Tania Howarth CIO50 2008

Tania Howarth took over as CIO of Birds Eye Iglo Group in April 2007 with a remit to build a completely new greenfield systems platform and IT team after the company was sold off to private equity group Permira for €1.7bn by Unilever.

Starting from scratch in her first year Howarth has led the outsourcing of various tech and comms functions and the rollout of a Europe-wide SAP system across the group.

Prior to joining Birds Eye Iglo Group, Howarth was CIO for Coca Cola Europe and Africa for four years, where she successfully changed the profile of IT within the business by developing more business-focused skills among the IT team there.

Described by those who know her as a "visible and inspiring IT leader", Howarth's other roles include CIO for Walkers Snack Foods between 1994 and 2003, systems manager at Sun Microsystems Europe in sales and marketing, and various project management and business analyst positions at ICI.

Howarth has a Bachelor of Science degree in European Politics, Economics and Languages from Manchester University.