iTnews
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Business
  • Strategy

Tracking the year of CIO churn

By Brett Winterford , Penny Wolf on Sep 11, 2014 1:01PM
Tracking the year of CIO churn

[Blog post] Who shone through in 12 months of disruption?

The last 12 months have quite possibly been the most tumultuous year to be an Australian chief information officer, even by the dynamic standards of our technology industry.

The CIO role at a disproportionate number of our top technology employers – banks, government agencies and retailers in particular – has turned over since the last iTnews Benchmark Awards. To illustrate, we’ve listed a summary of those we’ve reported on below.

Earlier this week we opened for submissions for the third annual Benchmarks in a vastly different business environment to that in which we designed the program.

Some have questioned whether we need to shift from crowning a 'CIO of the Year' to something more generic.

After a few years of the analysts and consultants bandying around that ‘SMAC’ acronym as encompassing the great disrupting forces on IT,  we’ve seen it claim some genuine victims over the past six months, for better or for worse.

We’ve seen the proliferation and accelerated adoption of cloud services on Australian soil, providing yet more options for those business execs that see outsourcing as a means of attaining short-term budgetary relief. 

CMOs unsatisfied with the speed at which IT has delivered on their plans for personalised, data-driven services or app delivery, have used the opportunity to stake their claim to technology decisions.

Some organisations, feeling comfortable with the state of their IT posture, have chosen not to continue hiring CIOs. Our last ‘CIO of the Year’ actually carries the role of ‘chief digital officer’.

We won't shy away from bestowing our annual prize on a CIO, a CTO, a chief digital officer, a Head of IT Strategy - the title doesn’t especially matter to us. 

What matters is that the winner exhibited technology leadership in a team that has delivered in a big way. Successful technology executions matter more in the current economic climate – particularly in highly disrupted industries - than ever before.

Genuine technology leadership – regardless of your precise job description – is a quality that few possess and something that ought to be celebrated. 

List of CIO changes, 2014

Banking and finance

  • David Whiteing for Michael Harte at CommBank
  • Sue Coulter for David Gee at Credit Union Australia
  • Simon Andrews for Andrew Henderson at ING Direct
  • David Boyle for Denis McGee at NAB
  • Matt Pancino for Jeff Smith at Suncorp
  • Dave Curran for Clive Whincup at Westpac

Retail/media

  • Richard Umbers [new position] at Myer
  • David Marks for Robyn Elliott at Foxtel
  • John Jessen for Viren Shah at Specialty Fashion Group
  • Clive Whincup for Dan Beecham at Woolworths

Asset-heavy industries

  • Dan Carpenter for John Jessen at DB Schenker
  • Grainne Kearns for Stephen Tame at Jetstar
  • Gavin Wood for Carl Duckinson at Newcrest Mining
  • John Ansley for Wayne Gordon at Toll
  • Bernie Wansink for Krist Davood at Schiavello

Higher education

  • Peter Nikoletatos for Ged Doyle at La Trobe University
  • Dr Marie Davies for Marc Bailey at Macquarie University

Public sector

  • Bret Morris for Andrew Mills at SA Government
  • Andrew Mills for Peter Grant at Queensland Government
  • Maria Milosavljevic for Andrew Cann at Australian Crime Commission
  • Dr Lesley Seebeck for Rob Lovery at the Bureau of Meteorology
  • Shaun Keane [new position] to Clean Energy Regulator
  • Randall Brugeaud for Rachel Noble at Customs
  • Matthew Boyley for Greg Field at the Department of Industry
  • Michael Walsh for Greg Wells at NSW Health
  • Gyl Stacey for Tony Skippington at DSITIA (Queensland Government)
  • Jensen Spencer for Glenn Walker at Queensland Emergency Services
  • Mal Thatcher for Ray Brown at Queensland Health
  • Chris Turnbull [new position] at Queensland Treasury
  • Bill le Blanc for David Johnston at SA Health
  • Bill Leonard for Andrew Robertson at WA Health
  • Sarma Rajaraman for Nick Piper at Brisbane City Council

Vacant and abolished roles, 2014

  • AEMO (formerly Susan Sly) - abolished
  • Airservices Australia (formerly Gordon Dunsford)
  • ANZ Bank (formerly Ann Weatherston)
  • Arrow Energy (formerly Ross Lennox)
  • Ausenco (formerly Paul Young)
  • The Australian Government (formerly Glenn Archer) - abolished
  • BNP Paribas Australia (formerly Mathieu Allard) 
  • Coles (formerly Conrad Harvey)
  • Department of Communications (for Lee Di Berardino)
  • Macquarie Bank (formerly Joe Barker)
  • Perpetual (formerly Jenny Levy) - abolished
  • Seek (formerly David Gibbons) - abolished
  • Telstra - formerly Patrick Eltridge
  • University of Newcastle (formerly Mark Pigot)
  • Unitywater (formerly Mat Thomas)
  • Victorian Department of Human Services (formerly Grahame Coles)
  • Vodafone (formerly Andrew Wiles) - abolished

Any we've neglected to mention? Email us.

The IT benchmark awards will be held during the CIO Strategy Summit. 

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Tags:
benchmark awardsciodigitalitnewsrole of the ciostrategy
Brett Winterford

One of Australia’s most experienced technology journalists, former iTnews Group Editor Brett Winterford has written about the business of technology for 15 years.

Awarded Business Journalist and Technology Journalist of the year at the 2004 ITjourno awards and Editor of the Year at the 2009 Publishers Australia 'Bell' awards, Winterford has extensive experience in both the business and technology press, writing for such publications as the Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald.

As editor of iTnews Brett has led a team of award-winning journalists; delivered speeches at industry events; authored, commissioned and edited research papers, curated technology conferences [The iTnews Executive Summit and Australian Data Centre Strategy Summit and also shares the judging of the annual Benchmark Awards.

Brett's areas of specialty include enterprise software, cloud computing and IT services.

Read more from this blog: The Benchmark Awards

Partner Content

Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Promoted Content Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
How to turn digital complexity into competitive advantage
Promoted Content How to turn digital complexity into competitive advantage
Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Promoted Content Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development
Promoted Content Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development

Sponsored Whitepapers

Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see

Events

  • Forrester Technology & Innovation Asia Pacific 2022
By Brett Winterford
Penny Wolf
Sep 11 2014
1:01PM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • Western Sydney University splits head of IT role
  • ABC's chief digital and information officer to leave
  • Santos appoints first chief digital officer
  • Freedom Furniture re-architects IT after troubled project stopped trade
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

Australian court finds insurer not liable for ransomware clean-up costs

Australian court finds insurer not liable for ransomware clean-up costs

Telstra deregisters 900MHz sites “hindering” Optus 5G rollout

Telstra deregisters 900MHz sites “hindering” Optus 5G rollout

ADHA extends Accenture's My Health Record support deal for $100m

ADHA extends Accenture's My Health Record support deal for $100m

Defence, DEWR drop $160m on Microsoft software, Azure

Defence, DEWR drop $160m on Microsoft software, Azure

Digital Nation

Domino’s invests in observability for zero contact delivery
Domino’s invests in observability for zero contact delivery
Criteo to fork out $94.7m for consent breaches
Criteo to fork out $94.7m for consent breaches
Australia will lose 11 percent of jobs to automation by 2040: Forrester
Australia will lose 11 percent of jobs to automation by 2040: Forrester
COVER STORY: How KPMG, Mirvac and ASX use blockchain to build trust in the property sector
COVER STORY: How KPMG, Mirvac and ASX use blockchain to build trust in the property sector
Metaverses on the agenda for Dominello, Husic ministerial meeting
Metaverses on the agenda for Dominello, Husic ministerial meeting
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorisation.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of nextmedia's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.