
UK & Ireland CIO Virtual Executive Summit
19 May 2021 | 09:00 - 16:00 BST
19 May 2021 | 09:00 - 16:00 BST
Collaborate with your peers
Come together with your peers virtually to tackle top business challenges through peer-driven content and discussions at the UK & Ireland CIO Virtual Executive Summit.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Delivering Digital Innovation to Drive Value Across the Enterprise
Maximizing Existing Resources to Optimize Emerging Costs
Leading the Organization Through Advanced Technology Adoption
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Debra Bailey
Telefonica UK
CIO

Marina Bellini
BAT
Chief Information and Digital Officer, Director, Digital and Information

David Germain
RSA
Group CIO

Robbert van Rutten
Royal Dutch Shell
VP & Downstream CIO
What to Expect
Connect with your CIO community through a variety of different session formats at the upcoming Virtual Executive Summit. You'll have the opportunity to listen, engage and create lasting relationships with like-minded peers.
Meet the Speakers
Don't miss this opportunity to meet with CIO practitioners and industry thought leaders who shared their insights on the agenda. Come with questions and get ready to meet new friends in this casual session designed to foster peer connections and collaboration in the UK & Ireland community.
Agenda
19 May 2021
11:00 - 11:45 BST Virtual Summit Keynote
The CIOs Guide to Scaling Intelligent Automation
Hosted by UiPath

Vargha Moayed
Chief Strategy Officer
UiPath

Kathleen Moore
Chief Information Officer, Automation,Utilities & Innovation
HSBC
RPA is already automating large parts of routine work, to free capacity and enable people to focus on higher value work. RPA together with AI allows organisations to achieve greater end-to-end automation potential.
As a CIO, how can you build initiatives that embrace a combination of humans and digital workers complementing each other's capabilities, enabling employees to perform their jobs more effectively than either human experts or AI-enabled robots working alone.
This Keynote will address:
- The key automation drivers that will affect the future of work
- Help employees embrace new ways of working for greater organisational agility
- Scale your intelligent automation programs to stay adaptable and increase ROI
11:45 - 12:15 BST Break
12:15 - 12:45 BST Virtual Summit Keynote
Future CIO: Increasing IT Value to Fuel Digital Acceleration
Hosted by Zscaler

Kavitha Mariappan
EVP Customer Experience and Transformation
Zscaler

Karl Hoods
Chief Digital & Information Officer
Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy
The CIO mandate is changing. No longer an order-taker, the new CIO plays innovator and strategist, applying technology and architecture to drive measurable outcomes instead of simply in response to business needs. This means abandoning legacy processes and embracing change to move organisations forward into the cloud- and mobile-first future.
This keynote will give you insights into:
- How to align technical and business objectives
- Enhancing enterprise agility with secure digital transformation
- Cybersecurity as a business-enabling technology
12:45 - 13:00 BST Break
13:00 - 14:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
Accelerating Your Organisation’s Digital Transformation – Cloud Culture & Talent Transformation
Hosted by A Cloud Guru

Drew Firment
SVP, Cloud Transformation
A Cloud Guru

Andrew Quail
Director of IT and Innovation
SGN

Yanna Winter
CIO, Head of Generali UK IT and GC&C IT
Generali UK
CIOs all across the globe are responsible for driving their organisation’s digital transformation. Yet, no matter their geographical location or industry, all CIOs face common obstacles; limited talent pool, establishing organizational cloud fluency, and identifying practices that are restricting their organisation’s maturity on their cloud journey. For one hour in this Boardroom, CIOs will discuss how they are improving business performance by enabling digital transformation and upskilling their people.
In this session, you and your peers will:
- Discuss key principles of a “cloud culture,” shifting organisational mindsets, and “unlearning” practices that may be hindering your organisation
- Outline key measures of success for assessing cloud maturity and ROI of cloud providers
- Identify best practices for talent transformation and scaling organisational cloud fluency
13:00 - 14:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
Creating a Product-Centric Digital Organisation

Richard Newsome
CTO
Cancer Research UK

Joe Hardstaff
Group IT Director
QinetiQ

Alison Davis
CIO
Natural History Museum
Product-centric models are aimed to enable significant scale to a business. This is where there should be a strong appeal for digital investments, which offer a promise of hypergrowth and better profitability. Achieving a successful transformation to such an organisation requires new skill sets and roles, as well as a new investment model, investment pool and culture. Furthermore, investment in business
expertise, market expertise and the product management role pushes to the forefront. Join this session to discuss:
- Investment model for a product-centric organisation and common metrics
- Placing product management at the core of digital vision, roadmap and prioritisation
- Create product-oriented multidisciplinary teams
13:00 - 14:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
The CIOs Role in Designing the Digital Future with Customer Centric IT

Hasani Jess
CTO
Simply Business

Sérgio Guerreiro
VP Information Technology – EMEIA & Asia Pacific
Allegion

Brian Roche
Director of IT
Belfast City Airport
Remember when “embracing disruption” was an aspirational call-to-action – not a necessary navigation of everyday life? Now that you have your company’s undivided, fully-disrupted attention, why look back? As more and more customers head online, CIOs must ensure that their experience is seamless – creating the right channels for connection and utilizing the right data to innovate products or services.
This conversation will focus on:
- Designing and delivering an optimal digital future for your business
- Leveraging a cultural shift to more agile, rapid technology outcomes
- Ways to evolve a data-centric approach to consumer insight – fostering new business opportunities
09:00 - 09:45 BST Virtual Summit Keynote
The Economics of Network & Security Transformation – What Role Should the CIO Play
Hosted by Netskope

Stuart Hughes
CIDO
Rolls Royce

Neil Thacker
CISO EMEA
Netskope
Organisations are feeling a shift in the world of networking and security as they continue to rapidly adopt and embrace the cloud. With this shift, security and networking services and controls are converging whilst shifting to the cloud also. Enterprises are demanding speed, agility, security and reliability without compromise whilst CIOs are being tasked with delivering this transformation with the same clear reduction in costs that cloud infrastructure programmes have delivered.
In this session, we will:
- Showcase how the move to cloud can improve TCO and improve ROI on network and security spend
- Demonstrate operational efficiencies to ensure network and security staff can re-purpose and prioritise their time to focus on events, alerts and incidents
- Share a 4-phase strategy focused on improving cloud security whilst supporting network and security transformation
09:45 - 10:00 BST Break
10:00 - 11:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
How CIOs can Accelerate Data Delivery for Data-Driven Business
Hosted by DataStax

Patrick Callaghan
VP, Global Partners Technology
DataStax

Alan Potter
Head of IT
Weetabix

Adam Forde
Group CIO
Spectris
As a CIO, it’s critical to play a part in the progressive data movement through creating a collaborative working structure with internal stakeholders, as well as have an understanding of the key Data & Analytics priorities. Digital Transformation requires the ability to provide timely, accurate and reliable data to the interested parties, but there are key challenges when it comes to building your data backbone to deliver data driven transformational outcomes that enterprises require to be and stay competitive. Join this session to discuss these challenges with your peers and, crucially, the tools and techniques CIOs should be equipped with to meet the overall business requirements.
Specifically, you will discuss:
- The cultural and technical challenges involved in moving to a more data-driven cloud, and tactics for success
- Communicating confidence to the business that data infrastructure is aligned with data strategy
- Bridging the knowledge gap for your staff and recruiting and retaining the missing skills
10:00 - 11:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
How to Turn AI into ROI by Empowering Your People
Hosted by Talkdesk

Marco Costa
Chief Operating Officer
Talkdesk

Mike Yorwerth
CTO
Marks & Spencer

Sue Hobson
Head of IT Performance
O2 (Telefónica UK)
As AI continues to make its way from theory to reality for most enterprises, a new set of skills and competencies are needed. Automation through AI and machine learning is changing customer experience, and as consumer preferences shift to more digital interactions, enterprises can accelerate AI adoption to reduce friction in the customer journey. In this session, join peers to discuss the adoption of consumer-centric AI and how 'human-in-the-loop' technology is democratising AI model training.
Topics that will be discussed include:
- How you can lower the barrier of AI adoption - move fast, increase efficiency, manage risk
- Operationalising AI through incremental improvement
- Leveraging domain expertise to maintain AI accuracy — the power of your workforce
10:00 - 11:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
The CIOs Guide to Strategic Engagement

David Germain
Group CIO
RSA
Digital Technology initiatives are high on the Board of Director’s priority list. As such, boards must take innovative approaches to their governance models by leveraging technology and IT expertise to accommodate an uncertain environment. They look to the CIO to lead these digital business issues. But how can a CIO become a more rounded leader and empathetically help executive teams to deliver on CEO demands? Join this session to discuss how CIOs can ensure their IT strategy supports the CEOs renewed vision for the organisation, and reappraise which new technologies matter most as you plan a different future. Specifically you will:
- Discuss how to keep the conversation strategic and translate deeply technical topics to succinct, salient points
- Communicate consistently and be on message
- Demonstrate progress on agreed upon metrics that help build board trust
10:00 - 11:00 BST Virtual Summit Boardroom
Linking IT Transformation to Business Acceleration

Anton Von Bebenburg
Strategic IT Transformation Advisor
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Transforming IT is as a key enabler for enterprise-wide transformation, and the change goes beyond the introduction of agile working in IT. The real challenge of IT is about how the business connects and partners with IT to create value and deliver the right solutions. In this lively discussion, you’ll hear shared journeys of IT transformation, together with lessons learned and recommendations for those grappling with their own IT initiatives. Specifically, you will discuss:
- Bringing people and stakeholders together for the common objective of enterprise-wide transformation
- Moving towards a product based IT organisation and the associated benefits
- Recommendations for CIOs who are faced with the daunting challenge of driving IT transformation in their organisation
14:00 - 14:30 BST Networking
Meet the Speakers
Don't miss this opportunity to meet with CIO practitioners and industry thought leaders who shared their insights on the agenda. Come with questions and get ready to meet new friends in this casual session designed to foster peer connections and collaboration in the UK community.
14:30 - 16:00 BST Virtual Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Meet virtually for in-depth conversations with your colleagues
19 May 2021
Community Programme Manager
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