Ahold Taps Morrisons Vet as Group CIO

Ben Wishart

Ahold said Tuesday it has hired Ben Wishart to fill the newly created role of group chief information officer, based at the company’s headquarters here.

Wishart, a British national, most recently had been CIO at U.K.-based food retailer Morrisons, and prior to that had been with hospitality concern Whitbread and with food retailer Tesco. He is scheduled to begin at Ahold on June 17, reporting to Jeff Carr, chief financial officer.

“Technology is an increasingly critical element in ensuring the success of our ‘Reshaping Retail’ strategy,” said Carr in a statement. “I am pleased that Ben joins us to lead the next stage of Ahold's journey as we are responding to a changing retail world, leveraging our scale and coordinating technology. Ben has significant retail experience and brings a strong combination of strategic leadership, business transformation, team-building capabilities and technology leadership skills to this new role."