Australian Red Cross CIO departs

Australian Red Cross CIO Brett Wilson has left the organisation after four years leading IT, with Abhishek (Abby) Tripathi named as interim replacement.

Brett Wilson.

An Australian Red Cross spokesperson told iTnews that Abby "brings extensive experience in enterprise ICT, leadership, and transformation programs, having held senior roles at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Department of Home Affairs, and Surf Life Saving Australia."

“As Interim CIO, Abby will lead our technology projects and strategic initiatives, ensuring continuity and progress while we undertake the search for a permanent CIO,” the spokesperson said.

Writing on LinkedIn, Wilson reflected on his time at Australian Red Cross, noting much has been achieved, "not just in uplifting technology, but also in total change in the culture of IT and operating model to reflect the changing external landscape.”

This included delivering “the first IT strategy to support transformation, delivering the digital spine and now executing a second IT strategy supporting the organisation to simplify, adopt, and embed [technology]."

He also cited work to use robotic process automation to save "over 2000 days of work, leading to more efficient use of time of staff and volunteers."

Wilson said that other efforts saw the creation of “a data governance function to start using data as an asset and lean into the use of AI, and the deployment of a Gen AI-assisted support bot and AI Azure cognitive services to automatically translate and transcribe interview recordings.