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

Among this month’s new roles: Financial services giant New York Life appointed Deepa Soni, most recently chief information and operations officer at The Hartford, as CIO; Whataburger, a burger restaurant chain, named Rohit Kapoor, the former CIO at jewelry and accessory retailer Claire’s, to be its new chief digital and technology transformation officer; A.O. Smith, global maker of water heating equipment and boilers, tapped Chris Howe, the CEO and co-founder of the Rise and Shift consultancy, as its new chief digital information officer; and Cooper Standard, global supplier of sealing and fluid handling systems and components, elevated Soma Venkat, a senior vice president and chief information technology officer, to be its chief information technology and AI officer.

Cloud providers. Payment processors. Marketing platforms. Logistics partners. Every organization depends on third parties – yet their interconnectedness with commerce and processes creates risks. In this interview, part of our Cyber Means Business series, Bob Maley, Chief Security Officer at Black Kite, argues that managing third-party relationships is a business-critical function that deserves board attention – and that effective risk mitigation enables business resilience. 

With surging demand for AI data centers, tech giants including Google and Nvidia are looking to the heavens. Google hopes to launch its Project Suncatcher in 2027, a network of “solar-powered satellites with free-space optical links connecting the nodes to a distributed network,” ArsTechnica reports. The company acknowledges it could take years to get this network using Tensor Processing Units online. A week earlier,  chip giant Nvidia and Starcloud announced plans for “a 5-gigawatt orbital data center with super-large solar and cooling panels approximately 4 kilometers in width and length.” The vision for that future project includes components that assemble themselves.

Heller has been retained to recruit a Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for a private equity-backed field services company. Reporting directly to the CEO, the CTIO will serve as a member of the leadership team and a core business partner, translating emerging technologies (AI, IoT, cloud, analytics) into competitive advantages that drive revenue, operational excellence, and customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate will bring 7-10+ years of progressive IT leadership experience and demonstrated expertise in enterprise systems integration, modern cybersecurity practices, and leading digital transformation initiatives. The role will be based in Houston, Memphis, or Denver.