David Bent

David Bent is Sr. Vice President & Chief Information Officer United Stationers Supply Company, and President United Stationers Technology Services. United Stationers, with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, is North America’s largest wholesale distributor of office products. With sales of $5.0 billion, the company offers some 100,000 brand-name items from more than 1000 manufacturers, as well as its own private-brand merchandise line. He joined United Stationers in May 2003 and leads a team of 220 IT associates.

Before joining United Stationers, he was Corporate Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and General Manager, Software Division, Acterna LLC. Acterna is a $1 Billion telecommunication test equipment and services company with operations in 32 countries. He was responsible for all Information Technology initiatives across Acterna’s global operations. In October 2002, he took on additional responsibility as General Manager of Acterna’s Software Division. In this role, he had profit and loss accountability for Acterna’s software products that are marketed to leading telecommunication and cable television industry service providers.

Prior to joining Acterna in August 2000, he was Chief Information Officer, Visteon Automotive Systems, a position he was appointed to in early 1999. He was responsible for all Information Technology activities across Visteon’s $19 Billion global operations, which employed over 800 IT personnel supporting 80,000 Visteon employees. In this role, he was named “InformationWeek CIO of the Year, 1999” (See www.informationweek.com/764/chief.htm )

Between 1982 and his role as CIO at Visteon, he spent 17 years with Ford Motor Company. His Ford career began in the UK where he spent four years in various positions in the Product Development Information Technology Group. In 1986, he moved to Ford in Germany where he lived for 11 years prior to moving to Ford’s global headquarters in the USA in 1997. Highlights of his career with Ford include the following:

• Led a global team of Designers and IT associates in the development of an all new automotive styling system in partnership with Japanese and American software firms that reduced new vehicle development time by twelve months.
• In 1994 he was a member of the “Ford 2000” Transition Team (a team of 150 senior leaders from Ford’s worldwide operations), which led the strategy work to define Ford’s transition to a global operation.
• From 1995 to 1997 he was head of Information Technology for Ford’s Product Development Operations in Europe, reporting to the Vice-President, European Vehicle Center.

David Bent was born in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, in 1960 and is a graduate of Bristol University, where he gained a BSc. (Hons.) Degree in Civil Engineering in 1982. Having worked 11 years in Germany, Mr Bent is a fluent German speaker. He is a member of InformationWeek magazine’s Advisory Board.

He is an avid Formula 1 motor racing fan, and also plays golf. He is married and lives with his wife and twin daughters in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA.