Alaska Air Group names Veresh Sita new CIO

SEATTLE, WA – Alaska Air Group’s board of directors has named Veresh Sita vice president and chief information officer for Alaska Airlines.

As CIO, Sita will have oversight of a department of 300 information technology professionals and be responsible for investing in the infrastructure, enterprise systems and technical innovation at Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier Horizon Air. He will join the company on Aug. 1.

“Veresh’s leadership and rich technology experience will fit well with our culture of innovation and will also help guide the company in our efforts to make travel easier for our customers,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden.

Prior to joining Alaska, Sita served as the CIO for Seattle-based Colliers International, a commercial real estate services company. He joined the company in 2008 and helped transform the information and technology services department and led the company’s global technology vision, architecture and systems implementation. He also led the creation of Colliers Hub, a social portal and collaboration platform, that helps employees collect client and market information from multiple structured and unstructured sources around the world. Sita also designed and implemented a mobile application and cloud services platform that integrates and connects clients and employees in 482 offices located across 62 countries. In December 2013 the Puget Sound Business Journal named him “Best CIO of a Large Company,” in their 2013 annual survey of Washington technology leaders.

“I am thrilled to be part of the Alaska Airlines family, and look forward to joining a team that is focused on creating the best experience for their customers,” said Sita.

Before Colliers, Sita was the program director of global business systems at Starbucks Coffee Company, where he led the company’s largest business process and systems transformation in Starbucks history.

A 23-year technology professional, Sita earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce/business information systems from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was born and raised. He is involved in coaching and mentoring local youth and business professionals and serves on the boards of EveryoneGives and Community for Youth.

Sita lives in Sammamish, Washington, with his wife and two children.

Alaska Airlines has a long history of customer innovation, including being the first U.S. carrier to sell tickets on the Web and offer its customers online check-in. Alaska continues to offer customer-friendly technology to make flying easier with its industry-leading mobile applications and website and its recent formation of a Customer Innovation Department.