Paul McKinnon joins Citi as Chief Talent Officer

I noticed a lot of searches today landing on my blog for Paul McKinnon who I met earlier when I was working at Dell. Paul who had quit Dell 11 months ago was hired by Vikram Pandit the new Citi CEO as their first Chief Talent Officer.

On Monday, the bank announced that Paul McKinnon, formerly senior vice president for human resources at Dell, would become the company’s first head of talent management. The appointment represents a lesson learned for the company since it fired CEO Charles Prince without having a ready successor and reflects the new priorities of Pandit, who was named CEO in December.

In a memo announcing the position, Pandit wrote: “Attracting, developing and retaining people at the most senior levels of our company is one of my top priorities and requires concentrated attention.”

McKinnon will be responsible for recruiting, developing, reviewing and retaining Citigroup’s senior talent, Pandit wrote in the memo.

Interesting move. I wonder if there will be any turf battles between Paul after he joins from1st February and the current HR head John Donnelly. And would someone with Paul's experience and profile report to John or will a separate power center be created?