Former Toll CIO lands at Essential Energy

Former Toll chief information officer John Ansley has taken up a newly-created CIO role at NSW government-owned energy provider Essential Energy.

John Ansley

The company advertised for the role in October following an executive restructure that pinpointed IT as a function requiring a spot at the executive table.

Ansley will report directly into Essential Energy CEO John Cleland, and will be responsible for an organisation-wide technological transformation. He will be based in Port Macquarie.

Ansley will help to "lift efficiency and bring new capabilities across the business", Essential Energy said in a statement.

On his immediate plate is an iDevice-based mobilisation of the energy provider's field workforce away from paper processes, alongside modernisation and consolidation of Essential Energy's application portfolio.

The transformation - intended to future-proof the organisation and move rapidly away from old technology - will be laid out in more detail once Ansley completes his three-year vision for IT, currently being drafted.

Ansley left Toll in March this year after handing in his resignation last December.  His past experience includes CIO roles at Linfox, Rio Tinto and Roche. He is also a steering committee member of the SAP Executive Council in Australia.

Essential Energy operates Australia’s largest electricity distribution network, covering 95 percent of NSW as well as parts of southern Queensland. It delivers electricity to 800,000 people.