It is important to meet the thought leaders and industry experts who are adding real value to the judging process in the 2018 CIO100 awards.

All nominations will be reviewed by our judging panel, who will rate each section of the questionnaire in order to come up with our final list. These responses will also form the basis of the profiles of our top 100 CIOs, which will be revealed at a breakfast forum in March 2018.

Benoit Aubert

Dr Benoit Aubert is the Director of the Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University, in Nova-Scotia. Before this, he was Professor of Information Systems and Head of the School of Information Management, Victoria Business School (Victoria University of Wellington). He worked on strengthening the university’s data science programmes and worked with industry leaders to introduce a one-year master of professional business analytics. His previous posts included Professorship in Governance and Information Technology at HEC Montreal (Canada). He also worked as a faculty member at Laval University in Quebec City (Canada). Professor Aubert is a Fellow of the CIRANO and Associate Researcher of the CEFRIO. He has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the CIRANO, Director of Research at HEC Montreal, and Director of the IS Research Group at HEC Montreal. His main research areas are outsourcing, risk management, and new organisation forms. His work on risk management has led to software products and licensing agreements between the university and private organisations. He frequently acts as expert consultant on outsourcing decisions, IT strategy and enterprise reorganisations.

Owen McCall

Owen McCall is an experienced management consultant and former CIO who is passionate about harnessing the power of technology to create value for businesses, communities, families and individuals. Previously, Owen spent 18 years with Deloitte where he worked with clients from around the world to implement technologies that supported their business strategy. He also led Deloitte's outsourcing practice for Australia and New Zealand. Owen then became the CIO of The Warehouse, where he was responsible for delivering value from IT.These roles have given Owen a broad perspective of IT, its power and challenges. He now operates as an independent consultant and advisor, guiding CIOs and senior executives on how to use technology in a way that adds real value to their organisation. He is a regular blogger and contributor to CIO New Zealand where he is a member of the editorial advisory board, and is a sought-after speaker across the technology industry.

Chris Clark

Starting his learning with computer science, Chris has a diverse career over 27 years in the industry. Starting from a Progress Development house, he made a change to an ICT systems integration direction, spending eight years as the senior consultant for Data#3. Enjoying this career path he then started his own consulting company. In late 2003 Chris joined Brookfield Multiplex, first consulting through his own company to assist in an outsourcing implementation. Within one year the company convinced Chris to join and take ownership of the global direction of the IT service across ANZ, MEA and UK. By 2007, Chris was promoted to CIO and has to date implemented business process reengineering projects, project management office, selective sourcing methodology, internal agile development projects assisting external business profitability, business intelligence, cost per head finance model, virtualisation and now private cloud. After eight years with Brookfield Multiplex, Chris then took on a Global CIO role with GrainCorp. Now Virtual CIO at VCIO Australia, Chris’ goal is to bring services of highly skilled IT executives to the broader range of business that typically struggle the most with technology in their business.

Steven Mayo-Smith

Steven Mayo-Smith is an independent business consultant, working with a range of business on their digital transformation and growth strategies. His most recent executive post was Programme Lead for the Digital and Health High Impact Programmes for the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. He has been a judge at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards for the past four years. Steven has held a succession of CIO roles in Livestock Improvement Corporation, Yellow, Medtech Global, Radius Health Group and Auckland District Health Board. In the early part of his career, he held a range of technology roles in telecommunications and health.

Andrew Crabb

Andrew Crabb is working with a couple of companies in a strategic advisory and CIO capacity or consultancy engagement. One of these is TR Group where he is CIO and a member of the leadership team. His previous roles include head of Enterprise Solutions and Services at Vodafone New Zealand and head of business and government sales at TelstraClear. Prior to moving to sales, Andrew held the position of CIO at TelstraClear for five years during a period of significant transformation. In both roles he emphasised the need for the ICT teams to remain current with emerging trends and technologies, and work in tandem with the other business units.

Michele Caminos

Michele Caminos is managing vice president with Gartner’s Technology and Service Provider research group. Based in Auckland, she covers datacentre transformation, looking at the strategic direction of vendors’ hybrid cloud, mobile, infrastructure and go-to-market approaches. She also advises end users on datacentre trends, the competitive landscape and selection criteria development. Michele also manages a global team of security and imaging and print services analysts. She has previously covered small-to-medium business and channels research as well as IT services, with Gartner in the US and in Asia Pacific. Michele is a regular presenter at local and international IT events. Prior to joining Gartner in 1996, she was a market analyst with Accenture, specialising in logistics and distribution. Her other experiences include portfolio management roles in banking and finance and healthcare software marketing.

Mark Baker

Mark Baker is principal of MIH Consulting, which specialises in supporting businesses achieve their strategic and operational objectives. He has held a succession of CIO and chief operating officer roles in New Zealand enterprises including Foodstuffs Auckland, Fletcher Distribution and Kiwi Co-operative Dairy Company. He has been a member ofthe New Zealand Institute of Directors since 2009 and is actively engaged with boards across sectors.

Peter van Dyk

Peter van Dyk is the principal consultant of PVD Consulting, which services clients in education, not-for-profit, retailing, healthcare and utilities. Van Dyk has over 30 years of IT experience and has held senior IT management positions in a number of iconic organisations in three continents. Most recently, he was group CIO at education group Aspire2. Having completed his MBA through Henley Business School, he has a strong appreciation of the role that strategy plays in modern businesses. He has lived and worked in New Zealand for 30 years and has a good understanding of the business and IT landscape, as well as the key players.

Andries van der Westhuizen

Andries van der Westhuizen is co-director of Candor Consulting, which specialises in “slicing through technical obscurity to help organisations make well informed ICT decisions”. He started the consultancy following a range of CIO roles at Stevenson Group (where he was also concurrent transformation manager)and Vector, where he rose through the ranks from project manager - information systems. He is a member of CIO New Zealand’s editorial advisory board and chair of the Orakei Community Association.

Victor Vae'au

Victor Vae’au is working with organisations on their digital and business transformation strategies. He is also an advisory board member and mentor to the future CIO programme at the University of Auckland. Prior to this, Vae’au was CIO at the New Zealand Defence Force for over five years,after leading the Operations division. Victor has experience in Logistics,Tourism, Finance, Retail, and in Technology where he has held technical and senior management roles operating infrastructure and applications development before joining Defence. Victor enjoys transformational strategies and creating business value through operationalising these. He is also passionate about developing leaders in the technology sector. Vae’au is a member of CIO New Zealand’s editorial advisory board.

Claudia Vidal

Claudia Vidal is an independent consultant and director with experience in digital technologies in education, manufacturing, and retail industries among others. She has led teams to deliver innovative solutions, most recently directing a digital transformational programme at Competenz, and business solutions at Vector. She is a senior technology leader with specific strengths in business and digital strategies, and program execution. She is a member of the IITP accreditation board and the CIO advisory board of the University of Auckland’s Future CIO Programme. She is a member of CIO New Zealand’s editorial advisory board.

John Holley

John Holley is a senior ICT professional with a track record of successfully leading and delivering innovative/transformational business change projects. While holding a series of executive roles in business technology and ICT, he is also a staff officer at the New Zealand Defence Force. He was a planning officer for the UN Mission in South Sudan for seven months in 2013/14, and was the planning officer for a NZ Army Battalion in East Timor in 2001/2. He is a board member for ChildFund NZ and Accelerating Aotearoa. He has also been a board chair for for two schools.

Murray Wills

Murray Wills, founder of Maxsys, provides ‘virtual CIO’ services to organisations in all sectors as well as IT strategic consulting and training.Maxsys is also a member of the All-of-Government Consultancy Services Panel. He has held a range of executive roles in sales, ICT education and finance technology. Today, Wills is listed on the Global Experts database of Callaghan Innovation, providing advice for people on innovation projects. For the Institute of IT Professionals he is chair of the IT Governance Task Force. As well as being a Chartered IT Professional, he is a Certified Management Consultant and Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors. Wills is a member of CIO New Zealand’s editorial advisory board.

Matti Seikkula

Matti Seikkula is the CIO and principal consultant for New Zealand’s leading spatial consultancy firm, e-Spatial. He has 27 years’ experience in Information Technology, most recently in spatial (19 years). His calling is to raise the awareness of spatial at an enterprise level. He has an insatiable desire to keep up with technology trends and their business application. This allows him to look at the big picture, to start recognising patterns and to predict what might happen in the future. Most recently, he was appointed to The Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information - Program 3 board. The board is researching new, intelligent ways to improve the organisation, access and use of spatial data in Australia and NZ.

Nuwanthie Samarakone

Nuwanthie Samarakone is passionate about working with emerging talent. She is the Founder & CEO at ICE Professionals Limited. ICE Professionals is an organisation focused on talented undergraduates, graduates and young professionals. The organisation identifies, attracts and develops future leaders for the most discerning organisations. ICE is based across New Zealand, Australia, UK, Singapore & Sri Lanka and is an ‘early in talent’ and careers services consultancy that provides integrated placements, mentoring and coaching programs for interns, graduates and organisations. Since 2014, ICE has worked with organisations such as Microsoft across APAC to attract and select Intern, Graduate and MACH hires across the region. In addition to the Technology sector, ICE works across the Health, FMCG, Banking & Financial services, Pharmaceuticals and Telecommunications verticals. As part of her passion towards emerging talent and building future leaders, Nuwanthie serves as a member of various advisory boards, boards and associations for community, business, and professional and government bodies and faculties for Universities across the ICE bases to assist with market insights (both local and international).

Stephen Haddad

Stephen Haddad is a Technology and Business Transformation Executive with over 20 years’ experience defining future-state operating models and technology roadmaps for market dominant brands and international organisations. Over the course of his career, Stephen has spearheaded corporate restructures and managed comprehensive change programmes to implement best-of-breed IT, PMO and business frameworks. With a history of leading successful business transformation across complex multi-location structures, Stephen encourages teams to challenge ‘the way they’ve always done things’, applying a holistic approach to business management that drives performance improvement.

Ron Hooton

Ron Hooton is the CEO of Vision Australia. Throughout his career Ron Hooton has worked extensively in the primary health care sector and not-for-profit sector. Ron joined Vision Australia in January 2013 after guiding ProCare Health Limited (NZ), New Zealand’s largest primary healthcare organisation, to a leading position in the primary health care sector. He has specialised in operational and technical information technology positions over his career and has worked for organisations such as Databank Systems Limited, National Provident Fund, Telecom, Western Bay Health, Countrywide Bank and the New Zealand Defence Force. Ron who has family members who have experienced vision loss is a specialist on the disability sector in Australia, funding in the disability sector, employment and the NDIS. Ron is a judge for the ICT-enabled community programme category.

Robin Johansen

Robin Johansen is an independent ICT consultant and strategist based in Nelson. Before this, he was CIO of Beca group for 13 years, coming from the Ministry of Defence, where he was Deputy Secretary. He was a founder and director of Beca Applied Technologies, which developed software for clients across the globe, and chair of the advisory group for Better By Procurement of NZ Trade and Enterprise. He was a member of the IT Governance Taskforce set up by IITP as a contribution to improved IT Governance in New Zealand. Robin is a judge for the ICT-enabled community programme category.

Kirsten Patterson

Kirsten Patterson (known as KP) is formerly the country head of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. She is a qualified lawyer, Chartered Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, and has extensive governance and leadership experience. She is also a strong advocate on diversity issues. KP is a judge for the ICT-enabled community programme category.

David Kennedy

David Kennedy is the Chief Information Officer of Transaction Services Group, a global payment solutions provider with headquarters in Auckland. He was voted #4 in the NZ CIO 100 index and also nominated for CIO of the year in 2017. The TSG role covers being the Group CIO for 6 companies in the UK, Australia, US and NZ. Kennedy is a member of the editorial advisory board of CIO New Zealand. He is a director for Computer Culture (a Christchurch-based company), Chairman of the advisory board for the Future CIO Programme at the University of Auckland and advisory council member for BeyondTrust, an American security product company. He is also Chairman of the IT Leaders forum which specialises in providing opinions on the tough questions in today’s economy. David is a judge for the ICT-enabled community programme category.

Aubrey Christmas

Aubrey Christmas is the managing director of Virtus Circle, an independent management and technology consultancy. His previous roles include CIO at Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern), Principal head of Technology Advisory and Improvement Services at Ernst & Young NZ, Director at Accenture in the US, and AVP at Citibank NA in Singapore. Aubrey is a judge for the ICT-enabled community programme category.