Published on the 14/03/2022 | Written by Heather Wright

After Covid delays, NZ’s CIO Awards winners are announced…

Vodafone’s Andrew Haddad has been named New Zealand’s CIO of the Year at the 2021 CIO Awards with the Greater Wellington Regional Council (pictured), The Earthquake Commission and Te Whare Wānanga o Awainuiārangi also the other winners.

Seven awards were presented during an online award ceremony, which saw equality advocate Victoria MacLennan receive an award for Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business in New Zealand for a career that started selling the first Eftpos machines in New Zealand in her teens.

“The guardianship of Aotearoa’s digital economy is in great hands.”

In the years since MacLennan has been part of the team who programmed the ‘Trusted Xenis’ Unix based operating system, founded data services company OptimalBI, which she still owns today, and spent seven years as co-chair of NZRise, advocating for the New Zealand owned digital technology industry. She’s also held ministerial advisory roles, chaired the Digital Skills forum, helped form the Digital Equity Coalition Aotearoa and has just been appointed CEO of IT Professionals. 

The annual awards, run as part of the CIO Summit by IDC and Brightstar, had been delayed several times due to Covid.

Haddad bet out Mitre 10’s Phil Coster and New Zealand Parliament’s Robert Lockherd for the New Zealand CIO of the Year 2021 award.

He told iStart credit lay with his team.

“Without my team I wouldn’t have got this award. They’re the people waking up in the middle of the night to deal with any incidents, staying up all night to deploy change, taking time away from families to work on designs, project plans and everything else that we do. 

“While this is an individual award, it is dedicated to them, because without the team no CIO, no matter how good he or she is, would ever win this sort of accolade.”

(Keep an eye out for the full interview with Haddad, including how Vodafone got its ‘back yard’ in order and Haddad’s future plans, later this week.)

Bob Komborra, IT operations manager for Vulcan Steel took out the Emerging ICT Leader of the Year 2021. He was previously IT manager at Overland Footwear Group, where his leadership ‘significantly’ uplifted the company’s cybersecurity posture. 

Kombora’s systematic approach involved a thorough vulnerability assessment, demonstrating the vulnerabilities to the management team and convincing management of the strategic value of uplifting security to support Overland’s digital journey. 

In the company awards, The Earthquake Commission bet out Auckland Airport, Auckland Council, Contact Energy and Tū Ora Compass Health to claim the Business Transformation through Digital and IT award. 

EQC’s win comes on the back of a ‘unique’ public-private partnership with the insurance industry to implement a Natural Disaster Response Model – dubbed the first of its kind globally. Insurers now work directly with customers on EQC’s behalf, providing a single customer touchpoint for the end-to-end claims experience and leveraging industry expertise and capacity to respond to natural disasters with greater speed and accuracy. 

Te Whare Wānanga o Awainuiārangi’s work to ‘re-indigenise’ the tech space, and it’s RoboPā initiative, took out the Community Tech Champions award.

RoboPā has enbabled more than 700 primary students from kaupapa Māori kura to engage in science, technology, engineering and maths, through a te ao Māori lens. Students take part in hands-on practical learning, such as robotics design, through a cultural-based approach focused on collaborative learning and sharing. 

The Greater Wellington Regional Council’s ‘supportive culture with a strong emphasis on ownership and engagement’ helped the local body to a win in the Best ICT Team Culture category, while Recycle A Device (RAD) – a collaboration between Digital Future, Spark Foundation, the Southern Initiative and Remojo Tech – took out the Sustainability through Technology award for its work providing refurbished laptops to students in need, enabling them to access and participate in learning. The initiative also teaches technical skills to high school students who are trained to clean and fix the old devices for redistribution.

Louise Francis, IDC New Zealand country manager, says this year’s finalists and winners have shown once again that unique kiwi approach to innovative solutions and community collaboration to solve some of the biggest challenges they will face in their careers. 

“With the talent and creative thinking we have celebrated today, the guardianship of Aotearoa’s digital economy is in great hands.”

 

The full list of winners and finalists is: 

New Zealand CIO of the Year 2021 – Sponsored by CompTIA 

Winner: Andrew Haddad, Chief Information Officer, Vodafone New Zealand
Finalists:
Phil Coster, Chief Digital Officer, Mitre 10, New Zealand Limited
Robert Lockerd, Chief Information Officer, New Zealand Parliament 

Emerging ICT Leader of the Year 2021 – Sponsored by 2degrees 

Winner: Bob Kombora, IT Operations Manager, Vulcan
Finalists:
Avinash de Silva, Technology and Platform Manager, Fresh Direct NZ
Taryn Olsen, Senior Product Manager, Countdown
Alex Stewart, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, WombatNET 

Business Transformation through Digital and IT – Sponsored by ClearPoint 

Winner: The Earthquake Commission
Finalists:
Auckland Airport
Auckland Council
Contact Energy
Tū Ora Compass Health

Community Tech Champions – Sponsored by Juniper Networks 

Winner – RoboPā – Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi
Finalists:
Greater Christchurch Schools’ Network
IT Professionals NZ Schools Outreach Programmes
She Sharp
Te Awa Kairangi Access Trust 

Best ICT Team Culture – Sponsored by RWA Technology People 

Winner: Greater Wellington Regional Council
Finalists:
healthAlliance
Vocus 

Sustainability through Technology – Sponsored by Younity 

Winner: Recycle A Device
Finalists:
FutureFit
Westpac

Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business in New Zealand – Sponsored by Sharp 

Recipient – Victoria MacLennan