CIONET Awards 2026: Part 3

Welcome to the CIONET Awards Gala, the grand finale of our 2026 celebration of digital excellence. We present our most prestigious honour: The European CIO of the Year. This award is reserved for the leader who has demonstrated transformative strategic leadership across multiple dimensions, making a significant impact in a global or international role.

We are not just looking for a successful manager, but an inspiring role model for digital leadership excellence. The winner will be an individual distinguished by exceptional personal vision and decisive decision-making , who has measurably enhanced their organisation's agility and resilience while delivering outstanding value to all stakeholders.

One nominee has risen above all others. The moment has come to crown the leader of leaders.

Programme

Join this high-energy conversation and celebration of great digital leadership!

Please, note the timings are in GMT (London time).

Church House Westminster

18:30

Arriving & Networking

19:30

Welcome & Introductions

19:35

Dinner

19:50

Nominees' Presentations

20:50

Jury Deliberation

21:00

Announcing Runnerup & Winner

21:10

Networking

22:10

Goodbye

Nominees | the European CIO of the Year

More to be revealed.

vanessa-escriva

Vanessa Escrivá

Group CIO

MAPFRE

Vanessa Escrivá García is a leading professional in the field of technology and digital transformation, serving as Group Chief Information Officer at MAPFRE since 2021. She supervises the CIOs of the different regions in which MAPFRE operates, and 1,900 employees report to her department.

Escrivá holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. She also completed a Management Development program at Babson College (Boston, USA) and holds a High Performance Leadership qualification from IMD (Switzerland).

She began her professional career at KPMG (2004-2007). She joined MAPFRE in 2007 as a senior IT auditor, leading the technology audit in 25 countries. Prior to assuming her current role, Escrivá was corporate director of ICT Auditing (2009-2016), director of Corporate Solutions at TRON (2016-2018) and manager of Global Corporate Solutions (2019-2020).

In 2023, Vanessa Escrivá received the ‘Women and Technology’ award from the Orange Foundation and also won the CIONET Vocento award for CIO of the Year in Spain. She is a strong advocate for female participation in STEM disciplines.

CIONET Spain

Jury Members

More to be revealed.

Katie Friis

Katie Friis

Head of IT Packaging North Europe

DS Smith

Katie Friis is an accomplished technology leader with over 20 years’ experience driving innovation, data modernisation, cyber security, and customer-centric design. She has helped organisations harness technology to deliver measurable business value and sustainable growth.
As Head of IT for North Europe Packaging at DS Smith, Katie currently leads the region’s technology strategy and digital transformation. Her career spans multiple sectors, including Maersk, Queen Mary University of London and Shell where she held strategic technology leadership roles across different geographies.
She is passionate about empowering diverse and collaborative teams to innovate and build technology solutions that make a lasting impact.

CIONET UK

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