IT Personality, Visionary CIO finalists named

Issued by ITWeb
Johannesburg, Oct 7, 2014

The top five finalists for the 2014 IT Personality and Visionary CIO awards have been selected, as the South African IT industry's most prestigious awards near their final stage.

The awards are presented by the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA), in association with ITWeb, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and Gartner Africa.

The IT Personality 2014 finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

* Ahmed Ismael, director, Siyafunda Community Technology Centre* Alison Gillwald, director of Research ICT Africa* Bevan Ducasse, CEO, WiGroup* Gian Visser, CEO, Afrihost* JJ Milner, MD, Global Micro Solutions

The Visionary CIO 2014 finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

* Danny Naidoo, CIO, Woolworths* Darryl Thwaits, group CIO, Tiger Brands* Robert Boccia, CIO, Lion of Africa* Sandra Hutchison, CIO, Aon Corporation* Tshifhiwa Ramuthaga, CIO, Financial Services Board

Now in its 36th year, the IT Personality of the Year Award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding impact on the SA ICT industry over the past year and a significant contribution to the IT profession.

Past winners include IT industry notables Alan Knott-Craig, Andile Ngcaba, Aleta Ling, Mark Shuttleworth, Ivan Epstein, Mardia van der Walt Korsten, Asher Bohbot and Rob Stokes. Last year, Mteto Nyati, then Microsoft SA MD, and Barry Dwolatzky, director of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering, shared the title.

Running for the seventh year, the Visionary CIO Award recognises a CIO who has shown visionary leadership, and used IT to make their businesses more innovative and strategic. Past winners include Rabelani Dagada, Carl Louw, Patrick Monyeki, Sandi Macfie and Sello Mmakau. In 2013, Sal Laher, CIO of Eskom, won this prestigious accolade.

Through public voting and an adjudication panel, finalists for both categories have been selected from dozens of nominations received from the IT community, ITWeb readers and the public. The panel scrutinises each candidate, and selects the top five in each category, all of whom have made notable contributions to the South African ICT sector. The next stage in the selection process involves a face-to-face interview with each finalist by the judging panel.

The winners of both awards will be announced at the IITPSA President's Awards breakfast event on 6 November, at the Montecasino Ballroom.