Ahold Delhaize appoints new Chief Technology Officer to fight cyber crime

Ahold Delhaize has appointed Jan Brecht as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and member of the Executive Committee. One of his priorities will be improving IT security, following a recent cyber attack.

International experience

Brecht comes over from Nissan and has previously worked at Mercedes-Benz Group and Adidas. He studied at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and has lived and worked throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. He will take office on 25 September and will succeed Ben Wishart, who has decided to step down as a member of the Executive Committee and leave the company after twelve years as CTO.

CEO Frans Muller counts on the international experience of the new technology boss: “His experience positions him well to support our Growing Together strategy’s direction of advancing cost efficiency, simplicity, resilience, and IT security. As CTO, Jan will lead Ahold Delhaize’s technology function, overseeing Enterprise Tech strategy, digital innovation, cybersecurity, and enabling our family of great local brands to leverage Ahold Delhaize’s scale to accelerate the development of scalable, customer-centric platforms.”

The emphasis on cybersecurity is no coincidence: earlier this year, Ahold Delhaize was the victim of a major ransomware blackmail in which the data of 2.2 million people was leaked.