The Heller Report: Roundup of New CIOs for May

Health care giant Humana appointed Japan Mehta, former chief data officer at Citi, to be its new CIO; The Hartford insurance company named Shekar Pannala, previously global CIO at Chubb, to be CIO; Genworth, the long-term care provider, tapped new CIO Morris Taylor, who most recently served as CIO at Markel; and health care provider Kaiser Permanente promoted its CTO, Neil Cowles, to be its new chief information and technology officer.

Companies that depend on supply chains have invested in advanced analytics and AI to digitize their operations and propel their businesses. But to achieve the promise of these technologies calls for more than buying these tools, writes Martha Heller in Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “They need the vision to build strong AI foundations and streamlined processes, the governance to manage a potentially limitless horizon of new ideas, and a board that understands that the AI world will be different.”

For those of you who want to craft the perfect mystery story, the BBC has the close-to-perfect teacher: a facsimile of Agatha Christie. In an AI-era plot twist, a hybrid creation – an actress accompanied by a simulated voice – stands in for the late Dame Agatha, author of Murder on the Orient Express and many other titles. The creators used “AI-enhanced technology, licensed images, and carefully restored audio recordings” to capture “the essence of Agatha Christie’s presence and voice,” to share lessons on the art of suspense and red herrings, according to an announcement by BBC Maestro. 

Heller was recently retained by U.S. Waterproofing to recruit a Vice President of Information Technology. A family-operated company since 1957, U.S. Waterproofing is a basement waterproofing and foundation repair company. For this role, we identified Gaurav Jhaveri, who most recently served as Senior Director of Information Technology at Matrix Sciences. Prior to that, he was the Director of Information Technology for Elite Dental Partners. Jhaveri earned an MS in Information Technology & Management from Illinois Institute of Technology. Best of luck, Gaurav!