The summer onslaught of technology leadership appointments has arrived as leading companies across sectors hire and promote new heads of technology.
JPMorgan, BNY and Citi each named technology leaders, marking a leadership changeover trend for financial services.
Gap, Inc., PayPal and Little Caesars also made appointments and the roles run the gamut from CIOs to CTOs. And Northwestern Mutual appointed its next chief digital and information officer.
Analysts and experts connect the numerous appointments, all announced in the last four weeks, to fiscal year alignment. Compensation schedules and the relentless pace of technology development in the last 18 months, could play a role, too.
A midyear appointment means executives can spend the remaining months of the year getting acclimated, said Daniel Sanchez Reina, VP analyst at Gartner. "This learning curve takes between six and nine months, so, to me, it's very clear they are preparing for 2025."
Some businesses align their fiscal year with the calendar year, to begin in January. "If you count, that's six months from now," Sanchez Reina said. Many American companies begin their fiscal years in April, which gives incoming executives the rest of 2024 to grasp the intricacies of their new roles.
Companies considering tech C-suite changes are looking for leaders who can democratize technology, enabling more parts of the organization to produce digital outputs, Sanchez Reina said.
"The bigger your company is, the bigger your expectations about digital and generative AI," Sanchez Reina said. "The only way to make it happen, the only way to accelerate time to market and speed to value, is having a CIO with a democratized mindset."
Businesses want tech — now
Technological urgency is a significant driver of change, as new strategies often require a fresh oversight structure.
The enterprise focus on generative AI since 2022 has reshaped the landscape, according to Brian Jackson, research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
"Anytime there's an investor's call now, investors are asking 'what's the generative AI strategy?'" Jackson said. If leaders at the helm of technology can't answer that question for their businesses, it could lead CEOs to consider a replacement, according to Jackson.
Businesses appointing tech leaders in recent weeks have different motivations. PayPal, Gap and Northwestern Mutual all underwent or announced CEO transitions in the last 12 months, a change that can spur other executive updates as CEOs build out their inner circle.
Gap CEO Richard Dickson, who previously served as COO at Mattel, brought in CTO Sven Gerjets to reprise the role he held at the toy maker.
In other cases, businesses must replace outgoing executives. That is the case of JPMorgan, which appointed a firmwide technology chief as former CTO A.J. Lang headed for retirement.
Some of the businesses specifically called out AI adoption plans in their leadership updates. PayPal highlighted Srini Venkatesan's experience in digital transformation and AI personalization, while Citi tasked Tim Ryan, incoming head of technology and business enablement, with “making sure our businesses are fully enabled by AI."
Emerging tech adoption plans are a key driver of executive updates, according to Martha Heller, CEO at Heller Search.
"From an innovation perspective and the cyber perspective, AI has made CEOs adopt a lot of urgency around tech leadership," Heller said.
The compensation question
Executives looking to make a leap into their next role will also keep in mind the standard cycles of their compensation schedules, including bonus payouts.
C-suite members may hold onto their roles and delay potential job searches until they receive their yearly performance bonuses, which is a possible driver of midyear appointments, according to Heller.
"That usually happens in the first quarter," Heller said. "There are compensation considerations for a candidate who starts midyear rather than at the end of the year."
