On 19 April 2012 during CIO CITY, European Commissioner Neelie Kroes will hand out the European CIO of the Year Awards 2012. Lourens Visser, CIO at Port of Rotterdam is one of the 13 nominees. Check out his profile below.

Lourens Visser started his role as CIO at the Port of Rotterdam less than two years ago, following an extensive career in the Dutch Navy and 12 years in the IT industry in senior delivery management roles. The function is proving to be a perfect combination of IT in a maritime environment for Lourens.

The Port of Rotterdam is strengthening its ambition to be the leading European hub for global and intra European cargo. The business plan to achieve this has led to a number of goals, all of which being information related, including KPIs (Key performance indicators) for business growth, optimisation, nautical safety, efficiency and the environment. The IT department is becoming a crucial business enabler, maturing from a traditional internal IT supplier to an innovative enabler meeting the business needs of both internal and external stakeholders.

The development of the new €20M Port Management System HaMIS (Haven Meester Informatie Systeem) for port operations is a good example of how ‘Havenbedrijf Rotterdam’ (Port of Rotterdam Authority) is engaging directly with the business to improve reliability and efficiency of the port’s operations through the introduction of a system for traffic management, inspections and the handling of dangerous cargo.

In 2011, Lourens and his newly formed management team established an IT strategy, including the business programmes for IT and a new sourcing strategy for the Port of Rotterdam, ensuring an agile and flexible but also affordable IT for the future.

Lourens graduated from Delft University of Technology during his naval career, and began his IT career in 1998 with IBM Outsourcing, in which he held positions in service delivery management responsible for outsourcing contracts for automotive, logistics and utilities clients. As business manager OS/390 he was responsible for transitioning part of the delivery to lower cost countries. At Accenture he introduced an IT governance model for one of Europe’s pioneering multi-vendor IT services outsourcing engagements, then moved on to become client service director at Logica, responsible for establishing outsourcing services in the financial services and public sectors.

Lourens and his wife Gérardine have 2 boys (twins) age 12 and he loves classical music, playing piano and hiking.