Foundry announces CIO50 NZ Awards

CIO New Zealand is proud to present the CIO50 NZ Awards for 2022, recognising the top 50 senior technology executives who are driving innovation and influencing rapid change across their organisations.

The CIO50 NZ Awards are aligned to Foundry’s global awards program and viewed as a mark of excellence in the CIO community worldwide.

The CIO50 winners are judged on the pillars of innovation and leadership, honouring transformational, inspirational, and enduring CIOs across Aotearoa in a variety of industry sectors and regions.

This year we also present the inaugural Next CIO award, recognising a rising star in the industry who is on the pathway to senior leadership.

We also have new projects categories in 2022, recognising innovative work in Government and Financial Services.

Tonkin + Taylor’s Rehka Kharbanda takes top honours in CIO50

The top-ranked technology leader in 2022 is Rekha Kharbanda, Executive Leader – Digital at engineering and environmental consultancy firm Tonkin +Taylor.

Kharbanda has led the organisation’s digital transformation and implemented the innovative Earth Hub. This platform brings in highly variable, highly technical and non-standardised data sources from analogue and third-party datasets into T+T’s data lake and sets the foundation for T + T to be an AI-enabled business.

Earth Hub was used to quickly deliver an integrated and automated emergency disaster response, damage assessment, insurance settlement and recovery solution during the recent Nelson flooding.

Dr. Tim Fisher, Managing Director of T+T Group, says: “Rekha is an absolute rocket; setting a vision and launching Tonkin + Taylor into a digital world. She has piloted that vision with passion and has attracted incredible new talent as well as building strategic allies across the business. She has learnt what works best in our very traditional business and industry, adjusting strategic course to navigate new ways of working and opportunities along the way.”

The top 10 CIO50 NZ awardees

1. Rekha Kharbanda, Executive Leader – Digital, Tonkin + Taylor
2. David Healy, Chief Digital Officer, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd
3. Alexis Stewart, Programme Director, Careway
4. Brian Northern, Group Chief Information Officer, Fulton Hogan
5. Rebecca Thomas, Chief Information Officer, PWC
6. Roger Thomas, Executive General Manager, Business Technology, Auckland Transport
7. Josh Robb, Chief Technology and Product Officer, Tend Health
8. Nicholas Fourie, Vice President ICT, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
9. Simon Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer, Foodstuffs North Island
10. Angela Nash, Chief Information and Technology Officer, NZ Rugby

The top 11- 25 CIO50 NZ awardees

11. Jo Hilson, Chief Technology Officer, Tourism Holdings Limited
12. Stephen Vidulich, Head of Technology, EnviroNZ
13. Joshua Bankers, Executive Director, Digital Technology & Information Management, NZ Blood
14. Jason Mangan, Chief Technology Officer, University of Auckland
15. Mark Denvir, Director of ICT, Auckland Council
16. Peter Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer, Genesis Energy
17. Hamish Rumbold, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Kiwibank
18. Thomas Hyde, Chief Digital Officer, Beca
19. Mark Leadbetter, IT Director, House of Travel
20. Roxanne Salton, Chief Digital Officer, Southern Cross Health Society
21. Danuskha Abeysuriya, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Rush Digital
22. Andrew Goodin, Chief Technology Officer, Classic Group
23. Symon McHerron, Chief Information Officer, Christchurch City Council
24. Andrew Ramsay, General Manager Information Technology, Fisher & Paykel
25. Cobus Nel, General Manager Information Services & Technology, Transpower NZ

The top 26-50 (listed alphabetically)

• Alistair Vickers, Chief Information Officer/Chief Information Security Officer, Tū Ora Compass Health
• Allan Lightbourne, Chief Digital Officer, Tauranga City Council
• Andrew Haddad, Chief Information Officer, Vodafone New Zealand
• Angela Henderson, General Manager Digital, Kiwi Property
• Bill Moses, Chief Digital Officer, Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission
• Brian Ferris, Chief Data, Analytics and Technology Officer, Loyalty New Zealand
• Chris Reid, Chief Information Officer, Hallenstein Glassons
• Craig Columbus, Chief Information Officer, TR Group
• Craig Ward, Chief Technology Officer, Kiwi Wealth
• David Scullin, Chief Digital Officer, Zespri International
• Glen Priest, Head of Digital Services, Livestock Improvement Corporation
• Iain Boyd, Head of ICT, ANZCO Foods
• Karl Wright, Group Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, Datacom
• Kenny Thein, Chief Information Officer, Restaurant Brands
• Kevin Rowland, Chief Information Officer, Fliway Group
• Marcus Rameke, Head of Information Technology, SVP Nikko Asset Management
• Matt van Deventer, General Manager, Technology and Delivery Manawa Energy
• Nathan Scott, Chief Technology Officer, Valocity
• Neville Richardson, Chief Information Officer, Gallagher Group Limited
• Paul Natac, Head of IT, Provident Insurance
• Richard Wilkinson, Chief Innovation & Digital Officer, Farmlands Co-operative Ltd
• Sam Pickles, Chief Technology Officer, RedShield
• Steve Alani, Chief Information Officer, UCG
• Steve James, Head of Technology, Woolworths New Zealand
• Terri Carajannis, Chief Digital Officer, Harrison Grierson

More information about the accomplishments of this year’s winners can be found at our CIO 50 NZ Awards website.

The inaugural Next CIO winner is Madeleine Richardson

Contact Energy’s head of planning and delivery Madeleine Richardson is the inaugural winner of the Next CIO award, launched as part of the CIO50 2022.

Over the last few years Richardson has taken the ICT planning and delivery function from a small-scale BAU focused delivery team predominantly supporting one business unit, to a large-scale enterprise-wide transformation delivery function, whilst playing a key role in the ICT leadership team as the team transitioned from sitting within the retail business unit back to a full enterprise-wide function.

Madeleine has been with Contact for more than 11 years and was nominated for this award by the company’s CIO Iain Gauld.

Best projects in Government and Financial Services

Auckland Council is this year’s winner in the Government category for Best Projects.

In 2022, Auckland Council’s ICT team designed and delivered an entirely new way of managing local government data whilst driving operational costs down significantly by $12.8 million per annum.

This saw the innovative delivery of a multi-cloud hybrid environment for Auckland Council, reducing annual operating costs whilst creating an adaptive, efficient and effective tech landscape.

This was an entirely unique approach in its fully customised cloud design to create council’s own cloud design, purpose-built system to optimise data and storage while providing modern solutions to business problems and a foundation for the organisation’s digital transformation.

In the Financial Services category, FMG won the award for its Data Centre Exit (DCE) project.

The completion of this project means FMG is now fully cloud, with systems and services being provided from multiple cloud locations. The project makes FMG one of the few, large financial organisations within New Zealand who have completed a full migration of services to the cloud.

One of FMG’s points of differentiation is its mobile workforce, with close to 200 people on the farm providing advice and insurance solutions to clients. The ability of these employees to access data and systems while in the field allows the organisation to improve the service provided to clients.

The DCE project was predominantly resourced and completed using FMG resources, with external support from The Instillery.