HMRC appoints former Tesco CIO

published 7 January 2009

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has appointed former Tesco chief information officer Colin Cobain as a non-executive director.

Cobain joins three other new non-executive directors appointed to HMRC's board, who have been appointed to strengthen the department's governance capabilities.

The CIO left Tesco in 2007 after six years and is currently the interim group CIO with brewer and owner of Miller and Peroni beer brands, SABMiller.

He also serves as chairman of medical technology firm Safe Surgery Systems. And he also previously held positions at EMI Thorn and Rumbelows as IT director.

The HMRC Board provides strategic leadership, approves business plans, monitors performance and sets corporate governance standards.

The appointments, which are for a three-year period, were made following an external recruitment process carried out in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance. They also include Philippa Hird, Phil Hodkinson and Dame Sue Street.

Mike Clasper, chairman of HMRC and chair of the board, stated: "[The appointments are part of] the next step in strengthening the department's governance. These non-executives bring to the board a diverse mix of expertise and skills from across both public and private sector."

At the end of 2007, HMRC admitted that it had lost two unencrypted discs containing millions of records.

A 25-year veteran enterprise technology expert, Miya Knights applies her deep understanding of technology gained through her journalism career to both her role as a consultant and as director at Retail Technology Magazine, which she helped shape over the past 17 years. Miya was educated at Oxford University, earning a master’s degree in English.

Her role as a journalist has seen her write for many of the leading technology publishers in the UK such as ITPro, TechWeekEurope, CIO UK, Computer Weekly, and also a number of national newspapers including The Times, Independent, and Financial Times.