CIO Awards winners announced

Orcon CTO Thomas Salmen is named CIO of the Year

Thomas Salmen, chief technology officer at internet service provider Orcon, was named as the CIO of the Year at the CIO Summit event in Auckland yesterday evening.

At Orcon, Thomas takes up a role that combines the CTO and the CIO functions. The judges said they were impressed with Thomas’s “unique mix of technical capabilities combined with a strong commercial acumen and clear understanding of the benefits of solutions that delivered profits.”

According to the judges, Thomas (pictured below) was solely responsible for the conceptualisation, design and delivery of the Odyssey Network which is now one of the strongest financially performing areas of the Orcon business.



The other finalists for the CIO of the Year award, sponsored by NetApp, were Allan Lightbourne, head of technology and innovation at Mercury Energy and David Scott – head of technology and innovation at Z Energy.

At the same event the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (pictured below) were announced winners of the inaugural Executive Team of the Year Award, sponsored by ClearPoint.



The Guardians manage the NZ Superannuation Fund which is New Zealand’s largest pool of investment capital. The judges said they were impressed with the high calibre of teamwork demonstrated in the deployment of a recent major technology initiative. The CEO, Adrian Orr, led the project at a strategic level, the executive members kept the outcomes focused on the business and the ICT team, led by Greg McHugh, ensured technology outcomes were achieved.

Other finalists for the Executive Team of the Year were Air New Zealand, Auckland Transport and healthAlliance.

Finally, the Emerging ICT Leader of the Year award, sponsored by Hays IT, was won by Bruce Aylward at Psoda (pictured below). The judges said Aylward has established a New Zealand-based IT business focused on software as a service solution that help organisations manage projects more effectively.



“He has built up the business in New Zealand from scratch and now also has a range of international clients. The solution is innovative, compelling and clients can pick and choose which components of the solution the need,” the judges said.

Other finalists for the Emerging ICT Leader award were Paul Alexander, general Manager at Lexel Project Services; Steven Pyne of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and Peter Yates at Auckland Council.

The CIO Summit continues today.