Ex-Safeway IT chief lands Post Office role

The former CIO of supermarket chain Safeway has been appointed as the new operations director at the Post Office.

Ric Francis was axed as Safeway CIO last March after the £3bn takeover of the company by Morrisons.

The newly-created operations director role at the Post Office includes a seat on the board and on the company's executive committee, and Francis will be responsible for the IT and some wider business operations including cash and logistics management and call centres.

Francis himself predicted the CIO's role was becoming more of a business operations position than previously in an interview with silicon.com last year

Francis started in his new position last week after taking a year out to focus on consulting work and his own start-up company. He told silicon.com the Post Office's changing business, extensive network and product range make the role of operations director "a unique challenge".

"It suits my criteria - a company trying to do something different, and a broader remit for me," he said.

Francis' previous roles include CIO and member of the executive board at TI Group/Smiths Group, international CIO at PepsiCo in New York and business systems director at Mars.