Countrywide's Richard Jones named CIO of the Year

Mortgage Banking, July, 2003

RICHARD JONES, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND chief information officer of Countrywide Financial Corporation, Calabasas, California, has been named CIO of the Year in the 2003 Citigroup Smith Barney CIO Award series. The award is given to chief information officers (CIOs) who have demonstrated superiority in increasing information technology (IT) productivity while decreasing costs.

Countrywide was one of 13 finalists in this year's competition, which included other Fortune 500 companies such as Panasonic USA, Amerada Hess and Dial Corporation. The award is sponsored by the U.S. Equity Research Group at Citigroup Smith Barney. Finalists are asked to provide a profile detailing major IT initiatives. The entries are judged on technology solutions and their role in corporate strategies, along with overall return on investment.

At the award announcement ceremony, Countrywide's overall organic IT strategy was cited as a major factor in the award. This strategy enables maximum flexibility while improving efficiency and costs through the use of an adaptive "plug-and-play" hardware infrastructure. Three specific corporate initiatives were also cited: Countrywide's Enterprise Consumer Portal; its employee portal, CWInsider; and its Virtual Data Center and Storage Area networks.