Pointsmith hires chief information officer

Rick Garcia

At-store marketing company Pointsmith recently hired Rick Garcia to be its new chief information officer.

According to a company release, Garcia's responsibilities as CIO will include managing the staff and operations of the company's Information Technology and Information Systems departments, creating long-term economic development plans and improving intra-company communications.

As part of his 15 years of IT industry experience, the release noted, Garcia held several positions within the Methodist Hospital System, including director of IT infrastructure services, director of research and advanced technologies and data and network infrastructure manager. Immediately before signing on with Pointsmith, he worked for 10 years as the hospital system's director of technology integration.

"We are delighted to welcome Rick as our chief information officer," Troy Smith, chief executive officer at Pointsmith, said in the release. "His wealth of diverse leadership and IT management expertise is impressive, and will be invaluable in helping Pointsmith offer superior IT solutions to our clients, as well as achieve our aggressive growth objectives well into the future."

Garcia's education includes a bachelor of science in psychology, which he earned at the University of Houston, and a master of business administration from the University of Phoenix.