Rorie Devine, Betfair

Betfair is the world’s leading online betting exchange. Over the past year, the company has seen customer transactions double, with more than six million bets placed during the World Cup alone.

Yet under the leadership of chief technology officer Devine, Betfair’s service to customers has improved, with 99.1 per cent of users able to place their bet within one second. This has been achieved through innovative in-house software running on best-of-breed products.

Under Devine’s leadership, the company has invested more than £30m in technology over the past two years. But Devine thinks his leadership success has less to do with technology than interpersonal skills. ‘IT leadership is becoming more about managing relationships and people,’ he says.

Ken Douglas, BP

Douglas, director of BP Digital & Communications Technology’s chief technology office, championed and led a sensory networks technology programme that has fundamentally transformed business processes, operations, customer service, environmental impact and the nature of work itself.

Sensor networks allow remote, real-time monitoring of physical assets, products and people, using technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID). A creative and enthusiastic individual, he uses novel approaches to challenge traditional thinking and generate new ideas. His outstanding business and personal skills have enabled him to drive those ideas forward, and he is recognised for his integrity and belief in using IT to improve both the workplace and the world.

Al-Noor Ramji, BT

BT’s IT division BT Exact is critical to the firm’s plan to transform itself into an IT service provider competing with the likes of IBM and Accenture.

Ramji, chief information officer of BT Group and chief executive of BT Exact, has implemented new business processes and restructured BT Exact’s IT workforce, human resource practices, project management processes and customer-facing technologies. New technical efficiencies and improved internal processes have enabled BT to reduce 4,500 projects to fewer than 30 business-aligned programmes, realising savings of more than £200m, cutting project cycles from 18 to three months, raising IT productivity by 17 per cent and presiding over a 20 per cent annual improvement in customer satisfaction levels.

Alan Ovenden, MSB International

 A can-do attitude, a commitment to quality and a strong focus on the business value of technology have helped Ovenden, IT director at recruitment consultancy MSB International, to become a respected leadership role model during his seven years in the post.

He is equally comfortable in front of developers, managers or the company’s operating board, advising on the latest technology trends and growth markets. Ovenden runs the IT department with strict service level agreements and has introduced many innovative technologies, including a CV-reading system and virtual private networking technology which has allowed MSB to open satellite offices quickly and easily. He has also successfully cut costs and increased service levels every year.

Darin Brumby, FirstGroup

International passenger transport operator FirstGroup has transformed all aspects of its IT operations under chief information officer Brumby.

In the past year, he has led a £46.9m outsourcing deal with BT that has taken the company to new levels of IT maturity.

Brumby has also pioneered best practice, including adopting the ITIL service management standard and Prince 2 programme management methodology, enabling FirstGroup to integrate and transform several new rail franchises and successfully complete more than 100 technology projects. His leadership and comm unications skills have also enabled him to build winning teams and trusted relationships.

David Lester, LSE

Lester, chief information officer at the London Stock Exchange, has been a tireless champion of innovation.

His vision and leadership have resulted in a stream of innovative solutions and next-generation technologies as part of the Exchange’s Technology Roadmap (TRM), a four-year programme due for completion next year.

Lester designed and is delivering the TRM, which the Exchange claims is providing its customers with the fastest, most robust and functionally rich trading environment in the world. Among the notable fruits of the TRM is Infolect, the Exchange’s real-time data-delivery infrastructure.

Mark Akass, BT Radianz

Radianz was acquired by BT in 2005 to provide secure IP networking and services to the global finance community. Akass was promoted to chief technology officer in December, and has been instrumental in driving the integration with BT, as well as overall strategy, global expansion and product development.

He led the delivery of a BT solution to Reuters and launched a number of products and services for the financial markets.

These included BT Radianz Extended Reach, which delivers low-cost services to an extra 40 countries, and the BT Radianz Proximity Solution, which improves the running of algorithmic trading applications.

See www.computing.co.uk/awards for more.