HOUSTON, TX — Vortex Companies announces that it has promoted Ram Vela to fill the new role of Chief Information Officer (CIO), where he will spearhead the company's commitment to using technology, innovation, and data analytics to improve business operations. Although he will report directly to Mike Vellano, President and CEO of the trenchless infrastructure solutions provider, Vela will work closely with the management team and across all departments to support their needs.

"Ram's strength has always been in utilizing data and technology to improve processes," Vellano said. "As we continue on our path of continuous improvement, it's important that we aggressively pursue ways to optimize our resources by implementing cross-functional systems to streamline operations internally, while improving communication with our customers and vendors externally."

Prior to his promotion, Vela served as the company's Vice President, FP&A where in addition to this role, he was also assisting with acquisitions and implementing new software platforms company-wide. "Relative to its counterparts, Vortex takes a more progressive approach in terms of leveraging technology to drive business outcomes," Vela said. "In my new role, I will be doubling down on that approach to further evolve our existing and future systems in an effort to continue to improve our bottom line."

Ultimately Vela is charged with improving on the company's existing IT infrastructure and evolving it to a new, more modern architecture that can support Vortex's growth strategy and expanding data needs. "A big part of my job will be to sell the vision of how new IT platforms will improve, not only the business, but the efficiency of those that use it," Vela said.