Air NZ appoints chief digital officer

Air New Zealand has appointed a former Google executive and the founder of an organisation that supports start-ups in the Silicon Valley as its first chief digital officer.

Avi Golan will start in the new role in early 2016 and is expected to “play a leading role in the strategy to engage digitally with customers across multiple international markets in a way that is relevant to them through new and emerging channels”, Air NZ said on Tuesday.

“Avi is going to play a critical role within our business to enhance the new revenue opportunities that digital brings, to minimise our online security risks and to drive customer innovation,” Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon said in a note to staff.

Air NZ chief digital officer Avi Golan. (Air NZ)

Golan is currently working in the United States at software company Intuit and previously had jobs at Google, Barnes and Noble and Olive Software.

He also was a co-founder of Israeli Entrepreneurs and Founders Foundation, which helps technology start-ups be more successful in the Silicon Valley.

While the chief digital officer role is a new role at the company, it does partially replace former chief information officer position.

“The CDO’s team will include the full IT team, along with parts of the existing sales, marketing and operations functions,” former Air NZ chief information officer Julia Raue, who left the airline in November, told the cio.co.nz website.