New Year, New CIOs

Welcome to 2014 and a host of new CIO appointments. 

Jim Dubois took over as CIO at Microsoft on New Year’s Day. DuBois, who was serving as interim CIO for the past six months, will oversee Microsoft IT applications, infrastructure, solution delivery and process excellence. Dubois is 20-year Microsoft veteran, serving in such roles as GM of IT and VP of Microsoft products and services IT. He will report to Kevin Turnner, COO of the company.

T-Mobile hired Gary King as CIO. King will lead T-Mobile`s IT organization with a strong focus on enhancing the Un-carrier customer experience. King is a 30-year veteran in technology services for consumer brands and has led IT organizations at Chico’s FAS, AVON, and Barnes & Noble.

Staples appointed Tom Conophyas EVP and CIO, reporting directly to the CEO, Ron Sargent.  Most recently, Conophy serves as CIO of InterContinental Hotels Group and prior to that was the CTO at Starwood Hotels & Resorts International.

Kurt Schnieders joined Dick’S Sporting Goods as SVP and CIO last month.  Most recently, Schnieders served as EVP and CIO at Limited Brands and before that served in various technology leadership roles for ING Group in the Netherlands, Americas, and Australia.

Kimball International, Inc., an Indiana-based electronics components manufacturer, announced the appointment ofLonnie P. Nicholson as CIO. Nicholson replaces Gary Schwartz, a 39-year company veteran who will retire at the end of the year.  Nicholson most recently served as the company’s VP, Business Analytics, with oversight of strategic application of data analysis, social media and mobile computing.

Tony Vaden will now serve as CIO for ABC Supply Inc., a wholesale distributor of roofing and siding materials company.  Vaden, a 25-year IT veteran, came from America Tire Distributors, Inc., where he served as SVP and CIO. Prior, he held various leadership positions at Dell, Selectron (now Flextronics) and AMP Inc. (now TE Connectivity Ltd.).

David Giambruno joins multimedia conglomerate Tribune Companies as CIO and will report to Steven Berns, EVP and CFO. Prior to joining Tribune, Giambruno was CIO at Revlon for over 5 years.  Prior to Revlon, Giambruno was Director of Global Engineering, Security & Deployment for Pitney Bowes, Inc.

Health club franchise Planet Fitness announced that Robert Anderson has joined as CIO, reporting directly to Chris Rondeau, CEO of the company.  Prior to Planet Fitness, Anderson established Darmouth Data Ventures, a marketing and business development company, and worked with clients, including Planet Fitness. Prior to Dartmouth Data, Anderson was CIO for the State of New Hampshire.

Until next time, 

Martha