C-suite shuffle continues in new year

Adobe poaches talent from Airbnb, Delta sees a giant leave, and more—it’s January in the C-suite.

Adobe’s new CIO comes from Airbnb

Lucius DiPhillips joined Adobe on January 20, a coup for the software company. DiPhillips has 25 years experience in digital security and leadership, including almost eight years at Airbnb where he was most recently CIO.

DiPhillips’s career includes stints at eBay, where he was VP of product and engineering, and executive roles at PayPal, Bank of America, and GE. His hiring is part of Adobe’s focus on AI; Daniel Durn, Adobe CFO, said in a statement that DiPhillips’s “vision will be instrumental as we continue to scale and innovate in the era of AI.”

After a decade, Delta CIO retires

Ten years after joining Delta Air Lines in February 2016, Rahul Samant is moving on. The airline’s EVP and CIO is stepping down from his position, effective March 1. He will be replaced by Amala Duggirala, who will assume the role of chief digital and technology officer. Duggirala, who will be a direct report to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, joined the company on January 12. Samant will assist with the transition.

Prior to joining Delta, Samant spent three years at AIG, ending as chief digital officer. He joined the financial services corporation after 19 years at Bank of America, where he started as an IT manager before rising to chief digital officer.

“Rahul’s accomplishments include migrating Delta’s systems and data to the cloud, developing a new data center, and establishing a world-class information security team,” Bastian said in a statement. “Rahul also oversaw the launch of Delta’s AI journey, with the beta rollout of Delta Concierge and optimizing AI to support our operation, among other initiatives.”

IonQ snags a former federal tech exec

Katie Arrington is hitting the private sector again, nearly a year after rejoining the Department of Defense. The former federal cyber official joined quantum computing company IonQ as CIO on January 19 and will bring “breakthrough innovation,” said CEO Niccolo de Masi in a statement.

Arrington’s appointment as DoD CIO in February 2025 came after she lost her NSA security clearance in 2021; she reached a settlement with the government over the incident in 2022.

During her first stint at DoD, Arrington helped develop the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, which went into effect over the summer.

Odds and ends

Here are some other comings and goings:

• Systems Planning & Analysis has a new CIO: Raj Badhwar
• After eight years, Pittsburgh CIO Heidi Norman steps down