Following the resignation of Gayan Benedict in early October, the Reserve Bank of Australia has named Stephen Smith as its new chief information officer. Smith, the RBA’s deputy head of IT, has been acting CIO since Benedict resigned to become CTO of Salesforce in Australia and New Zealand.
The RBA announced Smith’s hiring as permanent CIO on LinkedIn, saying he will “offer strategic technological leadership while ensuring our systems remain safe, highly resilient, and efficient. “We’re delighted to introduce Stephen Smith as our new chief information officer,” the bank added. Smith stated that he is “proud” to take up the post “during this tremendously exciting period in the bank’s history.” “I am proud of the bank’s contribution in assisting the Australian economy during the epidemic,” Smith added. “As we go ahead into a post-pandemic environment, I’m excited to collaborate with the bank’s great leadership team to guide the IT department into the next stage of its journey.”
Smith has been the RBA and its deputy head of IT for two years, having joined the bank in 2019 as the deputy head of infrastructure and operations. Smith worked at TAFE NSW as the general manager for ICT strategy and architecture from 2017 to 2019. He previously worked for almost two years in several IT-driven roles at Service NSW, where he played a vital role in the rollout of the state’s digital licensing project, and he was also the principal architect at Westpac
