Telefonica's group CIO Phil Jordan to become group CIO at Sainsbury's

Jordan will move-on to Sainsbury's after spending almost eight years as group CIO at Telefonica

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has Phil Jordan, the group CIO at Telefonica, to become group CIO at Sainsbury's. However, Jordan won't be joining the business until January 2018.

Jordan will become a member of Sainsbury's operating board, reporting to group CEO Mike Coupe.

Coupe said that the appointment shows that Sainsbury's "recognises the strategic importance of digital and information technology as an enabler for our future success and sets up to deliver excellence in this area across the business".

Jordan spent a number of years at Vodafone, working his way up to becoming its CIO in July 2007. He left the company to join rival O2 UK, one of the company's owned by the Spanish telecoms operator, as CIO, as well as being European CIO for Telefonica Europe.

Then, in September 2011, he became group CIO of Telefonica, meaning that he acquired global responsibility for IT across the Telefonica Group - with 11 local CIOs reporting to him.

Most recently, he has been tasked with a huge business transformation project at the telecoms company.

In a statement, Jordan said: "The role of the digital and technology function in the retail sector has never been greater as the pace of change accelerates.

"Technology and digital services extend to every part of Sainsbury's and, following its recent expansion; this is a very exciting time to join the group."

Jordan will work with Sainsbury's other digital and technology business leaders, including Richard Newsome at Sainsbury's, George Goley at Sainsbury's-owned Argos, and Alan Hyndman at Sainsbury's Bank.

In a tweet, Jordan said he was "excited to be joining a great team and business in 2018 at Sainsbury's" and added that he was "incredibly proud of the job global IT has done and is doing at Telefonica".

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