Large enterprises around the world are reshuffling their technology leadership — either hiring new heads, promoting existing ones, or rethinking structure in response to digital disruption, cyber risk, and the accelerating demands of AI and product innovation.
Bank of America — New Chief Technology & Information Officer
Bank of America has named Hari Gopalkrishnan as Chief Technology & Information Officer in place of Aditya Bhasin, who announced his retirement in July 2025. Hari Gopalkrishnan, with the bank since 2011 and previously at Citigroup, has overseen technology for consumer, business and wealth management. Bank of America invests in digital and AI capabilities, and Hari Gopalkrishnan is expected to sustain that momentum—scaling engineering platforms, balancing innovation with reliability, and accelerating AI deployments.
Flipkart — Chief Technology & Product Officer Appointment
Flipkart, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant, has appointed Balaji Thiagarajan as Chief Technology & Product Officer. Balaji Thiagarajan brings deep experience from Google, Microsoft, Uber and Yahoo. The combined product-technology role signals Flipkart’s intent to tighten the link between product vision and technology architecture while modernizing its stack, embedding AI and improving customer-facing features as competition intensifies in Indian e-commerce.
Marks & Spencer — Chief Digital & Technology Head Departs
Marks & Spencer said its Chief Digital & Technology Officer Rachel Higham is stepping down after just over a year in the role, following a major cyberattack that disrupted online operations and inflicted significant financial losses. Sacha Berendji will assume responsibility for digital and technology alongside his property and store development duties, with retail director Thinus Keeve reporting directly to CEO Stuart Machin. The leadership change underscores how critical cyber-resilience and customer trust have become for retail technology chiefs.
Yum Brands — Strengthening Digital & Technology Leadership
Yum Brands has elevated Jim Dausch, formerly Global Chief Digital & Technology Officer of Pizza Hut, to group-level Chief Digital & Technology Officer and President of Byte by Yum, the company’s AI-driven technology platform and shared digital infrastructure. Manish Jain will lead the Digital & Technology India Global Capability Centre, which supports Yum’s entire brand portfolio worldwide. These appointments highlight Yum’s determination to institutionalize digital and technology at a global platform scale, unifying AI, franchisee tools, customer experience and backend services across brands such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC.
Vijaye Raji, CTO of Applications at OpenAI
OpenAI said Vijaye Raji will be stepping in as CTO of Applications to oversee product engineering for ChatGPT, Codex, and related infrastructure/integrity systems. This follows OpenAI’s acquisition of Statsig (a product experimentation platform) for US$1.1 billion. OpenAI is doubling down on building out applications — not just foundational model work — and ensuring the tools that support experimentation and rapid iteration (like A/B testing, feature flags) are deeply embedded. This reinforces how product-engineering rigor is becoming central in AI companies.
Gaurav Bhalotia, CTO of EY India
EY India appointed Gaurav Bhalotia (former executive at Udaan and Flipkart) as its new Chief Technology Officer. He will lead EY’s innovation and tech strategy, particularly scaling AI/data/digital transformation capabilities. The appointment suggests EY is accelerating its push into building scalable platforms and AI-powered offerings — not just advisory.
Neal Sample, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Best Buy
Best Buy elevated Neal Sample (previously EVP & CIO at Walgreens Boots Alliance) to the combined role of Chief Digital, Analytics & Technology Officer. He is tasked with accelerating Best Buy’s digital transformation, including analytics, tech infrastructure, and customer-facing digital experiences. Retailers are consolidating tech, analytics and digital under one leadership to reduce silos and speed up digital experience delivery. Traditional enterprises are seeing digital/tech/analytics as inseparable from each other.
Bob Kroeger, Chief Technology Officer of Gray Media
Gray Media promoted Bob Kroeger, its longtime CIO, to CTO. He succeeds David Burke (recently retired) and will continue to lead on tech strategy, infrastructure, cloud migration, broadcast systems, and innovation in media delivery. Media firms are placing renewed emphasis on technology leadership to manage both legacy broadcast systems and newer digital content delivery, streaming, and cloud-based infrastructure.
Charlotte Baldwin, Chief Information Officer of Burberry
Burberry has appointed Charlotte Baldwin as its new CIO. She most recently served as Global Chief Digital & Information Officer at Costa Coffee (a unit of Coca-Cola). She will lead Burberry’s global IT team and further its tech modernization.
Valerie Ashbaugh, CIO of McDonald’s U.S.
McDonald’s named Valerie Ashbaugh as the U.S. Chief Information Officer. She takes over from Whitney McGinnis, bringing experience in product development and AI prototyping, with goals around boosting the U.S. tech strategy for McDonald’s.
Rafael Sanchez, CIO of Bloomin’ Brands
Bloomin’ Brands has appointed Rafael Sanchez as Senior Vice President & CIO. He takes on responsibility for its technology operations across the restaurant chain, likely including supply chain, ordering systems, digital customer experience, etc.
Takeaways for Tech Leaders
For tech leaders, these appointments underscore one message: to stay ahead, leadership must combine domain expertise (e.g. AI or product engineering) with operational excellence, scaling capability, and an ability to blur the line between what was earlier distinct roles (tech infrastructure, product, digital experiences).
Succession planning for technology leadership is a visible priority, with companies grooming internal successors and rotating leaders with cross-functional exposure. AI is embedded as a core capability, and internal digital platforms are treated as strategic assets. Cyber incidents can quickly lead to leadership changes and major restructuring, while the convergence of product and technology roles signals that separating product leadership from tech execution is increasingly obsolete.
Rajani Baburajan
