Cox Communications chief technology officer Scott Hatfield resigned this week after leading the consolidated information-technology and engineering group for 18 months, the company confirmed.
"It was a mutual decision based on Cox's business needs and Mr. Hatfield's personal reasons," Cox director of media relations David Grabert said in an e-mailed statement. "We appreciate his significant contributions over the years, particularly his work over the last year and a half which created our unified technology organization, combining IT and network engineering."
Hatfield did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment. His resignation was reported Wednesday by Light Reading Cable.
According to Cox, Percy Kirk, senior vice president and general manager of the operator's Oklahoma division, will assume interim CTO responsibilities until a replacement for Hatfield is identified.
Hatfield, formerly Cox's chief information officer, took over management of the consolidated technology group in December 2008 in charge of all aspects of Cox's architecture, design, development and deployment across video, data, wireline voice and wireless.
He officially assumed the CTO spot in June 2009, after the retirement of Chris Bowick, a 29-year cable-technology veteran who now runs independent consulting firm The Bowick Group.
Hatfield originally joined Cox as CIO in January 1996, after working in IT management positions for Ohmeda, Xerox, General Dynamics and the Ford Motor Co.
Separately, Cox has modified the role of Dallas Clement, currently executive vice president and chief strategy and product officer.
In his new capacity, Clement will focus on strategy and Cox plans to hire a separate executive in charge of product management. Both Clement and the new executive will report to Cox president Pat Esser.
