Tech C-suite saw action despite a slow July

July saw the C-suite heat up, as some came and some went.

Cheryan Jacob sprints to Nike as CIO

Athletic apparel behemoth Nike hired former Salesforce SVP and Head of Platform Engineering Cheryan Jacob as CIO in July, CTO Muge Erdirik Dogan said in a memo to employees. The new hire is expected to “play a key role in delivering on our priority of simplifying, standardizing and modernizing our platforms,” Dogan wrote. Nike's most recent quarterly earnings report showed a 2% YoY sales decline and the company forecast a 10% decrease in the current quarter, triggering a 20% share price drop.

Jacob has extensive engineering and leadership experience, including at Salesforce, Microsoft, and Apptio (which IBM acquired a year ago). He’s already looking for help, posting a job listing on his LinkedIn for a distinguished engineer the same week he came on board.

New Macy’s tech executive an internal hire

Macy’s promoted Keith Credendino to CIO in July, from his position as SVP of technology product development and customer experience. Credendino has been with the company since 2022, following four years at Inspire Brands as SVP of digital tech, and a 10-year stint at the InterContinental Hotels Group, most recently as VP of product management. He replaced outgoing CIO Laura Miller, who retired effective August 3.

“As our new CIO, Keith will continue to simplify and modernize our technology stack,” COO and CFO Adrian V. Mitchell said in a statement.

PwC looks ahead to new frontiers with chief AI officer

Dan Priest is PwC’s new chief AI officer, the company announced July 16. Priest, who’s been with PwC for just under 12 years, was most recently cloud and digital market leader. In a press release, the company said its data shows that three-quarters of executives said GenAI will transform their businesses.

“Last year was about exploring generative AI’s potential and ability to shape and disrupt how business is done,” Priest said in a statement. “Going forward, we are focused on unlocking the transformative power of AI to help our clients achieve advantage in an increasingly competitive market.”