New CIOs for the Summer

From retail to financial services to energy to manufacturing, companies are hiring new CIOs. This is good news for you CIOs on the market. For the most part, the companies that are losing their CIOs are hiring anew, as opposed to doing away with the function – which was a minor but unnerving trend during the worst days of the recession. Also: most companies prefer to hire their new CIO from an external pool as opposed to promoting from within. So, while summer is never a great time to be on the market (recruiting activity tends to slow down a bit this season), opportunities do abound. 

Now, on to the news!

Dru Rai recently started as the new CIO at Williams Companies, a Fortune 500 energy infrastructure company headquartered in Tulsa, OK. Prior to joining Williams, Rai was CIO at Momentive Performance Materials (formerly GE Advanced Materials).

Michael Iacona informs us that he has started a great new job at Thompson Reuters. As Vice President of Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Iacona oversees and leads technology M&A for Thomson Reuters, whose acquisition strategy is key to its growth plans. Most recently, Iacona served as the CIO at TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications for five years.

Tsvi Gal is the new CTO at Morgan Stanley. Gal has held several CTO roles in finance and banking during his career, including Deutsche Bank Capital Markets and Merrill Lynch. Most recently, he was a General Partner at the IT solution provider Exigen Group.

Michael R. Kingston has joined The Neiman Marcus Group as Senior Vice President and CIO. Kingston joins the company from ANN, Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor, where he was the Executive Vice President, Enterprise Transformation and Technology.

Don Desiderato was recently named CIO and Senior Managing Director at New York Life Investment Management. Desiderato comes to New York Life from Novarica where, as a Research Principal, he advised insurance industry clients in the area of technology. Earlier in his career he served as CIO, Prudential Annuities at Prudential Financial, and CIO, ING Annuities at ING U.S. Financial Services.

Towers Watson, the global human capital management services company, appointed John Dick as CIO. He succeeds Tony Candito, who retired at the end of April. Dick brings more than 30 years of experience in information technology, financial services and consulting to his new role. Since 2008, he was the CIO for Western Union.

Tony Briggs has been named to the CIO post at fashion retailer, The Limited. Briggs comes from Collective Brands where he served as a Vice President in information technology for six years.

SRI International has appointed Jennifer Kenny to the role of CIO. Kenny has served as SRI’s acting CIO since late 2011. In this role, Kenny is responsible for information technology strategy and operations to drive IT-supported business innovation. Prior to joining SRI, Kenny was founder and CEO of bizTH!NK, an IT consulting firm specializing in process design and IT business transformation. SRI, a nonprofit research and development institute based in Silicon Valley, brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, new products, and spin-off ventures.

Pegasus Solutions has named Steve Lapekas as CIO. Lapekas most recently served for two years as Executive Vice President of Corporate Business Development for Pegasus, prior to which he also held the CTO position. Pegasus is a provider of technology and services to hotels and travel distributors, serving nearly 100,000 hotels around the globe, and the majority of the world’s travel agencies.  Before joining Pegasus, Lapekas served as the Vice President of Client Services and Director of Entessa’s automation integration practice.

Stephen Shaffer was recently named CIO at Hawker Beechcraft, the Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer . The company, which is owned by Goldman Sachs’s private equity arm and Onex Corp., recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Prior to joining Hawker Beechcraft, Shaffer held the CIO position at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and before that was an IT executive at JetBlue.

John Deere has appointed John C. May President, Agricultural Solutions & Chief Information Officer, a new senior executive position. May joined the company in 1997 and has held a variety of executive leadership positions, most recently as a vice president at the company’s Agriculture & Turf division.

Bob Barnhart was named vice president and CIO of Hamilton Sundstrand in May 2012. Hamilton Sundstrand provides aircraft systems from tip to tail for both commercial and military aircraft. Bob comes to the company from Pratt & Whitney (which, like Hamilton Sundstrand, is a United Technologies company), where he has served as vice president and CIO for the past two years. In the 27 years prior to that, Bob held several positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, program management and information technology at Pratt & Whitney.

As always, thanks for sending me news!

Martha

martha@hellersearch.com