After a five-year stint heading up Comcast's information-technology group, chief information officer Andy Baer will leave the cable company by the end of 2011 to pursue other opportunities.
Baer's departure was reported Friday by Light Reading. A Comcast spokeswoman confirmed the report.
"After consideration and discussion of a variety of future career options, Andy has decided to leave his role as CIO and head of Comcast Enterprise Technology (CET) to pursue other opportunities," John Schanz, Comcast's executive vice president of national engineering and technical operations wrote in an email to employees.
Comcast hired Baer in the newly created CIO position in November 2006. He has overseen Comcast's internal information-technology group and operations, including customer-care, billing and ordering systems; data centers; desktops; and internal telephony.
Previously he was AOL's vice president of business platform services, managing IT initiatives related to the company's shift to an advertising-based business model. Baer also had served as CIO for Verestar Satellite Communications and was vice president of customer-care systems at Verizon Communications.
Comcast is searching for a replacement for Baer, appointing Rob Reynolds, vice president of software development and systems engineering, as interim head of the CET group.
