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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe CIO 100 UK celebration reported on 28 September 2023 placed Dominic Howson, CIO of Viridor, at No. 1 and introduced six Industry Recognition Awards. Hosted by Gaby Roslin, the evening examined technology leadership across business transformation, public services, sustainability and community work, with generative AI’s ethical and legal risks a central discussion.
Historical note: this is a recap of the 2023 event, not a 2026 awards announcement. CIO’s later CIO 100 hub confirms the franchise continued, but does not turn the 2023 results or the 2024 schedule mentioned at the time into current information.
What happened at the 2023 CIO 100 UK event?
CIO’s event coverage, published on 28 September 2023, described an evening celebrating the 2023 CIO 100 UK and presenting six newly introduced Industry Recognition Awards. Television presenter Gaby Roslin hosted the event. CIO describes the CIO 100 as a major technology-excellence platform; that characterization is the publisher’s promotional description, not an independently validated league-table methodology.
The programme brought together technology leaders and examples from enterprise, cultural, public-sector, infrastructure, education and manufacturing organisations. It treated digital transformation and innovation as broader than software delivery, including sustainability, workforce development, partnerships and public value.
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Read the original event report at CIO’s coverage of the 2023 celebration.
The six Industry Recognition Award winners
These were category awards presented at the same event as the ranked CIO 100. They should not be read as positions within the CIO 100 unless a separate official list establishes that link.
| Category | Winner | Role and organisation | Reported basis of recognition | Sponsor named in coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large Enterprise | Amitabh Apte | VP and Global CIO, Mars Inc. | IT initiatives and integrations, plus participation in diversity and inclusion initiatives | Red Hat |
| Small to Medium Enterprise | James Whitebread | CTO, Royal Opera House | Technology revitalisation, content replays, partnerships, sustainability, metaverse exploration and closer IT-business alignment | Not stated |
| Public Sector | Martyn Wallace | CDO, Digital Office – Scottish Local Governments | Cross-council partnerships and work involving telecoms switching and the telecare market | Not stated |
| Outstanding Application | Claire Dickson | CIO, DS Smith | Building an I&T leadership team, improving cyber awareness and delivering digital solutions | PagerDuty |
| ESG | Sarah Milton-Hunt | CIO, National Grid | Talent-development partnerships, horizon technology and Net Zero initiatives | Not stated |
| Community | Jots Sehmbi | CIO, City University of London | Support for Tech London Advocates, judging Next CIO and mentoring technology ventures | Not stated |
The source identifies Red Hat as sponsor of the Large Enterprise category and PagerDuty as sponsor of Outstanding Application. Sponsorship is not evidence that a sponsor selected or independently validated a winner.
Large Enterprise: Amitabh Apte, Mars Inc.
CIO credited Apte with leading IT initiatives and integrations at Mars while also contributing to diversity and inclusion work. The coverage does not quantify the programmes’ financial or operational outcomes.
Small to Medium Enterprise: James Whitebread, Royal Opera House
Whitebread’s citation combined technology renewal with the practical needs of a cultural institution: content replays, partnerships, sustainability and exploration of the metaverse, alongside stronger alignment between technology and the business.
Public Sector: Martyn Wallace, Digital Office – Scottish Local Governments
Wallace was recognised for cross-council collaboration and work connected with telecoms switching and the telecare market. The example illustrates how public-sector digital leadership often depends on coordination across organisations rather than a single system rollout.
Outstanding Application: Claire Dickson, DS Smith
Dickson’s reported contribution covered the formation of an I&T leadership team, cyber-awareness efforts and delivery of digital solutions. The article does not publish project metrics, judging scores or an explanation of how the application category was assessed.
ESG: Sarah Milton-Hunt, National Grid
Milton-Hunt’s recognition linked technology leadership with talent-development partnerships, horizon technology and Net Zero initiatives. ESG was therefore treated as part of the CIO remit, not as a separate corporate-reporting exercise.
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Sehmbi was cited for supporting Tech London Advocates, judging Next CIO and mentoring technology ventures. The category broadens recognition beyond internal delivery to the health of the wider technology ecosystem.
Who was No. 1 in the 2023 CIO 100 UK?
Dominic Howson, CIO at Viridor, ranked No. 1 in the 2023 CIO 100 UK. CIO’s report attributed the result to work involving artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, automated regression testing for Viridor’s enterprise resource planning platform, ESG initiatives and the Viri chatbot.
Rank #3
Those are descriptions reported in the event coverage, not independently audited performance claims. The article supplies no scores, judging panel, application volume, comparative methodology or quantified benefits, so the ranking cannot be interpreted as a measured percentage advantage over other CIOs.
Why the categories matter for technology leadership
- Scale: Large-enterprise and SME awards recognise different operating realities, from global integration complexity to transformation with leaner resources.
- Public value: The public-sector category highlights interoperability, shared services and essential services such as telecare.
- Application delivery: Outstanding Application focuses attention on execution, cyber awareness and the organisational capability needed to make solutions work.
- Sustainability: The ESG category places Net Zero, skills and emerging technology inside technology leadership responsibilities.
- Community: Mentoring, professional networks and talent pipelines can influence the sector beyond one employer’s technology estate.
AI was discussed as a governance question, not only a productivity story
A conversation between Gaby Roslin and Jeff Boslem, Cisco’s Senior Director for SP & Partner Collaboration, EMEA, placed AI at the centre of the evening. CIO’s account says AI featured prominently in CIO 100 applications and in public, political and business debate, and portrayed CIOs as leading enterprise generative-AI adoption.
The discussion also stressed ethical, legal and social questions. The report does not provide a transcript, adoption statistics or evidence that every applicant was deploying generative AI. The defensible conclusion is narrower: the event’s conversation treated governance and accountability as inseparable from experimentation and deployment.
What this event report does—and does not—establish
Established by the published coverage
- The event was covered on 28 September 2023 and hosted by Gaby Roslin.
- Six Industry Recognition Award categories and their named recipients were presented.
- Dominic Howson of Viridor was listed at No. 1 in the 2023 CIO 100 UK.
- AI, including generative AI, was a major discussion theme.
Not disclosed in the report
- The CIO 100 judging methodology, judges’ names, scores or number of applications.
- A complete list of all 100 ranked organisations.
- Quantified business, environmental or social outcomes for the cited initiatives.
- Whether every Industry Recognition winner also appeared in the CIO 100 ranking.
- The venue, attendance, prizes, eligibility rules or detailed acceptance remarks.
Without those details, the awards should be understood as recognitions reported by CIO rather than as an independently reproducible benchmark of UK technology performance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Timeline: keep the 2023 result separate from later editions
The 2023 article said applications would open in spring 2024 and that a CIO Summit and CIO 100 Awards event was scheduled for 19 September 2024. Those were forward-looking statements made at the time; the article does not prove that the event occurred as scheduled.
Rank #4
CIO’s current CIO 100 hub contains later UK coverage, including 2025 winners and 2026-related event listings. That establishes continuity of the awards franchise, not a change to the 2023 winners or a current status for the 2024 plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Were the six Industry Recognition Awards the same as the CIO 100 ranking?
No. The CIO 100 was a ranked list, with Dominic Howson at No. 1. The six Industry Recognition Awards were separate category-based recognitions presented at the same event.
What evidence supports Dominic Howson’s No. 1 ranking?
CIO’s 28 September 2023 event report credited work at Viridor involving AI, robotic process automation, automated ERP regression testing, ESG initiatives and the Viri chatbot. It did not publish scores, methodology or quantified results.
Is this a report of a 2026 CIO 100 UK ceremony?
No. It is a historical account of the 2023 event. CIO’s later hub shows that the franchise continued, but later editions should be labelled by their own year.
The Bottom Line
The 2023 CIO 100 UK celebration made a broad case for technology leadership: Dominic Howson led the ranked list, while six separate awards recognised enterprise delivery, public collaboration, application execution, ESG and community contribution. Its AI discussion is most useful when read as a call to pair adoption with ethical, legal and social governance.
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