Computing is all about the IT leader - whether that's the CIO, CTO, IT director, chief architect or any one of dozens of other titles. Having spoken to hundreds of IT leaders over the last 12 months and beyond, we feel well qualified to produce the definitive rankings for the top 100 IT leaders in the UK.
To produce this list we took into account factors like size of organisation, size of department, annual budget, duration in role and level of transformation achieved. Then, in consultation with industry experts, we undertook the incredibly challenging task of producing the final list - a task which became ever trickier the closer to the top we got.
Do you feel that you should be on this list? Should you be placed higher? Then contact the editorial team, we'll arrange an interview and next year, it could be you sitting at the top.
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Damien Turner
Head of IT, Holiday Extras
As head of IT for Holiday Extras, it's Turner's responsibility to make life as easy as possible for customers, something which saw the firm shift its infrastructure to the cloud. "I can sit there and say 'today is going to be busy, so I'll boost my infrastructure again' and then I can kill it the day after. To have that flexibility is very good," he told Computing
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Chris Ashworth
IT director, Genting Casinos
Ashworth was brought in as IT Director at Genting Casinos to oversee a massive change project for the company's IT. That included a project to replace a legacy IT infrastructure with a new, flexible system that allows Genting to monitor and personalise the entire customer journey. "The more you use the resort, the more we understand about you and we can tailor your experience," Ashworth told Computing.
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Alison Fitzgerald
CIO, London City Airport
Fitzgerald led a project shortlisted in the 2015 UK IT Industry Awards: 'Company85 and London City Airport, London City Airport 'Smart Airport Experience'. Previously she spent two years as CIO of the FT.
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Brendan O'Rourke
CIO, Telefonica
O'Rourke has 23 years experience in the telecommunications and information technology industries focusing on Operations Management, Technology Implementation and Business Transformation. He has been CIO at Telefonica Digital for just over two years. He is a strong proponent of software as a service, and cloud services generally: "Our view is that on-premise or cloud nets out pretty even, but cloud works out better in terms of agility and flexibility. It's not just about the commercials, but you take the risk out of growth in demand, and simple things like platform upgrades just happen," he told Computing recently.
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Max Currie
CIO, National Grid
Max Currie has moved rom his rule as US CIO and head of IS service delivery of National Grid to the UK CIO role earlier this year. He has been at the organisation for five years having held senior IT roles at BP and Barclays.
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Allan Paterson and Peter Clarke
IT Director and CTO respectively, The Isle of Man Government
The Isle of Man Government was an early-adopter of cloud computing, making the transition to a hybrid cloud system in September 2011, which Clarke claims helped to cut IT costs by 15 per cent or about £250,000 per year. That move now seems far-sighted and has helped make the Isle of Man Government's £14m IT budget, which needs to manage more than 1,000 different services, go further.
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James Findlay
CIO, HS2
As CIO of High Speed Two Ltd, Findlay has been working on ensuring the organisation's infrastructure could support the large amount of data going back and forth for preparation of HS2. The construction work entails a large amount of design drawings and data information, and so the firm has had to depend on certain software to ensure that its employees can collaborate with the Department of Transport, its stakeholders and the industry.
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Sander Kristel
CIO, Staffordshire County Council
As the Council drives towards a strategic commissioning model, Sander Kristel plays a pivotal role in shaping new models of delivery to ensure the Council is innovative and imaginative in securing outcomes for residents and reduce costs. Prior to joining Worcester, Kristel was Chief Information Officer at Staffordshire County Council for almost 8 years
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Jonathan Gill
CIO, Watchfinder
Gill has been at luxury watch retailer Watchfinder for over 11 years. Previously he was technical director at Sheffield-based software house Illuminaries Ltd. He specialises in complex IT systems for the education, health, engineering, accountancy and retail industries.
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Rob Ray
CIO, FA
The FA appointed Ray CIO back in 2010. He has worked to ensure that the FA's centre of excellence, St. George's Park would be able to bring benefits to the rest of the country, by delivering a set of websites that include content on coaching on a weekly basis. Under Ray, the FA has also introduced the Whole Game system - a single point of administration to deal with affiliation, sanctioning, discipline and finance through an online portal.
