Jabil names new chief information officer

May Yap

Jabil has promoted a key IT executive to senior vice president and chief information officer.

The new CIO, May Yap, succeeds Gary Cantrell, who retired recently from Jabil (NYSE: JBL), a global manufacturing services business and the largest company headquartered in St. Petersburg. 

As CIO, Yap will be responsible for driving end-to-end technology services and solutions, developing and executing technology applications in support of business growth and coordinating digital initiatives across the Jabil enterprise, the company said in a news release.

There are relatively few women in CIO positions. Just 16 percent of chief information officers were women, according to a study of 5,000 mid-market businesses conducted earlier this year by consulting firm Grant Thornton.

Of the dozen executive officers listed on Jabil’s website, only one is a woman – Brenda Chamulak, CEO of Jabil Packaging Solutions. The company’s 10-member board of directors includes three women.

Yap brings insight, experience and capability, at a critical time of transformation, said Michael Loparco, executive vice president and CEO of Jabil’s electronics manufacturing services segment.

“At this inflection point in our industry, we are seeing an acceleration of the need for intelligent data and digital solutions. Customers are looking to Jabil to increase innovation and competitive advantage by combining technology, data and scale to harness actionable insights. I’m excited for this opportunity to help further drive the company’s leading digital transformation strategy,” Yap said in the release.

Yap joined Jabil in 2014 as vice president and CIO at Jabil Green Point, a division that focuses on design, development and manufacturing for customers in the consumer electronics space. There, she oversaw IT operations across more than 20 Jabil Green Point sites and 60,000 employees.

Prior to Jabil, she worked in senior roles at IBM and PwC Consulting.

Yap also is a proponent of expanded diversity and inclusion initiatives, and is a regular speaker at internal Jabil D&I forums, the news release said. Jabil’s CEO, Mark Mondello, has said that diversity and inclusion are core to Jabil’s value system.