CIO

India's Most Respected CIO Awards - 2011

The World CIO Council and the CIO Association of India , are proud to present the winners of 'India's Most Respected CIOs Awards – 2011'.

For the first time ever, the entire CIO community participated in recognizing their most deserving peers.

These first-of-a-kind awards are:

• An initiative to celebrate inspiring CIOs and their work;
• An opportunity for CIOs to decide who deserves this honour;
• A democratic and transparent way to recognise achievers.

The Top 10 CIOs

Arun Gupta
Shoppers Stop Limited
Arun Gupta's peers hail him as one of the smartest business leaders, demonstrating thorough knowledge of technology and its management. He is acknowledged for his vision and ability to extract value from IT for business success. Well-read, down-to-earth, helpful, and articulate, Arun willingly shares his expertise with other CIOs, and is much admired as a mentor who can groom and nurture teams. Arun's peers are convinced that he has all the skills necessary to don the CEO mantle. Congratulations Arun, on winning the most respected CIO title.

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Daya Prakash
LG Electronics
A brilliant networker and team-player, Daya Prakash is not just a technology leader at LG, but also a technology evangelist for many. Daya is credited with adapting technology to suit business innovation; but more than that, he is also known for his efforts in enhancing the vision of the Indian IT industry. A young and dynamic leader, he is popular as a humble but true IT expert. “It’s always a pleasure to discuss technology with him,” says one of our fellow members.

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Ajay Dhir
Lanco Infratech
Give Ajay Dhir a platform to express his views and his vision, and thought leadership will be evident within minutes. “I have seen him lead panel discussions at various CIO forums and with very innovative thoughts. His keynote speeches are amongst the best I have come across,” says a peer, warmly. Ajay’s distinguished career has seen many accolades. His experience and technology implementation initiatives have won much praise. A great speaker and motivator, Ajay is an inspiration to peers and juniors alike.

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Jai Menon
Bharti Airtel
In a highly-competitive sector like telecom, technology can be a true business differentiator. And Jai Menon shows how it can be used to reap profits. Jai is known for his outstanding technology leadership at Bharti Airtel's global operations. His clear grasp of technology has made mass deployment initiatives at Airtel almost failure-proof. A pioneer in technology outsourcing, Jai is recognized for changing India's IT landscape .

Vijay Sethi
Hero Motocorp
Ask why Vijay Sethi makes a great CIO, and you'll have a long list of answers: Vijay maximizes enterprise returns through innovative strategies; he is a great people manager; he leads by example, to name a few. Vijay's blend of knowledge and leadership; project management and people management; technical acumen and business empowerment have brought in tremendous success. His enterprise-wide implementation initiatives have shown measureable results. This visionary business leader is always ready to connect with the industry and mentor other CIOs – traits of a great CIO indeed!

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Rajesh Uppal

Maruti Suzuki

How do you lead technology innovation at a manufacturing enterprise? Rajesh Uppal is the best person to answer this, say his friends. In his 15 years at Maruti Suzuki, Rajesh has guided smart IT implementations in many new application areas. His IT innovations have set new benchmarks in the Indian automotive space. Rajesh's success stems from his ability to clearly integrate business with IT. A strategist and thinker par excellence, he is known as a gentle but strict taskmaster.

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Atul Jayawant

Aditya Birla Group
One of the most-searched-for Indian CIOs, Atul Jayawant is known for creating value through IT and for aligning technology to the Aditya Birla Group companies' vision and mission. To Atul, semantics about IT and its role are secondary – what matters is how IT helps businesses win. As a mature thinker who can validate his ideas, Atul's project management qualities and strategic foresight make him invaluable in any team. He manages his large portfolio with ease and keeps his finger firmly on the pulse of the industry.

SC Mittal

IFFCO
S.C. Mittal knows the art and science of driving forward ICT initiatives in a diverse organization. He is widely recognized for creating a state-of-the-art Information Management Centre for IFFCO and initiating a significant change in how a public sector company functions. Hailed as an industry veteran and an able mentor, Mr Mittal balances leadership with respect for human values. “I have interacted with his team and I believe he provides critical mind space and freedom to his team members,” says an industry associate.

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CN Ram

Essar Group
A pioneer in IT implementation, Ram has proven his credentials at some of the most tech-savvy companies (Bank of America and HDFC Bank). An IIT graduate, he has even won the ‘Technology Man of the Year’ Award. Ram’s knowledge and experience lead HDFC’s computerization efforts, making it one of India’s most technology-driven banks. A person with exceptional people skills, Ram motivates teams to perform even under trying circumstances, which makes him a great leader.

Sudhir Mittal

Samtel Group
Give Sudhir Mittal a technology challenge and he will turn it into an opportunity, delivering exceptional results. A great administrator, he believes in people management and has a participatory implementation style. So, it is not surprising that Sudhir turned around the IT function at Samtel and made it a strategic business driver in the organization. Sudhir aligns vision with business need and is always ready to explore new ideas – this enables him to build an innovative IT landscape, which has a positive impact on profits.

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