Dive Brief:
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The Coca-Cola Company announced the appointment of Barry Simpson as the company’s new chief information officer, according to a company press release. Simpson previously served as the company's interim CIO and his appointment is effective immediately.
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Simpson will oversee the company’s global information technology strategy, services and operations, the company said. He previously held IT leadership roles for Colgate-Palmolive.
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Coke has been without a CIO since last summer when former CIO Ed Steinike died after a brief illness.
Dive Insight:
Simpson previously served as company’s head of Global Business Unit IT Services. He has been with the company since 2008.
Under former CIO Steinike, Coca-Cola had begun a major transition to the cloud, The Wall Street Journal reported. Steinike predicted the company could vastly improve the scalability and security of its IT infrastructure in doing so. He had planned to move about 100 applications to the cloud in 2016 prior to his death. As Simpson steps in, its expected he will continue to move the company toward a more cloud-based future.
"Given the significant amount of change under way as we transform our business for the future, it’s important that we have an IT function positioned to protect our information technology and accelerate our growth around the world," said James Quincey, president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, in an announcement.
