Former Cisco SVP Joins Zynga As Chief Information Officer

FarmVille and CityVille developer Zynga announced that it has hired Debra Chrapaty, formerly senior vice president of Cisco's Collaboration Software Group, as its new chief information officer. Reporting to chief technology officer Cadir Lee at the San Francisco-headquartered firm, Chrapaty is charged with "ensuring Zynga's tools and infrastructure are a key strategic advantage, enhancing Zynga's internal collaboration, and enhancing external tools that touch [Zynga's] players." When she was at Cisco, the executive oversaw the design and development of Cisco collaboration services like Webex, Webex Mail, and Jabber IM. Prior to that, Chrapaty was corporate vice president at Microsoft, where she managed the company's technical operations for its online properties. Chrapaty's hiring follows a series of key appointments at the fast-growing social game developer, including Yahoo's former Mergers and Acquisitions head Taylor Barada, who is now working at Zynga in an unannounced position; and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who joined Zynga's board of directors. "Through its focus on leading technology, Zynga is redefining how we look at play," said Chrapaty in a statement published by CRN. "My job will be to make it easier for our employees to design and build for play." She adds, "I am looking forward to tackling Zynga's unique technology challenges and helping develop infrastructure systems to ensure that we have the most scalable, secure and reliable systems in place."