REA Group lands former Coles data lead

REA Group has appointed Silvio Giorgio to the newly created position as general manager of data intelligence.

Reporting to REA Group CTO Steve Maidment, Giorgio made the leap from supermarket giant Coles Group after three years as its general manager for data and intelligence.

Giorgio said on  LinkedIn that the role is “a wonderful opportunity to help shape REA's data and AI strategy, advancing our capability to change the way people experience property”.

"We are thrilled to welcome Silvio Giorgio to the REA Global technology team as our new general manager of data intelligence," Maidment told iTnews.

“Silvio joins us from Coles, where he led a well-established data and AI function. With his extensive expertise and passion for leveraging data to create value, Silvio will play a pivotal role in shaping our data strategy and advancing our capabilities," Maidment said.

Giorgio's departure from Coles follows those of chief technology officer John Cox and chief digital officer Ben Hassing in December. 

The grocery retailer has now appointed Caroline O’Brien to the role of general manager for data and intelligence.

iTnews understands she will be stepping into the role in mid-February to lead its data, advanced analytics and innovation teams across the retailer's technology function. 

O’Brien will be joining Coles from AI software and services company Afiniti, where she was chief data officer and head of product. 

“We are excited to have Caroline join the Coles team as our new general manager, data and intelligence," a Coles spokesperson told iTnews,

“A highly skilled data and AI executive, Caroline has extensive global experience in consumer-facing businesses and brings deep technical expertise in data science, machine learning, and AI to Coles."

“Caroline will play an important role in leading the delivery of our data governance strategy, embedding our ethical AI framework, and accelerating our machine learning and computer vision capability to enable us to deliver on our strategy,” the spokesperson added.