Telegraph Media Group chief information officer Paul Cheesbrough will leave for the same job at News International this autumn, taking control of all technology at the *News Corp* UK news publisher.
NI’s current CIO Andrew Hickey is leaving later this year “to develop a portfolio of consultancy work”, the publisher says.
The significance of the appointment is spelled out by News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, to whom Cheesbrough will report, in the announcement:-
“He has exceptional experience in leading technology teams for content businesses and he joins us at a defining moment for our digital strategy. His work with editorial and commercial groups will be enormously relevant to our plans to invest and to innovate for our customers.
“Paul will take over responsibility for all News International’s technology platforms. He will be responsible for providing and developing the digital infrastructure and services required to support the business in its ongoing development into a multi-media, multi-channel news organisation.”
Cheesbrough had been instrumental in the modernisation of Telegraph.co.uk and in Telegraph Media Group’s move to new premises at Victoria, where daily and Sunday print desks merged with online staff in an integrated operation. Cheesbrough also migrated staff systems to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Apps, and had been key alongside Will Lewis as the former Telegraph editor tried to establish an innovation project in Euston before leaving recently.
Hickey has enjoyed a lower profile, but Brooks credits him with having delivered “large-scale change programmes” including the new, paid-only Times and Sunday Times websites.
A former BBC exec, Cheesbrough has been with TMG since 2007.
Forty Times staff have taken voluntary redundancy with the remaining waiting to hear whether 20 compulsory redundancies are necessary, Guardian.co.uk reports.