Chief Information Officer

Company: CIO Partners, Inc.
Location: Birmingham
Posted on: January 15, 2021

Job Description:

CIO Partners, a leader in Executive--Search Augmentation and Recruitment Strategies, has been retained by Books-A-Million in Birmingham, AL, as their exclusive partner to lead their search for the role of Chief Information Officer.----------------------------------------Company Overview
Founded in 1917 as a street corner newsstand in Florence, Alabama, Books-A-Million, Inc. has grown to become the premier book retailing chain in the Southeastern United States, and the second largest book retailer in the nation.--Based in Birmingham, Alabama, the company operates as a diversified retail and real estate corporation.--The omni channel retail business segment consists of more than 250 locations comprised of Books-A-Million stores, Second and Charles, and Yogurt Mountain retail locations.--The company also serves e-commerce customers through Booksamillion.com; which was one of the first online retailers starting in 1998.--The company also operates American Wholesale Book Company, a provider of complete wholesale distribution services for retailers across the Southeast as well as internet fulfillment services for various e-commerce companies.--The company---s real estate development segment, Preferred Growth Properties, develops and manages commercial retail real estate centers across the Southeastern united states.--
Formerly a publicly traded corporation, the company became private in 2015.----Since then the company has focused on expanding its retail brands based on market growth opportunities, evidenced by the growth of the 2nd and Charles brand to 43 locations across the eastern half of the United States.--Additionally, the company continues to expand its footprint of Books-A-Million locations in key under-served markets, as well as continually evaluating diversification and acquisition opportunities.
Position Overview
The Chief Information Officer will support the growth and diversification of the business through developing and executing an information technology strategy that encompasses re-envisioning hardware and network infrastructure as well as rationalization of the company---s portfolio of package based applications, modified legacy applications, and custom developed applications.--The CIO will be a key member of the Executive Leadership team and will be a thought leader in helping the company---s functional leadership achieve performance improvement through technology innovation while ensuring the technical infrastructure and software applications facilitate business transactions in a 24/7 operating environment.----The ideal candidate is a proven information technology leader with personal and professional skills leading Commercial technology in retail with a major focus on brick and mortar stores, mobile--and e-Commerce.--
Strategy

• Utilize experience and business acumen to evolve the company---s strategic technology roadmap that economically fulfills current business needs and delivers capabilities necessary to compete in an evolving marketplace.
• Develop capital investment and annual operating budgets that weigh the priorities and risks of enterprise IT initiatives.
• Communicate and Implement the vision defined by the IT roadmap through the team of 35 associates and multiple outsourced development partners and contractors: emphasizing system and application integrity, data integrity, and system security.Leadership
  • Work closely with senior leadership team to build effective relationships in the business to firmly establish highly effective communication of IT initiatives, policies, and processes across the enterprise.
  • Execute guiding principles for self and team to operate openly, transparently, and with integrity to peers, associates, and vendors.--Drive high performance through consistent application of standards and practices that produce lasting results.IT Operations
    • Accountable for the operation and performance of ---shared service--- systems for multiple business units, brands, formats and chains. Maintain maximum system up-time through proactive system maintenance.--Manage competing system project priorities.
    • Create and implement a vision of project management and ---delivery with quality--- to improve initiative success and capture of expected benefits.--Ensure stakeholder commitment to the initiative, sound requirements definition, and comprehensive QA processes.
    • Provide leadership to the management of the company---s technical services, store systems, security and support teams to ensure the IT infrastructure will withstand stresses of large transaction volumes and cyber threats.
    • Champion the use of business intelligence solutions to improve the organizations access to data and analytical insight.Team Development
      • Oversee all aspects of staff management to include recruitment, talent technical development and----management competencies such that resources are customer oriented, credible, have a high sense of urgency, and delivers business value in a cost-effective fashion.
      • Manage outsourced development providers with internal resources in a way that effectively balances delivery capacity, capability, and cost.
        Required Skills
        
        • Experience as a mid-market retail CIO or the #2 of a large, sophisticated retail enterprise.--This leader will come from an enterprise known for developing outstanding talent.
        • This leader must have outstanding critical thinking skills, a high degree of intellectual curiosity, and the ability to engage with other senior leaders in addressing complex business and technical issues.
        • Strong experience and background implementing enterprise IT solutions focused on retail, wholesale and financial applications, management of internal development teams and outsourced development teams.
        • A demonstrated track record of leading values-based high performing teams through both recruitment, engagement, development, and accountability.--The successful candidate must possess a ---hands-on--- style, while still being able to delegate authority as appropriate.
        • Bachelor---s degree required, Computer Science or related field preferred.

Keywords: CIO Partners, Inc., Birmingham , Chief Information Officer, Executive , Birmingham, Alabama