New Ministry Of Defence CIO Named

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has named Mike Stone as its new CIO.

He will be replacing the Ministry’s current temporary CIO Yvonne Ferguson, who the organisation claims was always meant to be an interim arrangement while a permanent replacement was found.

Ferguson, who arrived in January after taking over from John Taylor, oversaw the creation of a newly integrated information Systems and Services department.

The Ministry claims Stone was chosen because he is already familiar with the organisation because of his history has a supplier.

Stone has joined the MoD from business services company Serco, where he was chief executive of its Defence Business Services (DBS) division.

This provides corporate services for the Department, for example civilian human resources, finances, information and security vetting.

The new CIO already has a military background, both from his Serco position and a period of time where he served as the British Army’s information director until 2002.

The Ministry said it welcomes Stone’s experience and he will fill the seat for an initial period of one year.

Prior to this, Stone has been COO at telecommunications giant BT and CEO of its OpenAccess Business.

CIO To Drive MoD IT Transformation

The MoD’s Defence IT Strategy released in 2013 around the same time Ferguson was appointed as CIO.

This document explained that the Ministry would have a 3-star CIO, a military ranking that is the equivalent of a lieutenant general – a ranking Stone will now hold.

The strategy states that the 3-star CIO has responsibility for the majority of ISS (Information Systems and Services), as well as Joint Forces Command.

The Department hopes the appointment of a permanent CIO will strength its leadership and accountability for information systems, both in the military on business environments.

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