I am hearing from contacts – and seeing in my own practice – that companies are finally ready to face the “new normal” and get going on strategic executive hiring.  So, let’s all sit very still — no sudden movements, please – and let the recovery proceed.

Onto this week’s news:

Jody Davids, CIO of Cardinal Health is retiring and will be succeeded by Patricia Morrison, formerly CIO of Motorola.  Morrison’s previous experience also includes roles as CIO of Office Depot and senior IT positions at GE, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Quaker Oats.

Hilton Hotels Corporation announced that Robert Webb has assumed the position of CIO. Webb will report to Paul Brown, Hilton President, Global Brands and Commercial Service.

Webb joins Hilton from Equifax, the Atlanta headquartered global credit information and technology solutions provider, where he held a similar position. Prior to joining Equifax, Webb held executive positions at GE including CIO of GE Commercial Finance, GE Global Consumer Finance and GE Energy Services. He has extensive international experience and has lived and worked in Europe, Greater China and Japan as a management consultant for Andersen Consulting and Electronic Data Systems.

Sue Ericksen has joined New York Life Insurance Company as CTO reporting to CIO Eileen Slevin. In this role, Ericksen will be responsible for New York Life’s IT vision, strategy and planning and will oversee the enterprise architecture and engineering division.  Prior to joining New York Life, Ericksen was CTO at Merrill Lynch Banks, and prior that she she held a number of executive technology positions at Citigroup

The Hartford Financial Services Group announced that Robert Ingram has been named senior CIO of its property and casualty operation division and will rep[ot to Brian O’Connell, The Hartfor’ds enterprise CIO. In his new role, Ingram will focus on driving the overall IT strategy for The Hartford’s property and casualty operations. In addition, Ingram will work with O’Connell to accelerate The Hartford’s enterprise IT agenda.

Ingram brings more than 27 years of experience in technology and insurance, serving as CIO at Safeco and USAA.

Daniel Clifford is the new CIO of DynCorp International.  Clifford joins DynCorp from Young America Corporation, a large information processor of rebates for Fortune 1000 companies, where he led strategic planning and application development, as well as IT infrastructure planning and deployment.

Local.com Corporation, a local search site and network, announced the appointment of Michael Plonski as its CTO. Most recently, Plonski was CIO and COO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Michael Abbene is retiring as CIO of Arch Coal and will be succeeded by David Hartley.  Prior to joining Arch Coal, Hartley was a founding member of Protiviti, a global consulting firm, in 2002 where he served as director of the firm’s St. Louis office for seven years.

http://www.financialwire.net/2009/07/23/hartley-named-information-chief-of-arch-coal/

I’m a little late on reporting this, but in May, Diane Duggan, formerly CIO of Discovery Communications was appointed as CIO to the College Board.

And some nice activity in the retail space, courtesy of my friend Cathy Hotka, who knows all when it comes to retail CIOs.

Mark Stone, former SVP and CIO of Zale, has accepted the position of SVP/CIO with Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. in Plano, TX.

Raj Chowdhari, former VP of IT at Footstar is a new VP at Take-Two Interactive Software in NYC. Take-Two publishes and distributes games for XBOX, Sony Play Stations, and WII.  

Neil McCarthy, former CIO of Wawa, is now at Endo Pharmaceuticals.  

Bob Schoening, former CIO of Pathmark, is the new CIO at Total Wine and More in Virginia. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the dog-days of summer. As always, thanks for sending me news!

Martha Heller, Managing Director, IT Leadership Practice, ZRG Partners

mheller@zrgpartners.com