Obama to appoint national CTO

US president-elect Barack Obama has confirmed he will create a post of US chief technology officer (CTO) to oversee the nation's hi-tech future, reports VNUnet.

The new administration will appoint someone from the IT industry to ensure electronic systems used by the government are intelligently designed and run, and that the proper policies are enforced.

"The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an inter-agency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers at each of the federal agencies, to ensure they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices," said the campaign.

Marshal8e6, the newly-formed company created through the merger of UK-based e-mail and Web content security software provider Marshal and 8e6 Technologies, a US-based provider of Web filtering appliances and technology, is restructuring its board of directors, according to PR Web.

James Socas, general partner of Updata Partners, will join the Marshal8e6 board of directors. Socas brings to this role his recent experience serving on the senior executive team of Symantec.

He will join newly appointed board chairman Simon Wilson, the former CFO and executive VP of operations of a public Internet and Web security company, as well as existing 8e6 board members, Frank Wood and Mahendra Vora, and existing Marshal board members Philip Weston and Patrick Keenan.

Telstra has appointed John McInerney as its new CIO. McInerney will also double-up as the group MD, reports Australian IT.

McInerney joined Telstra five years ago and has been executive director for IT since mid-2007. In that role, he drove the delivery of Telstra's IT transformation programme, with Tom Lamming.

McInerney will take over the IT portfolio at Telstra and will continue to report to Lamming, whose direct boss - Greg Winn, Telstra's COO - remains unchanged.