We're excited to announce that Garret Fitzgerald has joined Salute as our first-ever Chief Information Officer (CIO), reporting directly to Chief Financial Officer Clarence Philipneri.
Growth changes things. The bigger Salute gets, the more critical it becomes that our internal technology – our systems, our data, our infrastructure – keeps pace with the business. Up until now, that work hasn’t had a dedicated leader. That changes today.
We’re delighted to welcome Garret Fitzgerald as Salute’s first-ever Chief Information Officer, reporting directly to CFO Clarence Philipneri.
The creation of this role is deliberate. Our CTO, Matt Renner, leads external technology strategy – the products, platforms, and innovation our customers experience. Garret’s focus is the other side of that equation: the internal technology environment that our teams rely on every single day. IT infrastructure, enterprise systems, cybersecurity, data and analytics, technology partnerships. The foundational stuff that, when it works well, nobody notices – and when it doesn’t, everyone feels it.
Garret has spent more than 18 years solving exactly this kind of challenge. He’s walked into complex organisations, cut through the noise, and built technology environments that actually work for the people using them. He’s done it at GE. At Wabtec. As a Chief Digital Officer leading large-scale IT transformation. Most recently as a CTO and IT Operating Partner, guiding multiple companies through system integration, modernisation, and the shift to data and AI-enabled ways of working.
He doesn’t just understand technology – he understands what it takes to make it stick inside a business.
Garret is based in Chicago with his wife and their three kids. When he’s not working, you’ll find him on a golf course, on a ski slope, or tracking down the best restaurant in whatever city he happens to be in. Chicago, at least, gives him plenty of options on that last one.
We’re excited to have him. And we’re even more excited about what this role is going to mean for our teams.
Welcome to Salute, Garret.