Boeing hires Verizon Wireless CIO to replace retiring Scott Griffin

Computerworld - The Boeing Co. announced Monday that John Hinshaw would be its new CIO, replacing Scott Griffin, who is retiring after 28 years with the aerospace manufacturer.

Hinshaw, 36, had been CIO at Verizon Wireless Inc. since October 2005, where he led a 2,100 member IT organization that supported 60 million customers. He oversaw a significant consolidation of the company’s core systems during his tenure, according to a press release. He also replaced PCs with Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Sun Ray thin clients at Verizon Wireless’ call centers, a move that cut energy consumption by 30% and should eventually save the company $1 million a year.

Hinshaw has also held IT positions at Accenture, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Department of Defense. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from James Madison University.

Hinshaw will report to John Tracy, senior vice-president of engineering, operations and technology. He will lead the IT organization, and be responsible for all IT strategy, systems, infrastructure, architecture, processes and people companywide.

Griffin, 52, has been CIO at Boeing since 1999. He is a former Computerworld Premier 100 honoree.

Griffin will be pursuing a master’s degree in non-profit leadership at Seattle University starting this summer.

During Griffin’s tenure, Boeing tested placing RFID tags on engine parts before going with WLAN tags for wireless inventory management, built a single sign-on system that worked with its partner companies’ Web sites, and demanded that would-be software providers make their products easier to use in order to reduce worker training.

The company was also the victim of several security incidents. Last December, a laptop holding personal information including Social Security numbers, birth dates and salary information, on 382,000 retired Boeing workers was stolen from an employee’s car.

The laptop was the third stolen from Boeing in a year.