MacKinnon joins Esurance as new managing director, chief information officer

Direct-to-consumer personal car insurance provider Esurance has selected Elinor MacKinnon as its new managing director and chief information officer.

In his new role, MacKinnon will spearhead all of Esurance’s information technology, including the maintenance and development of software applications that support Esurance’s rapidly growing policyholder base, expanding state coverage, and product offerings.

Apart from the aforesaid task, she will also manage Esurance’s extensive network operations and data management function, while be based at Esurance’s San Francisco headquarters and report to CEO Gary Tolman, the insurer said.

MacKinnon has more than 30 years of experience and joins Esurance from Blue Shield of California, where she was managing the company’s technology organization as chief information officer for eight years.

Before Blue Shield, MacKinnon was the interim chief information officer at Chiron (now Novartis), according to the motor insurer.

Esurance CEO Gary Tolman said Elinor MacKinnon brings broad and successful experience in delivering innovative solutions that will help it further enhance its technology platform.

"Given our focus on providing customers with smarter and easier ways to fulfill their insurance needs, the role of chief information officer is a vital one at Esurance," Tolman added.