Optus chief information officer, Lawrie Turner, has resigned following an extensive restructure of the telco's technology divisions.
"I can confirm Lawrie has resigned and will be finishing up with Optus at the end of August to join another organisation," a spokesperson for the telco said.
Turner joined Optus as CIO in August 2007, coming across from a previous position as Coles' general manager of retail systems. The executive has also worked in other large iconic Australian companies such as Qantas, where he led the integration of all commercial systems for the merger of Qantas and Australian Airlines.
According to Optus, its IT division will merge with parts of its Products and Delivery, and Networks teams - with a new unit to be formed dubbed 'Technology and Products' - as part of the restructure.
Turner's responsibilities have been subsumed into a new managing director position to lead the division, which will be taken by Andrew Buay, previously the leader of Optus' Products and Delivery Team.
There has been much movement in CIO ranks during the past few weeks, and somewhat of a changing of the guard among the top technology ranks at Australia's largest telcos. Telstra has continued its horror run of short-lived chief information officers, with incumbent CIO, John McInerney, resigning after less than two years in the role in June.
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