The Awards
For over 15 years, CIONET has partnered with Dr. Nils Fonstad of MIT CISR to promote a deeper understanding of what defines outstanding digital leadership. The CIONET Awards (formerly European Digital Leader of the Year - EDLOTY) provide a unique opportunity to celebrate the achievements of all finalists and to spotlight Europe’s top Digital Leaders across five categories:

Applications & Architecture
Data & AI
Cloud & Infrastructure
Cybersecurity
The European CIO of the Year

The Objectives

The CIONET Awards programme has two key objectives:

To recognise and celebrate Digital Leaders and their teams who have driven organisational success by leveraging digital technologies to create significant business value.
To raise awareness of the increasingly strategic and diverse roles that Digital Leaders and their teams play across private and public sector organisations.

The Jury

Digital Leaders will be evaluated by a carefully selected Jury composed of distinguished CIOs, Award sponsors, representatives from MIT CISR, previous winners, and CIONET International. The evaluation will be based on each candidate’s submitted Overview of Accomplishments.

The Criteria

The criteria vary depending on the Awards category and will be shared by the CIONET Team with each Nominee.

The Winners

There will be 5 Winners - one for each category. Each will be able to add this prestigious title to the list of their achievements.

Award Ceremonies
CIONET will host two virtual Award Ceremonies, during which each nominee will present their achievements and take part in a Q&A session within their category:

CIONET Awards 2026 – Part 1: Data & AI + Applications & Architecture | Dec 9, 2025
CIONET Awards 2026 – Part 2: Cybersecurity + Cloud & Infrastructure | Feb 12, 2026

The program will be concluded with an in-person Ceremony, where all Nominees are invited and the Winners will receive their Awards:

CIONET Awards 2026 – Part 3: The Gala of the European CIO of the Year | March 25, 2026

Nominee 2026 Italy Applications & Architecture

Claudio Balbo

Head of IT Architecture

Intesa Sanpaolo

Nominee 2026 Netherlands Applications & Architecture

Sheila Gemin

Global Head of Corporate Technology

ING

Nominee 2026 Poland Applications & Architecture

Radosław Maćkiewicz

CEO

COI (Polish Centre for Information Technology)

Nominee 2026 Germany Applications & Architecture

Dr. Hanna Huber

CTO Flix Tech

Flix SE

Nominee 2026 Germany Cloud & Infrastructure

Stefan Latuski

CIO & CEO IT-Systemhaus

German Federal Employment Agency

Nominee 2026 Spain Cloud & Infrastructure

Laura Garrido

CTO

Ferrovial

Nominee 2026 Italy Cloud & Infrastructure

Francesco Ciuccarelli

Chief Innovation & Technology Officer

Alpitour

Nominee 2026 Belgium Cybersecurity

Thomas Colyn

Director IT technology & CISO

DPG Media

Nominee 2026 Italy Cybersecurity

Michele Mariella

CIO

Maire Tecnimont

Nominee 2026 Netherlands Cybersecurity

Florence Mottay

Vice President Information Security & CISO

Zalando

Nominee 2026 Italy Data & AI

Giuseppe Ficara

Global Senior Director Data & AI Officer

Amplifon

Nominee 2026 Belgium The European CIO of the Year

Michał Paprocki

Group CIO, Executive Committee

Euroclear

Nominee 2026 Spain The European CIO of the Year

Vanessa Escrivá

Group CIO

MAPFRE

Nominee 2026 UK The European CIO of the Year

Charlotte Baldwin

CIO

Burberry

Winner Nominee 2023 Netherlands

Daniel Gebler

CTO

Picnic

Winner Nominee 2023 Netherlands

Lourens Visser

CIO

Dutch Central Government

Winner Nominee 2023 Germany

Dr. Axel Schell

Chief Technology Officer

Allianz Technology

Winner Nominee 2023 Germany

Dr. Jochen Göttelmann

CIO

Lufthansa Cargo

Winner Nominee 2023 Norway

Åshild Hanne Larsen

VP Subsurface Excellence & Digital

Equinor

Winner Nominee 2023 Belgium

Geert Goethals

CIO

Proximus

Winner Nominee 2021 Netherlands

Nik Puri

Senior Vice President, International IT

FedEx Express

Winner Nominee 2021 Germany

Melanie Kehr

Member of the Executive Board | CIO

KfW

Winner Nominee 2021 UK

Marina F. Bellini

Chief Information & Digital Officer

BAT

Winner Nominee 2021 Poland

Krzysztof Dąbrowski

COO

mBank

Winner Nominee 2021 Italy

Marco Moretti

Chief Information Officer

A2A

Winner Finalist Jury 2021 Netherlands

Nik Puri

Senior Vice President, International IT

FedEx Express

Winner Finalist Jury 2021 Germany

Melanie Kehr

Member of the Executive Board | CIO

KfW

Winner Finalist Jury 2021 UK

Marina F. Bellini

Chief Information & Digital Officer

BAT

Winner Finalist Jury 2021 Poland

Krzysztof Dąbrowski

COO

mBank

Winner Finalist Jury 2021 Italy

Marco Moretti

Chief Information Officer

A2A

Winner Finalist Jury 2020 Belgium

Erwin Verstraelen

Chief Digital Innovation Officer

Port of Antwerp

Winner Finalist Jury 2020 Belgium

Geert Standaert

Chief Technology Officer

Proximus

Winner Finalist Jury 2020 Netherlands

Rui Pedro Silva

Group Chief Digital Officer

ERIKS

Winner Finalist Jury 2020 Portugal

Miguel Teixeira

Digital Transformation

Renault Group

Winner Finalist Jury 2020 Germany

Anke Sax

COO/CTO

KGAL GmbH & Co. KG (KGAL)

Winner Finalist Jury 2018 Netherlands

Bouke Hoving

CIO Retail Banking

ING

Winner Finalist Jury 2018 Germany

Stefan Würtemberger

Vice President Information Technology

Marabu Inks

Winner Finalist Jury 2018 Portugal

Ana Neves

Founding Member

EuroDIG

Winner Finalist Jury 2018 Spain

Jaime Sanz

IT Managing Director

Santander Global T&O

Winner Finalist Jury 2018 Italy

Emiliano Sorrenti

CIO

Aeroporte di Roma

Winner Finalist Jury 2017 Belgium

Herman De Prins

CIO

UCB

Winner Finalist Jury 2017 Poland

Maciej Buba

Digital Services & Innovation Director

AmRest

Winner Finalist Jury 2017 Netherlands

Ron van Kemenade

Chief Technology Officer

ING

Winner Finalist Jury 2017 Germany

Markus Richter

State Secretary

Federal Ministry of the Interior

Winner Finalist Jury 2017 UK

Sarah Flannigan

CIO Senior Advisor

OMERS Private Equity

Winner Finalist Jury 2016 Spain

Jordi Escalé

VP Executive Programs Iberia

Gartner

Winner Finalist Jury 2016 Spain

Sergio Garcia Cebolla

CIO

AENOR

Winner Finalist Jury 2016 UK

Phil Jordan

Group CIO

Sainsbury's

Winner Finalist Jury 2015 Belgium

Paul Danneels

CIO

VDAB

Winner Finalist Jury 2015 Belgium

Jean-Luc Martino

CIO

Raiffeisen Luxembourg

Winner Finalist Jury 2015 Germany

Mattias Ulbrich

CEO

Porsche Digital GmbH

Winner Finalist Jury 2015 Italy

Piera Fasoli

CIO

Gruppo Hera

Winner Finalist Jury 2014 Spain

Federico Flórez

Executive Advisor IT & Innovation

Banco Inversis

Winner Finalist Jury 2014 Netherlands

Jeroen Tas

Member Board Of Directors

Gaia-X

Winner Finalist Jury 2014 Portugal

Nuno Miller

CIO

N Brown Group

Winner Finalist Jury 2013 Belgium

Luc Verbist

Corporate Director ICT

Greenyard

Winner Finalist Jury 2013 Norway

Bassim Haj

Managing Director Founder

T3 CONSULTING AS

Winner Finalist Jury 2013 UK

Gerry Pennell

Independent Advisor & Consultant

Independent Consultant

Winner Finalist Jury 2012 Switzerland

Oliver Bussmann

CEO & Founder

Bussmann Advisory AG

Winner Finalist Jury 2012 Spain

José Manuel Inchausti

Executive Director & Vice Chairman

MAPFRE

Winner Finalist Jury 2012 Netherlands

Pieter Schoehuijs

Member Of The Board Of Advisors

MareVisie Projectmanagement

Winner Finalist Jury 2011 UK

Daniel Lebeau

Former Group CIO and Senior VP

GSK

Winner Finalist Jury 2011 France

Pascale Avargues

CEO

OLONA Connect

Winner Finalist Jury 2011 Italy

Marcello Cordioli

Senior Program Manager

NGA Human Resources

Jury USA

Joe Peppard

Principal Research Scientist

MIT Sloan School of Management

Jury UK

Nils Olaya Fonstad

Research Scientist

MIT CISR

Jury Belgium

Hendrik Deckers

Founder & Managing Director

CIONET