CASE STUDY

Appointing a CIO

Situation

A FTSE 100 industrial services business was looking to appoint a new CIO to the Executive Team. The business had grown rapidly through numerous international acquisitions and had an IT function that was fairly disparate, unstructured and complex. The business was looking to appoint a high calibre CIO who could deliver a step change in performance and ensure that ‘superior technology’ would be a true source of competitive advantage for the group.

Approach

The demands of the brief saw us focus on candidates with experience operating in global, complex, engineering and science-led businesses and with a first-class reputation for building high quality and robust systems. We focused on candidates with a progressive and modern approach to systems architecture, design, application and platform development. Additionally, we assessed candidates for their ability to drive innovation, both within an IT function but also commercially across a business. Overall, we interviewed candidates of over 15 different nationalities based across 18 countries.

Impact

We presented a diverse longlist of candidates with backgrounds spanning three continents and experience from both Fortune 500 and leading-edge growth stage companies. The shortlist comprised of three Group CIOs alongside a divisional CIO from a major US multi national. The appointed candidate has proven a strong cultural fit for the business, added greater diversity to the leadership team, and has quickly made an impact in transforming the function to be a commercial lever. The business is now viewed as a sector leader from a technology perspective.