Nasdaq CIO leaves for Capital One job

Nasdaq Stock Market CIO Gregor Bailar is leaving to head up Capital One Financial Corp.'s IT department, where a business executive vice president and a technology executive had been sharing the CIO role for the past year and a half.

Bailar, currently CIO and executive vice president for operations and technology at Washington-based Nasdaq, is expected to begin his new job Feb. 15. He will report to Capital One's president and chief operating officer, Nigel W. Morris.

In a statement yesterday, Morris praised Gregor's "extraordinary talent" and more than 15 years' experience in the IT field. Before his three-year stint at Nasdaq, Bailar had spent four years at Citicorp, where he was managing director for the advanced development group at its global relationship bank division. During that time, he oversaw the building of 39 data centers around the world.

"His understanding of both the potential of new technologies and the power of well-designed, scalable architecture will help position Capital One for the next wave of growth," Morris said.

A Nasdaq spokesman said Bailar had been considering a move for some time for personal reasons. Noting that Capital One's headquarters in Falls Church, Va., are located close to Bailar's home, the spokesman said the move "will allow him to better balance his professional and family life."

Nasdaq said details on Bailar's replacement weren't available.

In a move that garnered wide publicity, in February last year Capital One split the CIO job between two people, Laura Olle, senior vice president of IT systems development, and Marjorie M. Connelly, executive vice president for domestic card operations, in a move touted as a sign of cooperation between the company's IT and business operations. The appointments were made following the resignation of James Donehey, who left the CIO post after five years.

But the credit card company now says it never intended for Olle and Connelly to permanently fill the role of CIO.

"People made that assumption," said Tatiana Stead, director of corporate media. "We never said co-CIOs. We never said it was a business model."

Capital One's move may have been foretold at Computerworld's Premier 100 Conference this spring where Olle said sharing the CIO role "is the right thing to do now. Three months down the road, it could be different. We will react in whatever way we need to in order to put the right things in place at Capital One."

Stead said now that "Gregor is coming in he will bring the entire IT organization under one helm, and Marge will be able to continue her role. She had a dual hat and now her role will give opportunity to focus on her world."

Connelly is now executive vice president of operations, Stead said.

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