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I truly love this time of the year because it is my birthday month, the weather in JHB is fabulous and I am privileged to interview some of South Africa’s most inspirational IT entrepreneurs, leaders and personalities.
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The judging process for the IITPSA IT Personality and Visionary CIO has now been finalised and once again, I find myself having to be mindful of not revealing who the winners are before the awards breakfast which is being held on the 24th of November at the Montecasino Ballroom in Fourways.
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The IT Personality for 2015 was Neil Schoeman, CEO and founder of Vumatel. The finalists for the 2016 award are:
- Brandon Bekker – MD of Mimecast SA
- Carel du Toit – MD, Mint Management Technologies
- Edward Lawrence – Director, Workonline Communications
- Elizabeth Gould – Founder of Project CodeX
- Lee Naik – MD of Accenture Digital SA
- Luvuyo Ran – MD of Silulo Ulutho Technologies
- Marius Coetzee – CEO at Ideco
- Sbu Shabalala – CEO at Adapt IT
- Zoaib Hoosen – MD, Microsoft South Africa
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The judging panel had to consider the following criteria whilst interviewing the finalists:
- A person who has made positive impact on the SA ICT industry over the past year
- A person who has been successful in building a highly-respected IT organisation or business
- A person who has made a major contribution to the IT profession over a number of years
- A person who has made a significant technical or academic contribution to the IT industry
- An IT professional who has aided the development needs of the community
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The Visionary CIO for 2015 was Peter du Plooy, CIO of Engen Petroleum. The finalists for the 2016 award are:
- Ashley Veasey – CIO and chief digital officer, Barclays Africa Group
- Brenda Niehaus – Group CIO, Standard Bank
- Jamie Whittaker – Chief digital officer, Discovery Holdings
- Len de Villiers – Group CIO, Telkom
- Libisi Maphanga – CIO, Independent Electoral Commission
- Peter Alkema – CIO Business Banking, FNB
- Ridwaan Bardien – CIO of SANBS
- Sean Maritz – CIO of Eskom Holdings Limited
- Thagaran Govender – CIO , Mercantile Bank
- Travis Dewing – CIO, Netcare
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The criteria for this award differs to that of IT Personality and the judges look for:
- A person with overall responsibility for IT strategy and application of IT in an organisation
- A person who has demonstrated visionary leadership in using IT to support, grow and transform business
- CIO, ICT executive or strategist who has established best practice in implementing technology solutions in an organisation.
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Whilst most of the finalists in both categories are from large corporates, I don’t want this to be a deterrent to IT professionals and young entrepreneurs from taking a stand within the ICT industry and making a worthy and significant impact on the community as a whole. Big or small, every company and every person can make a difference.
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Hope to see you all at the awards.
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Ciao
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Ulandi
