Previn, Fletcher
Cisco Chief Information Officer (CIO), Mar 2021 – present. IBM CIO, May 2017 – Mar 2021. IBM Director then VP of workplace tech, Mar 2014 – May 2017. IBM CIO assistant, Jun 2013 – Mar 2014. Thus, Business ITIHOS. Government ITIHOS because Previn is "executive sponsor for Cisco's work with various US Government agencies" (his words on LinkedIn). Media ITIHOS because Previn only got his CIO positions because he is a celebrity, being the child of celebrities, as well as thus being a media darling, interviewed often by the star-struck IT incompetent media about IT.
Previn is the son of Mia Farrow, actress, activist, and former girlfriend of creepy director Woody Allen, and Andre Previn, well-known pianist, composer, and conductor.
Right after college, Previn was an intern on the Late Show with David Letterman, and he only got the position because of his celebrity.
Similarly, after becoming assistant to star-struck IT incompetent IBM CIO Jeanette Horan for a few months, he started his rapid rise to becoming a CIO.
Actually, being IBM CIO in the last few years is not that impressive, since IBM has ceased to be much of an influence in IT. IBM sold its once influential personal computer business to the Chinese (Lenovo), who have used it for hacking/spying. Like most IT companies that have stopped innovating (e.g. Microsoft, Dell), IBM mostly works for the U.S. Government now.
Previn being "executive sponsor for Cisco's work with various US Government agencies" is scary. One of these U.S. Government agencies is almost certainly the National Security Agency (NSA). Cisco is the most important American manufacturer of networking hardware and is known to have had this networking hardware modified so that the NSA could hack into the networks of those who bought the hardware. Unfortunately, that also meant that others, including foreign governments, could hack into these networks.
Perhaps worse, Cisco may be using Huawei/Chinese parts in its networking hardware. Huawei/Chinese parts have been banned in U.S. telecommunications equipment to prevent Chinese hacking/spying.
Previn is a national security disaster waiting to happen.
Previn first came to my attention in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article by Belle Lin, who writes for the WSJ's IT incompetent CIO Journal section, which is usually just women CIOs being interviewed. Being IT incompetent and star-struck, Lin of course chose to interview one of the only, if not the only, celebrity CIOs, who was of course IT incompetent. Lin only attended a business school in China before coming to America and attending the woke no-free-speech Columbia School of Journalism. As a Chinese woman, Lin was then scooped up by the woke pro-Chinese diversity-before-competence WSJ newsroom; see IT Hiring: Trading IT Competence for Diversity in Principles of IT Incompetence.
There probably should be an IT Hiring: Trading IT Competence for Celebrity entry in Principles of IT Incompetence, with Previn as the poster boy, but it doesn't happen often enough to be worth it.
Finally, CIOs of national security IT companies should not be able to say, "I'm not a CIO, but I play one on TV".