Associated Newspapers' CIO quits

The CIO of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mailand Evening Standard, has quit his role at the media group following a restructuring of the media group's IT operations.

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) group is merging the IT organisations of Associated Newspapers and Northcliffe Media to create a new department, called A&N Media IT services.

A DMGT statement said the changes will "optimise on-going systems support and development".

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Northcliffe Media CIO David Henderson has been appointed CIO of A&N Media IT services with immediate effect, reporting to Ian Hanson, operations director of the new division.

The DMGT statement added: "As a consequence of these changes, Ian Cohen, CIO of Associated Newspapers Limited, will be leaving the business."

As a group executive director and CIO, Ian Cohen was a member of the Associated Newspapers commercial board and was responsible for all technology, operations and production activities that support the group's print and online businesses.

Cohen was voted one of the UK's leading CIOs for two years running in the silicon.com CIO50.

He joined Associated Newspapers in 2005 from the Financial Times, where he was group IT director, and has been involved in a number of large business process and technology change programmes at the media group ranging from wholesale infrastructure re-engineering to client-facing print and online projects.

Cohen declined to comment on his departure or future plans.

His departure is the latest in a line of high profile CIO departures and moves this year and the recent annual CIO survey by recruiter Harvey Nash found almost three-quarters of UK IT chiefs are looking for fresh pastures, with 63 per cent of the 360 CIOs quizzed saying they expect to have left their current job within two years.