The Heller Report: What’s Driving the Global Common Data Capability at RGA

When Mark Brooks joined Reinsurance Group of America as its new CIO in 2023, the company had a data-driven growth vision. As Brooks tells Martha Heller in this interview for CIO.com, he has pursued that vision by communicating with his board about the value of generative AI and creating an IT organization that emphasizes business engagement, enterprise data, architecture, and devoted centers of technical experts.

After spending 26 years and rising to CIO at one company, Mark Reimel left to become CIO at Rosen’s Diversified, a family-owned agricultural holding company based in Eagan, Minn. In this installment of the “My CIO Career” series, Reimel discusses his career strategy and how he evaluates organizational cultures – those that are cohesive, and those that need improvement.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of California at Berkeley have invented a way to make molecules made of carbon and hydrogen – the hydrocarbons that power the modern economy – using sunlight instead of fossil fuels in a mechanical process that mimics photosynthesis. The invention “combines a light absorbing ‘leaf’ made from a high-efficiency solar cell material called perovskite, with a copper nanoflower catalyst, to convert carbon dioxide into useful molecules,” a University of Cambridge announcement said. The process forms hydrocarbons such as ethane and ethylene, building blocks for liquid fuels.

Heller Search was recently retained to recruit a Vice President of Enterprise Applications for Apex Service Partners. Apex Service Partners is a people-focused HVAC, plumbing and electrical services group whose goal is to partner with and build for the long-term, leading local brands around the country. For this role, we identified Jim Marofske, who was most recently Director for West Monroe. Marofske earned a B.S. from Purdue University. Best of luck, Jim!