Victorian Ombudsman recruits for new CIO

The Victorian Ombudsman is recruiting for a new chief information officer as part of an effort to develop a “holistic” IT strategy and roadmap by June 2026.

The public complaints authority has started looking for a new technology leader after CIO Rodney Apostol appeared to have exited in June, according to his LinkedIn.

Apostol had previously spent almost six years there and left as the authority draws up plans for the function’s next direction.

According to a recently released annual report [pdf], the IT strategy is intended to be “holistic”, with a “focus on information management and security, systems capabilities, data analytics and technologies for the future”.

This will address systems that are “outdated and unable to deliver required functionality and ineffective cyber and information security resulting in a significant security breach, or disruption of operations”.

During the current financial year, the Victorian Ombudsman also plans to conduct a “controlled trial of an artificial intelligence tool”.

This, it said, will be focused on enabling “people to work more effectively, capturing insights to inform further consideration of how AI tools could support our functions”.

The Ombudsman’s office was unable to provide further details about the roadmap at this stage, but confirmed the recruitment for a CIO.