London Olympics gets IT chief

The organisers of the 2012 Olympics in London have finally named the man who'll be in charge of overspending on implementing its IT strategy.

Gerry Pennell will leave his current job as "executive director of business transformation and shared services" [nope, dunno either] at Co-op Financial Services to take charge of IT at London 2012 from early October.

Marshalling contractors BT, Atos Origin, IBM, Accenture and others, he'll have overall responsibility for the games' telecoms, media tech and venue IT. He took a similar role at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Pennell said: "I'm joining LOCOG at an exciting time, as London officially becomes the next Summer Host City, and I'm looking forward to leading a strong team and delivering a technology solution which underpins a truly memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012." ®