Cetrica has appointed David Bickerton as its global chief information officer (CIO); he joins from British Gas, a Centrica subsidiary.

Bickerton is now heading up the development and delivery of an integrated information system strategy for the energy group.

Bickerton joined Centrica in 2004 and has previously worked for Fujitsu and ICL where he held a number of general management roles.

As the British Gas CIO, Bickerton took the company’s IT in-house, breaking ties with IT supplier Accenture in a highly-publicised legal battle over a billing system.

He then rebuilt the firm's IT department which now comprises more than 600 employees, who have delivered around 180 projects in 2009 in connection to the billing platform. An additional 100 staff hires are expected this year.

The news of Bickerton's promotion follow the release of Centrica's financial results last month - the company's profits jumped 65% to £886m in the first six months of the year, fuelled by higher gas prices and a strong performance from its US arm Direct Energy.

The Centrica CIO role had been vacant for some time; the previous CIO at Centrica was Gareth Lewis, now chief information officer at the Financial Services Authority.

British Gas has yet to find a replacement for Bickerton.