IDC Announces 'Excellence Awards' Winners at Dedicated Ceremony During 16th Annual Middle East CIO Summit in Dubai

More than 1,100 of the region's most influential IT leaders gathered at Dubai's Atlantis, The Palm last week (February 22-23) for the 16th annual installment of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit. The event provided a unique platform for senior business and IT heads, prominent technology companies, and respected industry analysts to share their collective expertise around the theme 'Enabling the Digital Economy's Leaders'.

With more than 60 pioneering IT vendors, service providers, and professional associations partnering with the event, the IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023 featured informative presentations, real-life case studies, best-practice sessions, and individually themed tracks that explored the very latest developments and strategies around digital resiliency, digital trust, sustainability, artificial intelligence, and the rise of the intelligent enterprise, to name just a few. 

The event also featured fascinating keynotes from H.E. Dr. Mohamed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, head of cybersecurity for the UAE government, Amna Al Saleh, head of technology development for the UAE's Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Crawford Del Prete, IDC's global president, as well as a series of dedicated 'For the CIO by the CIO' panel discussions that showcased exclusive insights from more than 20 regional and international industry pioneers.

The IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023 culminated in a ceremony marking The IDC Excellence Awards 2023. Designed to recognize the efforts of the region's foremost technology leaders in driving innovation, strengthening resiliency, and shaping rapid change, individual awards were handed out to winners in the following categories:

• CIO of the Year: Sreedhar Suragouni, Sukoon Insurance
• CISO of the Year: Jad H. Abdulsalam, Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma'aden)
• Women in Technology & Business of the Year:  Hanan Salem Al Zaabi, Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi

IDC would like to thank the following esteemed members of its regional CIO Advisory Council for being part of the judging process and for their invaluable contribution to the overall success of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023:

• Wesam Lootah, Dubai Municipality (UAE)
• Eng. Faisal Bakhashwain, Ministry of Human Resource & Social Development (KSA) 
• Dr. Ammar Alhusaini, Central Agency for Information Technology (Kuwait) 
• Yazeed Abdulallah Alotaibi, Ministry of Health (KSA) 
• Eng. Naif Sheshah, Communications, Space & Technology Commission (KSA)
• Sundah Alsehali, Public Sector (KSA)
• Jason Roos, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KSA) 
• Yousef A. Alsuhaibani, Mobily (KSA)
• Abdulaziz Abanmi, Saudi Payments (KSA)
• Saud Al Dhawyani, Emirates NBD (UAE)
• Ayman Alharbi, Red Sea Global (KSA)
• Bandar Al-Shahrani, Public Investment Fund (KSA) 
• Fuad Al Ansari, Entrepreneur (UAE)
• Ahmed M. Almulla, CIOMajlis (UAE) 
• Mai Alowaish, Gulf Bank (Kuwait)
• Ghinwa Baradhi, HSBC Bank (UAE) 
• Eng. Huda Ahmed Mohsen, Ministry of Information Affairs (Bahrain)
• Ali Abdulla Alsadadi, Ministry of Oil (Bahrain)
• Ahmed Isa Al Khayyat, Al Baraka Banking Group (Bahrain)
• Sean Langton, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (UAE) 
• Eng. Ghada Albugami, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (KSA)
• Virgilio Viegas, QNB Group (Qatar)

To learn more about the IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023, please contact Sheila Manek at smanek@idc.com  or on +971 4 446 3154. You can also join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #IDCMECIO.

The IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023 was supported by the UAE's Ministry of Industry & Advanced Technology, the UAE's Cyber Security Council, Kuwait's Central Agency for Information Technology, and Dubai Municipality. IDC was also honored to have a wide range of partners on board for the event, including: Host Partner: Gulf Business Machines (GBM); Strategic & Sustainability  Partner: Microsoft; Smart ICT Partner: Red Hat; Digital Solutions Partner: MDS Systems Integration; Trailblazer Partners: VMware, Huco; Sustainability Partner: Cisco; DX Partner: Tech Mahindra; Innovation Partner: HCL Tech; Summit Partners: Google Cloud / Mandiant, Zero&One, Riverbed, AWS, UiPath; Platinum Partners: eMudhra, Fortinet, SentinelOne, Denodo, f5, Snowflake, ServiceNow, Micro Focus, Boomi, HUMAN Security, Tenable, Recorded Future; Technology Focus Group Partners: Crayon, Equinix, Veeam, OpenText, Hyland, SquareOne, Kaspersky, Manage Engine, RiCSOC / Sahara Watira, Kyndryl, Swimlane, Advanced Technology Consultancy / Huawei, Pure Storage, Mendix, NetApp / Ingram Micro; Sustainability Transformation Zone Partner: Microsoft; Industry 4.0 Transformation Zone Partner: Infor; Exhibit Partners: SER Group, Rimini Street, Freshworks, Truspeq, Infinidat, SymphonyAI Summit, New Smart Office Automation, BMC; Associate Partners: Emirates Digital Association for Women, UAE Banks Federation, Women in AI, Women in Cyber Security Middle East; Media Partners: Tech Magazine, IE Industry Events, AI Time Journal, DX Talks, GCC Business News, Security Middle East Magazine, Global Business Magazine, CoinPedia, Coinspeaker, U.Today, International Business Magazine, TechX, Media 7, DigitalsetGo.