Mark Cressey is the Vice President and CIO of the Commercial Markets IT area within Information Systems at insurance giant, Liberty Mutual. One of Computerworld’s Premier IT Leaders of 2009, he’s been working as the CIO since October of 2006, concentrating on bridging the IT/Business divide at Liberty. Cressey is responsible for the implementation and support of the wide range of applications used in Liberty Mutual's domestic business insurance operations running a group of over 400 employees located in Exeter, NH, Wausau, WI and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Cressey faces the same problems faced by many CIOs in the insurance industry, namely a disconnect between IT and business operations. Only recently has IT been a major consideration in insurance carrier operations, for the most part IT in the sector has operated as a Black Box, a costly yet necessary unit mostly underutilized. But Cressey has made it a point to step up at Liberty Mutual and take a place at the table in the C-suite. He’s transforming the IT operations at Liberty into a more strategic asset for the company, aligning the business side with the IT. Bridging the IT/Business divide at Liberty Mutual hasn’t been an easy task, but by taking business strategy down to a level where IT can be actively applied Cressey has managed to remove the mystery in the company from the IT department and made it of more benefit to the organization as a whole.
Mark Cressey is the Vice President and CIO of the Commercial Markets IT area within Information Systems at insurance giant, Liberty Mutual. One of Computerworld’s Premier IT Leaders of 2009, he’s been working as the CIO since October of 2006, concentrating on bridging the IT/Business divide at Liberty. Cressey is responsible for the implementation and support of the wide range of applications used in Liberty Mutual's domestic business insurance operations running a group of over 400 employees located in Exeter, NH, Wausau, WI and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Cressey faces the same problems faced by many CIOs in the insurance industry, namely a disconnect between IT and business operations. Only recently has IT been a major consideration in insurance carrier operations, for the most part IT in the sector has operated as a Black Box, a costly yet necessary unit mostly underutilized. But Cressey has made it a point to step up at Liberty Mutual and take a place at the table in the C-suite. He’s transforming the IT operations at Liberty into a more strategic asset for the company, aligning the business side with the IT. Bridging the IT/Business divide at Liberty Mutual hasn’t been an easy task, but by taking business strategy down to a level where IT can be actively applied Cressey has managed to remove the mystery in the company from the IT department and made it of more benefit to the organization as a whole.