
UK & Ireland CIO Community
Executive Summit
12 June 2024 | Royal Lancaster, London
12 June 2024
Royal Lancaster, London
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with UK & Ireland's top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Shaping the Efficient Enterprise with AI & Automation
Strengthening Partnerships for Wider Business Impact
Illustrating IT’s Value through Business-first Initiatives
UK & Ireland CIO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Claire Dickson
DS Smith
CIO

David Germain
QBE Insurance
Group CIO

Kate Platonova
Shell
SVP & CIO, Downstream & Renewables
What to Expect
Agenda
08:00 - 09:00 Registration & Breakfast
09:00 - 09:45 Keynote
The Power of Vulnerable Leadership

Daniele Fiandaca
Founder - Token Man Consulting
Guest Speaker
As CIOs, providing strong, inclusive leadership means giving people on your team the safety and space they need to thrive. Vulnerable leadership can contribute to delivering the psychological safety required for high performing teams but can be difficult to put into practice. Join Daniele Fiandaca, Inclusion & Diversity Specialist at Token Man Consulting as he challenges our myths around vulnerability and explores what could be different if we (our culture, our workplaces and ourselves) saw vulnerability as courage rather than weakness. Specifically, Daniele will discuss:
- Why vulnerability sits at the heart of inclusive leadership
- How vulnerability can contribute to delivering the psychological safety required for high performing teams
- Practical ways to show vulnerability in the workplace and help provide the space needed to deliver an inclusive and diverse workplace
09:45 - 10:00 Break
10:00 - 10:45 Breakout Session
Strategic Leadership and the CIO — Unlocking Potential

Ashling Cunningham
CIO
Irish Life
Today’s CIOs face lofty expectations and a changing set of skills necessary to be successful. They are expected to build healthy team cultures remotely, understand the nuances of inclusive leadership, manage high levels of ambiguity, and the list goes on. To meet this moment, how can technology leaders support their business and their people by developing successful teams at all levels? Join Ashling Cunningham, CIO at Irish Life as she shares her story, and recommendations, about how technology leaders can successfully lead teams through inclusivity and communication. Specifically, Ashling will share:
- How fostering an inclusive mindset at Irish Life has contributed to successful transformation
- How to gain key advantages with a one-team mindset when equipping employees for what comes next
- Demonstrating the impact of your programs — on individuals, teams, and the organisation
10:00 - 10:45 Breakout Session
Driving Productivity and Security for Frontline Workers
Hosted by ChromeOS

Michael Wheeler-Wyatt
Director of Chrome Enterprise EMEA

Matthew Glaze
Workplace Engineering Lead
E.ON Next
For CIOs, current external forces are making it tough to prepare for success. This, coupled with a fast-moving technology landscape means that the CIO must wear more hats than ever before. Hear from E.ON Next as they share how a cloud-first IT strategy boosted productivity, improved the customer experience and delivered cost savings for their bottom line.
Join this session and conversation with your peers to discuss:
- Reliable IT strategies that deliver a boost to TCO and productivity
- Building a Zero Trust IT mentality and prioritising security
- Securing stakeholder buy-in for wide scale digital transformation
10:00 - 10:45 Executive Boardroom
Connecting Your Enterprise and Transforming Productivity Through Data
Hosted by Appian

Steven Teasdale
Area Vice President UK&I and Middle East
Appian

Linda Cooke
Group CIO
Chaucer Group

Tony Battle
Group Chief Digital & Information Officer
Jaguar Land Rover
CIOs are defining and executing on IT strategies in an era of abundant data, innovative technologies, and an increasing need to deliver on ever complex business goals. As such, it’s never been more important to simplify the processes of delivering data to business users, ensuring greater productivity. What are the best techniques CIOs can use to drive efficiencies, remove data silos and drive more value to the business through data?
- Gaining buy-in from internal stakeholders on your data strategy
- Bringing enterprise data sources together into an easily managed data fabric to drive efficiencies
- Reducing complexities in an age of fast evolving technologies, driving a culture of data-informed decision making
10:00 - 10:45 Executive Boardroom
AIOps and Automation — A CIOs Guide to Demonstrating Business Value and ROI
Hosted by PagerDuty

Tanju Arslan
Chief Digital Information Officer
BUPA

Tim Chinchen
Field CTO
PagerDuty

Adrian Poole
CIO & Global Technology Director
Bauer Media Group

Raj Seth
Former CIO
GFG Alliance
It takes more than excellent ideas to secure funding for an IT automation project. To justify starting or expanding a project in today’s economy, you must demonstrate both current and future value, and how the project will support key business initiatives in service of your company’s goals. But with so many business priorities and objectives, how should CIOs decide which areas to automate for maximum business value? How can they better demonstrate that automation can yield significant impact and ROI, from both cost savings and revenue generation?
Join this boardroom to discuss:
- How to grow revenue by increasing your innovation velocity
- How to reduce costs to achieve operational efficiency at scale
- Using automation and AI to mitigate the risk of operational failure and poor customer experience
10:00 - 10:45 Executive Boardroom
Next Generation Programme — Becoming a CIO — Where Should you Go From Here?

Doug Grantham
CIO, Investec Private Bank, UK
Investec

John Hobson
CIO, Europe
Kellanova
In 2024, the success of the modern enterprise increasingly hinges upon all things digital. This heralds the continued evolution of the CIO role, whose scope has needed to develop to be a representative that can successfully spearhead the digital enterprise. As such, the skills and traits of the prospective CIO have also shifted dramatically – and continue to do so.
The question for any aspiring CIO, then, should be which attributes are currently sought after? – and who better to ask than CIOs themselves.
Join this session to gain insight on:
- Which qualities are currently in demand from organisations recruiting CIOs?
- What are the key traits organisations look out for while assessing candidates?
- How should you adapt your approach to meet the ever-shifting requirements of a CIO?
10:45 - 11:50 Networking Break
10:55 - 11:40 Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Evanta’s Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:50 - 12:35 Breakout Session
Connecting Fans With Football Through Digital and Data

Craig Donald
CIO
The Football Association
Driving tech-enabled and insight-driven business outcomes varies drastically among organisations and it can be difficult for CIOs to know whether they are focusing on the right aspects of their strategy to accelerate digital business. The challenges faced span across multiple different areas — from providing data-driven insights and capabilities to demonstrating the impact digital strategy has on business outcomes. So how can IT Leaders get past the complexities of these challenges and utilise them to drive forward digital business initiatives? Join Craig Donald, CIO, The FA as he shares his insights into how The FA are digitising participation in football across England, and radically transforming professional sport through their technology and data strategy. Specifically, Craig will share:
- How the FA are embracing the ever-changing digital landscape to enable the smooth running of football across England
- Communicating confidence to the business that digital strategy is aligned with wider organisational goals
- The learnings and recommendations for CIOs looking to make the most out of their technology and drive business collaboration and value
11:50 - 12:35 Breakout Session
Beyond the Hypotheticals of AI — Approaches to Rationalise Adoption and Boost ROI
Hosted by Amdaris, an Insight company

Mihai Cernei
CTO
Amdaris

Tony McClelland
CIO
ACCA

Marcus Hunter
CTO
EVRi
CIOs are currently managing expectations of business stakeholders who are excited – but also bewildered - at the promise of disruptive technologies like AI. From bringing artificial general intelligence closer, to a reality of delivering monumental change for humanity, was does AI mean for your business today? How are you communicating the opportunities and concerns across the enterprise when new techniques hit the headlines? What are the use cases to deploy in your organisation for maximum impact?
Join this session to discuss:
- The concerns and opportunities technologies like Generative AI hold for the organisation
- Adoption versus mitigation to key stakeholders
- The use cases that will ultimately drive value and ROI and value for the business
11:50 - 12:35 Executive Boardroom
Strategic Cyber Transformation — Empowering Business Resilience and Cyber Awareness
Hosted by Netskope

John Lockett
Group CIO
Serco

Annie Smith
Head of Generation Information Systems
EDF Energy

Neil Thacker
CISO EMEA
Netskope
Digital business transformation combined with the increasing threat of cyberattacks creates unprecedented security risks. CIOs must balance cybersecurity with the need to run the business, but what are the best ways to enable risk-based decisions across the organisation whilst protecting against security threats and other cybersecurity events? Join this boardroom to discuss:
- Implementing a robust and defensible cybersecurity program that enhances overall business value
- Ensuring your cybersecurity strategy supports business resilience and growth while reducing risk
- Effective partnership across the business to drive cyber awareness
11:50 - 12:35 Executive Boardroom
The Costs of Complexity — How CIOs Can Cut Both!

Nigel Mort
CIO & Head of IT, Reinsurance
AXA

Nicky Brennan
Group CIO
Wessex Water Services Limited

Gary Allwood
IT Director
ABP
In today's challenging digital landscape, reducing operational complexity is a powerful force of cost optimisation and efficiencies that ultimately drive business outcomes. IT is continually asked to do more with less, avoid negative impacts to user experience, and maximise existing investments.
Join this session to discuss:
- Optimising cloud costs and mitigating the effects of tool sprawl
- Defining clear, measurable optimisation goals and tracking business outcomes
- Ensuring automated workloads run smoothly and cost-effectively
11:50 - 12:35 Executive Boardroom
Next Generation CIO Programme — How to Increase Your Adaptability and be a Strong Change Leader

Judith van de Pas
Founder, Bloom Coaching & Consulting
Guest Speaker
Connecting with your purpose, articulating your goals and creating your path forward as a leader can be hard. Future IT leaders must ensure they are acting as true business enablers, driving change across their teams and organisations. But how can leaders drive this change in an effective and authentic way? What are the leadership attributes and team capabilities that are most critical to success? Join Judith van de Pas, Founder at Bloom Coaching & Consulting (and ex-CIO Community member), as she facilitates a space for you to reflect on how this relates to you in your development as adaptable change leaders and shares her insights research into:
- What the future IT Leader, and team, should look like
- How IT Leaders can drive effective culture change
- The leadership qualities and capabilities critical to success
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the UK & Ireland CIO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Royal Lancaster, LondonParking and Public Transport
London Underground:
Lancaster Gate: Lancaster Gate (Central Line) tube station is adjacent to the hotel. The line connects with Oxford Circus, Holborn (British Museum) and Liverpool Street among other iconic London locations in less than 15 minutes.
Paddington: Paddington tube and railway stations are a mere 6 minute walk from the hotel. The tube station has access to 4 different lines and the railway station connects London with Heathrow via Heathrow Express as well as with other regional and national lines going to British cities such as Bath, Oxford, Reading, Windsor or Cardiff.
London Buses:
There are many bus routes (94 and 148) passing the hotel that are connect us with some of the most remarkable London places such as Victoria, Soho, Piccadilly or Oxford Street.
Parking: Available onsite for attendee rate - £55 for 24 hours. Limited availability.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Royal Lancaster, London at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 020 7551 6000. Please mention UK CIO Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of £432 GBP (plus tax) is 17 May 2024.
Community Programme Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.