2025 Award Categories

Following are the categories and criteria for the CIO Awards New Zealand programme.

CIO of the Year

The CIO of the Year award is open to individuals in the most senior ICT leadership position in your organisation (CIO, CDO, CTO, Head of IT, etc.). New Zealand’s CIO of the Year will illustrate how they have positioned the role of CIO strategically within the company. They will demonstrate innovation and key successes achieved in the past 12 months with an eye on digital leadership in the future. They will also be able to show how technology and digital will enable their organisation’s overall business strategy.

The CIO of the Year will be a role model within their organisation and an influencer across the leadership team, adept at managing and driving transformation, empowering their team, and leading the integrate innovations for building a leading digital business.

2024 WINNER:

Hamish Rumbold, Kiwibank

2024 FINALISTS:
Samir Ranchhod, Tamaki Health
Shayne Tong, Foodstuffs South Island
Tim Aynsley, Mercury

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Emerging ICT Leader of the Year

The Emerging ICT Leader award, recognises, celebrates, and encourages exceptional ICT talent under the age of 35 years at the time of the awards.

We are looking for the future CIO’s and digital leaders of New Zealand’s ICT sector - people who have demonstrated outstanding ICT initiative and leadership. The winner of this award will have already made their mark in their ICT career, whether it is leading a high performing team in an established organisation, building their own successful technology business, or mentoring for digital leadership in an under-represented community.

2024 WINNER:

Manvi Madan, Port of Auckland

2024 FINALISTS:
Moonis Vegdani, Counties Energy

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Business Transformation through Digital and IT

The “Business Transformation through Digital and IT Award” honours the achievements of organisations that have successfully planned and executed a Business Transformation initiative or program using digital and/or disruptive technologies. These organisations represent outstanding examples of how it has successfully navigated the digital landscape to produce exceptional transformation outcomes as part of its wider business strategy. Finalists in this category will demonstrate collaboration across all parts of the business, strong advocacy from its leadership team, clearing the path for transformation, and represent industry leadership on how to leverage digital technologies to transform the organisation.

2024 WINNER:

Mercury NZ

2024 FINALISTS:
Hamilton City Council

Whakarongorau Aotearoa / New Zealand Telehealth Services

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Community Tech Champions

The Community Tech Champions Award honours and showcases outstanding initiatives that focus on creating digital equity, diversity, and accessibility to technology and tech careers in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Community Tech Champions’ programs can include programs such as women in tech, Māori and Pasifika in tech, regional or community initiatives, enabling accessibility to technology for those with disabilities, engaging youth (workforce of the future) and/ or lifelong learning. Our aim is to encourage private businesses, public sector organisations, not for profit and academic institutions, to take action, ensuring the digital capabilities of all New Zealanders are constantly growing and improving.

2024 WINNER:

Tōnui Collab

2024 FINALISTS:
Christchurch City Council
New Zealand Centre for Digital Connections with India

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Best ICT Team Culture & Inclusion

The Best ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Team Culture & Inclusion Award recognises outstanding ICT team culture, recruitment, inclusion, and diversity practices that contributes to the teams’ and their organisation’s success. These organisations understand that recruitment, retention, and training future talent as a key part of the integral recipe for high performing ICT teams.

Skills shortages remain a challenge for the ICT industry and diversity and inclusion is becoming a key focus at board and executive levels. This award recognises practices, policies, and strategies that foster a modern, inclusive, and open team culture. The outcomes are excellence in nurturing of a diverse IT team, advocating cohesion, morale, and retention of critical talent to build a competitive digital business.

2024 WINNERS:

Foodstuffs South Island

New Zealand Red Cross

2024 FINALISTS:

Kiwibank

ProCare Network

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Innovation Leadership Through an Emerging Technology

Emerging technologies play a crucial role in building a competitive and resilient digital organisation. This award recognises innovation leaders who are at the forefront of leveraging an emerging technology to create new business models, transform an industry process, or build new products and services. These organisations provide the benchmark for innovation withing their industry or sector, while managing the complexities of a new technology that is often still evolving and underdeveloped regulatory guardrails. In 2025 the emerging technologies selected for entries are Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI.

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Excellence in Customer Value

This award recognises technology teams delivering increased levels of customer value and experience through a refreshed approach to user engagement. Customer Value can span new projects, solutions and initiatives, in addition to processes, business models and operations.

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Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business in New Zealand

This award is given to a high profile business person from a public or private company whose contribution has significantly and uniquely impacted the greater New Zealand or global business community in an information technology sense over the course of his or her career. The award recognises people at the intersection of business and technology. That could be someone who has had a long and successful career in IT, who has contributed significantly to the effectiveness of business through technology, or someone who has had great success in a technology company. The recipient is selected by the judging panel. However, if you believe you know a worthy candidate please drop us a line and let us know why you think they should be considered.

2024 WINNER: Dianne Daniels

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