NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced today the appointment of Thomas Bayer as Chief Information Officer.  Based in New York, Mr. Bayer reports to Neeraj Sahai, President, and is a member of the Standard & Poor's Executive Committee.

In this role, Mr. Bayer has responsibility for shaping the firm's business systems' direction and delivering its business systems worldwide.  He also manages the information technology (IT) teams that support the ratings groups and enable employees to perform the ratings process in a globally consistent way. 

"Tom has expertise in both information technology and finance, and is an IT executive who knows how to drive technology to help transform an organization," said Neeraj Sahai, President, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.  "At the same time, he is focused on risk management and maintaining appropriate safeguards around information and infrastructure."

Previously, Mr. Bayer was Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he oversaw the Commission's IT program and was responsible for the Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system, which electronically receives, processes, and disseminates more than 500,000 financial statements every year.  He also created the "Working Smarter" program to transform the SEC by using technology to improve core business and operational processes. 

Before joining the SEC, Mr. Bayer was President and CEO of Maris Technology Advisors, providing consulting services on technology strategy, service delivery, and software development methodology.  Previously, he was Chief Operations Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Brand Informatics, and Chief Information Officer for CapitalOne's European IT infrastructure.  In 2000, Mr. Bayer was Founder and President of Inteliguard Corporation, where he developed and managed ecommerce solutions for more than 40 corporations.  Before that, he held various roles at Citibank.

Mr. Bayer graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Finance and Economics.  

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, part of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), is the world's leading provider of independent credit risk research and benchmarks. We publish more than a million credit ratings on debt issued by sovereign, municipal, corporate and financial sector entities. With over 1,400 credit analysts in 26 offices, and more than 150 years' experience of assessing credit risk, we offer a unique combination of global coverage and local insight. Our research and opinions about relative credit risk provide market participants with information and independent benchmarks that help to support the growth of transparent, liquid debt markets worldwide.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's Ratings Services