CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium seeks nominations for the 17th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award. The Award honors Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who lead their organizations to deliver exemplary levels of business value through innovative use of IT.

Nominees must hold the title of Chief Information Officer (CIO) or equivalent and must be the highest-level IT leader in the organization. Applicants, including self-nominations, are welcome from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and will be assessed on a common set of criteria.   The award judges include CIOs, industry thought leaders and MIT Sloan-affiliated professionals.

The Award draws applicants from a wide diversity of industries and backgrounds. All award finalists are great leaders of IT, and most have significant roles in leading digital transformation in their enterprises. They are seen by their peers as business executive colleagues, not just technology experts.

Past Award winners and their companies have received significant attention and recognition as a result of the Award. Recent Award winners include:

• Tom Peck, EVP, Chief Information and Digital Officer of Sysco (2023)
• Wafaa Mamilli, EVP and Chief Information and Digital Officer of Zoetis (2022)
• Shamim Mohammad, SVP, CIO/CTO, CarMax (2020)

Judging Criteria

Key characteristics of MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award winners include:

Exceptional Communicator – Articulates a vision for strategic business value from IT and works across the organization to build partnership around this vision. Focuses communications on value and innovation, not technology. Helps all IT staff to understand the business and speak the language of business leaders.

Recognized IT Leader – Clearly demonstrates value-for-money in the management of core IT services – providing the right services at the right price and the right level of quality. Recognized among peers as an effective leader of the IT unit.

Driver of Business Value – Understands the business and needs of the CEO, CFO, Line-of-Business heads and other senior executives. Ensures clear focus on potential and realized value in all IT initiatives. Incorporates IT into business decision-making by participating in key strategic conversations, suggesting innovative uses of IT, and for managing risk.

Trusted Partner – Exercises authority beyond IT itself. Considered a trusted member of the senior executive team, not just a technology leader. Suggests innovative uses of IT to transform the business – and successfully executes the changes. May receive additional non-IT responsibilities such as Chief Operating Officer or VP of Strategy, or strategic temporary roles such as Head of M&A integration.

These criteria are adapted from the award-winning book The Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value, which draws extensively upon research conducted at MIT Sloan.

“As we look forward to the 2024 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, we are delighted to once again invite nominations for the MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award,” announced Dr. George Westerman, Co-Chair of the Award Program. “Year after year, we continue to be impressed and inspired by the innovative excellence and impact of these exceptional leaders within their organizations and across the broader business landscape.”

Award finalists will be formally recognized at an exclusive dinner on May 13, 2024, where the winner will be announced. All finalists will also have opportunities to share their insights in panels on the day of the Symposium. 

The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The online application can be found at this link. Please contact [email protected] with any questions about the application process.

About the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the premier global conference for CIOs and digital business executives to become more effective leaders. CIOs and senior IT executives explore enterprise technology innovations, business practices and receive actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today and the future. The Symposium offers a unique learning environment by bringing together the academic thought leadership of MIT with the in-the-trenches experience of leading global CIOs and industry experts. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is organized and developed by the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association. For more information and to register for this year’s Symposium, visit www.mitcio.com.

Editor’s Note:

Journalists interested in a press credential should contact Kim Schaefer ([email protected] or 702-326-6750), Warner Communications.

Media Contact:
Kim Schaefer
Warner Communications      
702-326-6750
[email protected]

SOURCE MIT Sloan CIO Symposium