Job Title : CIO

Organization : The Salvation Army

As CIO, Martyn Croft heads up The Salvation Army’s strategic information department in UK and Ireland, and is responsible for the information systems that support the church and registered charity.

One of Croft’s main tasks is forging close links between The Salvation Army’s business units and serving a wide variety of customers.

As part of this, Croft is leading a project to cut costs across The Salvation Army through the use of thin-client and virtual desktop technology. This work has also improved information security within the organisation.

Croft is also exploring the potential of consumer IT and bring-your-own-device approaches and has expanded the use of e-learning to support the implementation of corporate systems.

Croft started his IT career using a keypunch machine as a statistical analyst for SPSS and by the mid-’70s was presenting a computer programme on BBC local radio during the microcomputer revolution.

During his early career, Croft worked in IT for education, public sector and private sector organisations before joining The Salvation Army in 1995. He became CIO in August 2009.

Croft holds a masters degree in information security, he co-founded the Charities Security Forum and often presents on information security issues in the third sector. He is also involved with Socitm’s Third Sector Community.

When not at work, Croft can be found honing his drumming skills, which he first dabbled with in his youth.