Nationwide's Cannon Now Infrastructure CIO

Kelly Cannon, previously vice president of IS and in charge of all of Columbus, OH-based Nationwide Insurance's policy management systems, has been appointed chief information officer for corporate infrastructure at Nationwide, a position that oversees infrastructure for both Nationwide Insurance and Nationwide Financial.

"Nationwide Insurance and Nationwide Financial are two very different companies and I don't see a benefit to creating a single, broad IT organization," Cannon says. "On the other hand, we are trying to develop points of synergy between the companies."

Cannon, who also previously was CIO at Nationwide affiliate Wausau Insurance, says his role as an IT leader of a subsidiary, combined with his experience on the application development side, positions him well for his new role. "I have led policy administration development and I really understand the fundamentals of the Nationwide Insurance property and casualty business because most of the core functions were supported by my group," he says. "And from my tenure at Wausau, I understand how the subsidiary's view is sometimes different than the view from the head office, so I'll be able to take that into account as well."

One of Cannon's goals in his new position is to make sure that infrastructure decisions play more of a strategic role. "We are creating an opportunity for the infrastructure organization to step up and play a more strategic role in the company," he says. "IT consists of two areas, application development and infrastructure. In the past, infrastructure decisions weren't as strategic as the decisions made by the business unit CIOs."

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio