EXCLUSIVE: Rob James new Qantas CTO

William Hill’s IT boss Rob James has quit his post and will join Qantas as the airline’s new chief technology officer in early August.

In an internal email to staff – sighted by CIO Australia – Qantas CIO Susan Doniz said James’ experience in implementing and leading agile teams, technology architecture and strategy, BPO and analysis, as well as project management “will see Rob well placed to successfully execute our technology strategy.”

James is replacing Chris Taylor who quit as CTO in February after being in the role since January 2014.

He has 20 years’ experience in IT, and over the last three years shifted the betting firm's technology group from a cost centre function to a revenue-generating part of the business.

James, who placed 8^th in last year’s CIO50, led a team at William Hill that invested in new core platforms to modernise architecture to support rapid product development. He also restructured and refocused teams to deliver a more marketable product. This led to $60 million growth for the organisation.

Prior to his role at William Hill, James was CTO at Echo Entertainment Group for just over two years where he was responsible for technology strategy and innovation across the business.

CIO Australia is seeking comment from James.

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Follow Byron Connolly on Twitter: @ByronConnolly