The Heller Report: July Roundup of New C-Suite Tech Appointments

Among this month’s appointments: First Energy Corp., an energy holding company, named Daniel Puscas, former director at AlixPartners, as its CIO; R1, a healthcare revenue manager, selected Eric Tagliere, most recently CTO at Humana, to be CIO; TRG, a global managed services provider, appointed Jon Whiley, the former CIO and CTO at The Planet Group, as its new CIO; and Geisinger, the Pennsylvania-based health system, hired Bill Bellando, previously the CIO at Wellstar, as CIO.

In a recent article discussing the 23-year-old chief AI officer at software company Pendo, Heller CEO Martha Heller told The Wall Street Journal that the metrics for evaluating candidates for head AI roles are changing to allow Gen Z candidates. Heller recalled a conversation with a consumer goods executive who described what she sought in an AI chief. The executive wanted an “out of the box thinker, someone who knows consumer packaged goods, who’s a good storyteller and people will listen to,” Heller said. “And I said, ‘OK, years of experience?’ She said, ‘Irrelevant.’”

On July 6, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the state’s Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, a law that requires developers of the largest advanced AI systems to explain their safety practices to the public, Gizmodo reported. The law, which goes into effect in 2028, requires AI systems “to undergo regular, independent third-party safety audits” and calls on the large companies to report significant safety incidents. It also sets up a channel for whistleblowers for AI lab workers to report safety concerns.

Heller was recently retained to recruit a Chief Information Officer for PowerGrid Services, an Apollo portfolio company. With over 30 years of industry experience, PowerGrid serves a wide range of utility providers—including major utilities, cooperatives, and municipalities—across the country. They specialize in overhead distribution construction, transmission line maintenance, and right-of-way clearing and vegetation management. For this role, we identified Brad Manning, who most recently served as Chief Information Officer for Strada Services. Prior to that, he was Chief Information Officer at TopBuild. Manning holds a B.S. from Purdue University and an MBA from Ball State University. Congratulations, Brad!