As a growing number of organizations in different sectors of the economy embrace digital transformation, Chief Digital Officers are in the news for their recent career moves and accomplishments.
Linda Boff, Chief Marketing Officer at GE, was named U.S. Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2016 by the CDO Club, the world’s largest community of C-suite digital and data leaders. Boff was recognized for her leadership in transforming the GE brand as the company becomes a “Digital Industrial” company.
Adam Brotman, Chief Digital Officer at Starbucks, called the company’s mobile order-ahead app “a big capacity and throughput unlock.” He made the comment during Starbucks’ first quarter 2016 earnings call, reporting 33% growth in the use of the application from the previous quarter.
Chris Curtin, Chief Digital Officer at Visa, told Strategy+Business (Spring 2016) that “I not only think that the best CDOs are reflective of the business, I think that in many respects they are the business. [CDOs should] forget about digital. Forget about new media. The business objective has to permeate the thinking and the strategies and the go-to-market approach of the CDO and his and her team. Never make the means the end. A million followers on Twitter is just a means. The end is the business goal.”
Rebekah Horne, Chief Digital Officer at Australian broadcaster Ten Network Holding, has moved to a similar position with the National Rugby League, where new CEO Todd Greenberg has highlighted digital as a crucial element of his plans to grow participation, attendance and audiences.
Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer at L’Oréal, announced that the company will work with incubator Founders Factory to become its partner for investments in beauty tech startups as the world’s largest cosmetics business looks for new sources of innovation.
Perry Hewitt, Chief Digital Officer at Harvard University since 2011, has been appointed as vice president of marketing for ITHAKA, a non-profit digital technologies organization. Hewitt will work to develop a cross-channel marketing strategy spanning ITHAKA’s research, consulting and preservation services, as well as its global knowledge platform, JSTOR.
