Hydro Tasmania searches for new CIO

Hydro Tasmania has appointed Omera Partners to lead its search for a new chief information officer, following the departure in August of its previous IT chief, Luke Stow.

Stow left the electricity generator to found professional services firm Alchemy Solutions. Anna Bird has been acting as CIO since his departure, a spokesperson for the company told Computerworld.

The Hydro CIO reports directly to the utility’s CEO, Steve Davy. The organisation says it is seeking a CIO with a “a strong background in leading high performing IT functions within medium sized organisations, or broad experience across core IT disciplines in a larger corporation”.

The IT chief will be responsible “for leading the strategic development, delivery and support of the full suite of data, technology, infrastructure, security, vendor management and digital solutions to optimise operations and enable a competitive customer value proposition in a highly competitive and disrupted market.”

The state-government-owned business employs more than 1100 people. It is Tasmania’s key electricity generator, with 30 power stations and 50 major dames, and produces around 9000 gigawatt hours of electricity from hydropower every year. It also uses wind and gas for generation. Its generation system has a total capacity of more than 2600 megawatts.

Applications for the Hydro CIO position close on 18 May.

Tasmanian government-owned electricity retailer Aurora Energy earlier this year appointed Shaun Weber as CIO.