Ryanair appoints new head of digital technology

Ryanair has announced the appointment of a new chief technology officer.

John Hurley (39) will join the low cost airline on September 15th, departing from his current position as vice president of engineering and product operations at the publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In a statement, Ryanair said Mr Hurley would be working closely with chief executive Michael O’Leary and its Labs team where he will be responsible for developing and implementing “a world-leading digital and technology strategy”.

He will head-up a team of 200 and oversee the rollout of the Ryanair Labs digital innovation hub based at the airline’s new Dublin campus in Swords.

Mr O’Leary welcomed the appointment as part of the company’s efforts to introduce digital and customer improvements.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he joined in 2007, Mr Hurley also held the positions of director of product operations, director of platform development and software development programme manager.

Prior to that he was production manager at both Intuition Publishing Ltd and Education Multimedia Group and has 16 years' experience in the IT industry.

Originally from Cork, Mr Hurley is a graduate of University College Cork and holds a master's degree in computer software engineering as well as a bachelor degree in civil and environmental engineering. He is married with four sons.