Officeworks has appointed Nikala Busse as its inaugural chief information officer (CIO) to lead its technology team and ongoing digital innovation.

Busse joins Officeworks with experience leading IT teams to deliver transformation and innovation projects, most recently with Transurban, as the general manager of customer platforms, and at Coles, where she held several senior positions focussing on improving customer and team member experience, increasing sales and reducing the cost of doing business.

Officeworks managing director, Sarah Hunter said, “I’m delighted to welcome Nikala to Officeworks at what is an exciting time for our business and our growing technology team.

“Nikala has successfully designed and led digital transformation projects for large, complex, consumer-facing organisations to address future business needs and will play an important role in helping us make bigger things happen for our team and customers with strategic growth initiatives.”

The new CIO portfolio includes IT business operations, team member experience applications, platforms and networking, IT Print & Create, enterprise architecture, digital product and IT security and risk compliance.

Commenting on her new role, Busse said, “I’m excited to return to retail and to work in a business that is committed to its customers and team members. Officeworks has an excellent reputation for its culture, values, and people, which are hugely important to me.

“Already its evident we have an innovative technology team with plenty of opportunity ahead of us. I’m excited to work with the team on our future plans and to continue to develop our capability and culture, deliver on some significant tech enabled improvements for our customers, team members and operational processes, and continue to build our data, digital and e-commerce capabilities.”

Eshan Dissanayake has also recently joined Officeworks as head of IT security risk and compliance, bringing significant experience in cyber security, most recently leading the Coles Group information security function.