.svg){kind=icon}
Executive Networking
Inspirational Events
Industry Insights
Awards & Recognition
Raman Bukkapatnam, CIO, Marriott Vacations Worldwide
Raman Bukkapatnam has joined Marriott Vacations Worldwide as CIO, the company has announced. Bukkapatnam will be responsible for leading Marriott Vacations’ global technology strategy, transformation and modernisation – and joins the executive committee, reporting to president and CEO John Geller. Bukkapatnam replaces the company’s current CIO, Dwight D. Smith, who is retiring after 35 years with the company. Bukkapatnam, a technology leader with over 25 years of experience in technology consulting, retail, consumer products, manufacturing, media and supply chain, was formerly VP of Global Technology at Nike, and held a series of senior technology roles at Starbucks for over twenty years.
Parag Agrawal, CIO, Fanatics Holdings
Parag Agrawal has been named the CIO of Fanatics Holdings, the licensed sportswear retailer. In this new position, Agrawal will oversee the company's internal digital system transformation in the areas of accounting, financial planning and analysis and human resources.
Agrawal is expected to build a dedicated IT infrastructure for the corporate entity of the company and collaborate with other businesses to further improve global IT capabilities throughout the Fanatics enterprise. He will report to Glenn H. Schiffman, EVP and CFO of Fanatics.
Before joining Fanatics Holdings, Agrawal–who is based in New York—was the CIO at Chobani, the food and beverages company. He has also worked for Avon, American Promotional Events, PFSweb, Inc., Metamor Global Solutions and Materne North America.
Scott Collary, CIO, Australian bank Westpac Banking Group
Following a restructure, Australian bank Westpac Banking Group has reinstated the CIO role, appointing current COO Scott Collary into the position.
The bank had previously combined the operations and technology teams following Craig Bright’s departure to Barclays in late 2020.
Prior to taking on the COO role at the Australian bank in November 2020, Collary had been Chief Information & Operations Officer (CIOO) in North America for personal and business banking, and private wealth, at BMO Financial Group. He has previously held CIO roles at ANZ Banking Group, Citibank and Fifth Third Bank.
Benjamin Turner, CIO, Allianz Holdings UK
Benjamin Turner has been appointed as CIO for Allianz Holdings in the UK, following a six-month spell as the insurer’s interim CIO. Turner will report to COO Ashish Patel and will be responsible for overseeing IT for Allianz UK. He will also serve as a member of the Operations IT executive committee.
Turner joined Allianz in 2020 as part of the Legal & General acquisition, initially retaining his L&G CTO role, where he was responsible for IT, information security and data protection.
In a press release announcing the news, general insurance giant Allianz said he was promoted to IT delivery director for Allianz Personal in 2021 while maintaining his CTO role.
Jason Strle, CIO, Discover Financial Services
Jason Strle, the EVP & Group CIO of payments, virtual solutions, innovation and community banking business units at Wells Fargo, has become Discover Financial Services’ new CIO
He joined the company’s executive committee on 18th July, and is now responsible for ‘implementing industry-leading technology across the organisation and continuing to deliver reliable and more secure products for customers’, according to a press release.
Prior to Wells Fargo, Strle—who succeeds the outgoing Amir Arooni—spent almost 13 years with JP Morgan Chase, most recently as CIO for consumer banking, business banking and auto finance.
Sharon Prior, Former Interim CIO, Card Factory
Sharon Prior has left the UK retailer Card Factory, after 18 months as interim CIO. Prior had previously held senior digital roles at IMI Critical Engineering, Upfield, Post Office, Thomson Reuters, Ann Summers and Avon.
“It's been an enriching period filled with growth, transformation, and progressive strides towards our shared goals,” she said on LinkedIn. “During this period, we worked diligently to build a robust, highly engaged IT function, and improved our operational performance significantly. We restructured our IT operating model to create stronger synergy with the business, and revised our IT strategy and enterprise architecture, ensuring our technology roadmap aligns with our future vision.”
Juan Villamil, Former CIO, Imperial College London
Imperial College London CIO Juan Villamil has left the institution. Villamil had been CIO at the higher-education establishment since 2020, where he spearheaded the university's information and communications technology function, having previously served as CTO at the UK government department, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He had previously held senior technology roles at Azdio, BT and WiPro.
“I had the privilege of working with an exceptional team and witnessing the tremendous growth and transformation of our digital capabilities,” he said on LinkedIn. “Together, we successfully implemented a significant change to the ICT operating model, enhancing the university's technological infrastructure and aligning it with the evolving needs of our students, faculty, and staff.”
Harrick Vin, CIO, Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services has appointed Harrick Vin as its new CTO, with the move part of a management restructure and change of CEO.
Vin will replace K Ananth Krishnan, who will retire this October and who immediately steps down from being a senior management personnel (SMP), according to a TCS exchange filing.
Vin has been with TCS since 2005, when he joined as VP and Chief Scientist. Prior to taking on this role, he had headed up TCS Digitate, a TCS and Arrow partnership designed to resell AI-driven software for autonomous IT operations. Vin is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and was previously a professor of computer sciences at the University of Texas in Austin for some 15 years.
Krishnan joined TCS straight after college at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi in 1988, and had since come up through the ranks to become the EVP, CTO responsible for research and innovation at the IT firm.
Jawaz Illavia, CIO, PZ Cussons
Jawaz Illavia has become the CIO at personal healthcare and personal goods manufacturer PZ Cussons, having held a similar role at Walgreens Boots Alliance, where he was CIO across the No7 Beauty Company, International Retail, Global Sourcing and Healthcare Futures divisions.
Illavia, who describes himself online as a ‘CIO / CDO with a proven track record within global B2B, B2C, FMCG, startups, business services, financial, manufacturing, technology, consultancy, corporate and world-class commercial markets’, has previously held senior technology leadership positions at Carlsberg and Mum & You.
Thomas Zuliani, Global CISO, Arla Foods
Thomas Zuliani has become Global CISO for Arla Foods, a Danish-Swedish multinational cooperative based in Viby, Denmark and said to be the fourth largest dairy producer in the world.
He had been information Security & Data Privacy Director at Pandora, and has previously held senior IT and data security positions at Vestas and Siemens.
Paul Branley, CISO, TSB Bank
Paul Branley has joined TSB Bank as its new CISO. Prior to taking on the new role, Branley had been Deputy CISO, and Director of Strategy, Innovation and Testing—and Lloyds Banking Group, where he had worked for almost 14 years in an assortment of roles.
“I am presently very focussed on cyber security, information security and physical security, leveraging my broad experience and skills attained as a professional IT manager over the past 30 years working for six major global blue chip companies: Barclays, Accenture, IBM, Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Banking Group, and TSB, across roles in large scale software & systems development environments and operation,” said Branley on LinkedIn.
June 2023
Tom Gregorio, SVP and CIO, Care New England
Care New England, the non-profit health system comprising several hospitals in the US state of Rhode Island, has named Tom Gregorio as its new SVP and CIO. He started in the role on 5th June.
Gregorio joined Care New England after leaving Tufts Medicine, where he was SVP of IT Operations and responsible for infrastructure and technology operations across all of Tuft’s locations.
According to his LinkedIn page, Gregorio has also been Chief Innovation and Technology Officer of Newark University Hospital, President and CEO of Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, N.J., and VPand CIO of Newark (N.J.) Beth Israel Medical Center.
John Spence, Former CIO, West Virginia
John Spence, the CIO for the state of West Virginia, has left to join the private sector, the governor has announced. He has been replaced by Heather Abbott, who had been COO of the West Virginia Office of Technology for the last four years. Spence had been CIO since July 2021, after being promoted from CTO.
“It has been an incredible privilege to serve as West Virginia’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) and lead the Office of Technology,” he said on LinkedIn. “I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the modernisation of our state’s technology landscape.”
Jason Dunham, CIO, Student Loans Company (UK)
Student Loans Company (UK), the non-profit, government-affiliated organisation offering loans and grants to students at college and university, has appointed Jason Dunham as its new CIO.
Dunham joins from ABDC Bank in Abu Dhabi, where he held the role of Senior Vice President, Technology Platform since 2015.
In his new role, Jason will be responsible for SLC’s technology strategy delivery, ensuring that ‘SLC provides transformative technology solutions to customers and government partners’.
In a statement issued on the UK.Gov website, SLC said that his priorities moving forwards will include “the on-going execution of robust and resilient technology solutions, including maintaining a reliable and secure student finance system, and continuing to build out the Shared Services architecture, Strategic User Interface, and modernising the wider application estate.”
Rachel Dunscombe, CEO, openEHR International
Former NHS CIO Rachel Dunscombe is to become the CEO of openEHR International, the non-profit body publishing technical standards for electronic healthcare record systems, this September.
Dunscombe is a visiting professor at Imperial College London, and has also served as
Chief Industry Advisor at Dedalus and CEO of NHS Digital Academy.
A long-time NED, Dunscombe had previously worked as Director of Digital at Northern Care Alliances NHS group, CIO at Salford Royal Group and CIO at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.
Multi-national CPG firm Unilever is reported to have appointed a new CIO. Alessandro Ventura has been promoted from CIO and VP of analytics and business solutions to VP of technology transformation.
As part of the move, Ventura will relocate to London from the US. Eric Chen, who leads the data and analytics, IT and workplace and business solutions team in Southeast Asia, will replace Ventura.
Ventura confirmed the news in a LinkedIn post. Unilever confirmed Ventura’s appointment in an email to CIODive.
Chris Loake, Group CIO, Hiscox
Hiscox has hired Chris Loake as Group CIO. He will be based in London and report to Stéphane Flaquet, Group Chief Operations and Technology Officer.
Loake joins from C. Hoare & Co, the UK’s oldest private bank, where he was Chief Technology and Operations Officer and responsible for implementing a number of critical changes in the bank’s digital infrastructure.
Loake, formerly of Close Brothers and Experian, will lead Hiscox Group’s global technology strategy, enabling Hiscox’s ‘business ambition to drive technical excellence and deliver superb service to customers.’
Dan Fiehn, Group Chief Operating Officer, Compre Group
Dan Fiehn has become the Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Compre Group.
As Compre's COO, Fiehn is responsible for IT, data, change and facilities, focusing on driving technology and data across the business.
Fiehn is also a fractional CIO at Freeman Clarke and Managing Director of Carrot Connect. He was formerly the COO of insurtech Incited and Markerstudy, where he started as Group CIO. He previously was CIO at Sterling Insurance (now Covea Insurance).
Jon Baker, Former VP of enterprise technology strategy and transformation, Walt Disney Company
Jon Baker, VP of enterprise technology strategy and transformation at The Walt Disney Company, has left the organisation.
Baker had held a string of senior business technology roles at the media and entertainment conglomerate since 2008, having joined from Hamptons International.
He had been responsible for the creation and execution of Disney’s enterprise technology strategic plan and roadmap, and also served as the Technology Lead for the company-wide Generative AI Task Force, and defined Disney’s Web3 strategy, delivering a private Blockchain solution.
He told HotTopics he was most proud of the acquisition and integration of 20th Century Fox, and supporting new business capabilities despite a changing team through the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I excel at helping to define business objectives and vision, and then building and delivering technology strategies that enable them. I thrive at this intersection of business and technology, which allows me to innovate how the business can approach their challenges and opportunities through the use of technology,” said Baker, a Future CIO winner at the HotTopics awards in May. “Disney has exposed me to global leadership and diverse businesses operating at huge scale to demanding levels of quality. I’m excited to leverage this experience in another company that is seeking to transform.”
John Quinn, CIO, NHS
John Quinn has become CIO at the UK’s NHS.
“John has led significant digital transformations throughout his career, and so brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role of Chief Information Officer,” said Dr Tim Ferris, national director of digital transformation at NHS England, in a statement. “I’ve found John’s measured, insightful, and outcomes-oriented approach to problem solving invaluable since he joined NHS England. “I know the whole team will continue to value his wise and caring leadership style, as we adopt the latest technology to transform the NHS and improve care for patients.”
Quinn had previously been executive director of IT operations and enterprise services at NHS Digital, prior to its merger into the centralised NHS England and Improvement.
Quinn had been interim Executive Director of Technology, Digital, Data and Delivery at the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and had held CDO/director of transformation and CIO roles at the government agency, as well as head of business solutions roles at the Department for Education (DfE).
In his new role, according to his LinkedIn profile, Quinn will deliver ‘digital technology across the NHS, including managing cyber security and critical national system and technical infrastructure.’
Matthew Cain, acting CDIO, UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
Matthew Cain has become the acting CDIO at the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Cain had been deputy director of technology at the public body since September, but has now replaced Mark Gray – who has left after six years to become Chief Transformation and Technology Officer at HM Land Registry.
Cain will report to the Chief Executive.
Prior to joining CPS, Cain had been Director of Customer Services, Digital and Data at the London Borough of Hackney, taking on a broader role over time - having initially joined as Head of Digital.
“At CPS, I’m the Acting Chief Digital and Information Officer which means I’m a member of the Executive Group, responsible for steering the organisation to deliver its 2025 strategy (and we’ve already begun developing the next strategy),” he told HotTopics.
“I’m also responsible for our security, running of our live technology services and digital change agenda. Fundamentally, that’s about how we use technology and data to liberate colleagues to spend more time delivering justice.
“I’ve three immediate priorities: users, security and culture. If we can be obsessed with users and solving their problems, proactive with security to empower users to work safely and have a curious, diverse and entrepreneurial culture then we can succeed at any of the challenges that the criminal justice system presents and continue to strive for the highest standards as we deliver justice.”
Rajesh Gopal, CIO for APAC, Kimberly Clark
Rajesh Gopal has become the CIO for APAC at personal multi-care firm Kimberly Clark.
Gopal, who is based in India, was previously the Chief Information and Digital Officer for Foods at Indian conglomerate ITC Limited and held CIO roles for L’Oreal in the region.
In his new role, Gopal will be responsible for driving the company’s technology and digital transformation and driving business growth in the region.
Karl Hoods, CDIO, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
Karl Hoods has a new role, now serving as the CDIO for Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the newly-formed UK government department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESZN).
Hoods had been CDIO at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), prior to its split into four revised government departments; DESZN, DSIT, the Department for Business and Trade and the “refocused” Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
“The recent machinery of government changes to BEIS presented an opportunity to do things differently when it comes to an integrated corporate services,” he said on LinkedIn.
“As a team we’ve grasped that opportunity to deliver a full digital service across the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as well as a core desktop service to the Department for Business and Trade plus a number of partner organisations.
“In part this is a scaling of the shared service we were already providing but it goes further by delivering a complete digital service across the two departments.This may be a first in delivering this way…but that’s part of what makes it an exciting proposition as well as working with colleagues dealing with a range of interesting and important topics.”
Hoods told this reporter that the new position is ‘more of a group role’, taking on responsibility for both government departments, as well as technology for the Department for Business and Trade and ten partner organisations.
Nisha Manaktala, Chief Data and Technology Officer, Landsec
Nisha Manaktala has taken on the newly created role of Chief Data and Technology Officer at Landsec, the UK-based property management company. The role reports directly to CEO Mark Allan, with Manaktala having joined the executive team.
Manaktala joins Landsec from Hiscox Re & ILS, part of the Hiscox insurance group where she held the role of Chief Technology Officer. She has over 20 years of technology leadership experience working in various technical roles across start-ups and global enterprises with expertise across data, engineering and operations.
Mark Allan, CEO Landsec, said of the appointment in a press release: “I’m delighted to welcome Nisha to Landsec and look forward to working with her. As we continue to progress our strategy, data and technology will play an ever increasing role. Nisha’s expertise in delivering digital business transformation will help us ensure that Landsec is not only equipped to operate in the complex world in which we operate today but also continue to thrive into the future.”
Monica Pemberton, VP CIO, American Council on Education
Nacubo’s Monica Pemberton has become the VP CIO at American Council on Education, the non-profit member organisation helping to shape policy in higher-education.
Pemberton had previously been CTO at Nacubo, CIO at Edifying Teachers and a consultant at Aquilent.
Pemberton describes herself online as a ‘high-profile technical leader and an advocate of women of colour in the industry for the past 25 years’.
May 2023
Sandy Venugopal, CIO, Sentinel One
Sandy Venugopal has become CIO at endpoint security firm Sentinel One, having previously held the same position at Uber. At Uber, she led a global IT engineering team covering core infrastructure, operations and support, data infrastructure and analytics, enterprise productivity applications, business platforms and integrations and custom solutions.
Before joining Uber, she held senior strategy roles for infrastructure and engineering at LinkedIn, and worked as a consultant at Accenture.
“Technology, business strategy and program executive with a strong track record of transforming teams and organisations, delivering solutions, building partnerships, enabling customer successes and scaling up teams and processes,”, she described herself on social networking site LinkedIn.
April 2023
Marie Banks, IT Strategy Planning and Delivery Director, Croda
Marie Banks has recently become the IT Strategy, Planning and Delivery Director at British specialty chemicals company, Croda.
Prior to joining Croda, Banks worked at DB Cargo (UK) Limited, where she initially joined the company as head of IT then made her way up to Chief Transformation and Digitalisation Officer.
Thinking back on her time at the rail freight transport firm DB Cargo, Banks told HotTopics: “It was amazing to see the pace of technology change and the ability to watch a business transform through technology and data is a real privilege”.
In her new role, Banks reports to the Group CIO, Lale Kof, leading the organisation’s design and execution of IT strategy.
Banks will be focusing on the power of data while leading Croda’s data transformation program while looking to improve the service management concepts and enabling technology in the business.
Reflecting on her time of personal and professional growth over the years, in her new role, Banks plans to harness the power of data at Croda, ascertaining how the organisation can leverage new technologies to “really answer those core fundamental business challenges and questions”.
Richard Newsome, Chief Technology Officer, Cancer Research
After a four-decade career in the technology industry and most recently two years as Chief Technology Officer at Cancer Research, Richard Newsome has decided to move into part-time working.
Throughout his extensive career in technology, Newsome has held a variety of senior positions including director of IT competence centres (Global Application Development) at Rolls-Royce and Chief Technology Officer - Corporate at Sainsburys. He remains a non-executive director at technology consultancy Daemon.
“I have been privileged to work with great organisations and brilliant people, and to have seen ‘IT’ move from a back-office function to being ‘the business’ in many organisations,” he said online. “To have been part of that journey has been amazing, and now my energies go into family, friends and occasional NED and advisory roles.”
