Exclusive: UK's top CIO revealed

Who topped the silicon.com CIO50 2008 list?

Published: 11 June 2008 17:54 GMT by Andy McCue

Tags: cio50, robin dargue

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Royal Mail's Robin Dargue has been voted the UK's top CIO as he embarks on a mammoth technology-based £2bn transformation programme aimed at making the 360-year-old organisation leaner and able to compete better in the deregulated postal market.

Group CIO and technology director Dargue scored the most votes to top silicon.com's CIO50 2008 list of the 50 most influential and innovative IT leaders in the UK - read our exclusive in-depth interview with him here.

The silicon.com CIO50 list, in association with Orange, features in-depth analysis and profiles of each of the 50 leaders, influencers, innovators and strategists who are shaping the future of IT in the UK.

The annual list is compiled by silicon.com in conjunction with the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. They judge each contender on four criteria: leadership ability; delivery and execution; innovation; and influence. Only those who demonstrate truly outstanding skills over the previous 12 months make it onto the list.

Also voted in the top five of the CIO50 are:

• David Lister, chief architect, Royal Bank of Scotland
• Neil Cameron, global CIO, Unilever
• Catherine Doran, director of information management, Network Rail
• John Suffolk, CIO, UK government

This year's list also features a relatively high proportion of women breaking down both the IT and boardroom gender imbalance. Our analysis also looks at all 50 CIOs' routes to the top to see whether a tech background is a help or hindrance, and why many of the UK's top CIOs have passed through the management training ground at Mars.

Steve Ranger, editor of silicon.com, said: "IT spend in the UK reached $84.5bn in 2007 - a year on year increase of 16.3 per cent. The right IT investments can either make or break a company, meaning that an innovative and visionary CIO is vital to the success of any organisation. In the private and public sector the CIO is a key executive, whether it is in opening up new ways of doing business or ensuring that business processes are as efficient as possible - especially important in a tightening economic climate."

Go to the CIO50 special report where you can read the CIO profiles, view the full list of 50; and navigate to see the top 10 CIOs; the top female CIOs; and breakdowns by financial services, retail and public sector.