HMRC poaches Vodafone IT head
HM Revenue & Customs has appointed Vodafone UK’s chief information officer (CIO) Mark Dearnley into the equivalent role at the British tax administrator after receiving approval from the Prime Minister.
Dearnley, who has been CIO at Vodafone UK since 2010 and held similarly senior positions at Cable & Wireless and Boots (helping to set up Boots.com), will join HMRC in October. Despite having spent his entire career in the private sector, he said the HMRC role was “irresistible”, given its customer base, scale and complexity. He will earn £180,000 a year in his new role.
Exchequer secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said the appointment of an experienced private sector CIO is an “indication of the scale and seriousness of the Government’s digital ambition” and has the "cutting-edge challenges that can attract the very best leaders in IT to public service".
Dearnley has a degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Brunel University and is a fellow at the Institute of Engineering and Technology and the British Computer Society.