The 18th edition of CNME’s CIO Leadership Awards was recently held at the superb Al Habtoor Grand Resort, Autograph Collection, JBR Dubai as chief information officers from across the region gathered to celebrate innovative decision-making.
The 2026 iteration of the awards ceremony celebrates the thought-leaders, who constantly seek out new innovative practices that can aid in pioneering change within their organisations.
The awards process involved the CNME editorial team evaluating the nominations from across the region to decide the most-deserving candidates from a selection of individuals who had previously demonstrated excellence in technology innovation and business value delivery. This criteria helped to provide a measurable impact for the use of IT within an organisation.
The Computer News Middle East Editor, Mark Forker used his opening speech to reinforce the view that AI won’t replace the power of the human connection.
“The CIO Leadership Awards are designed to celebrate IT leaders delivering transformation. But outside of that, it is a forum to connect and collaborate. A key theme of tonight’s panel will be about AI and whilst AI will transform the way we live and work, it will never replace that desire for us to connect as humans and that’s the real power and value of the CIO Leadership Awards”.
The evening was a collaborative endeavour brought together with the support of Platinum Sponsor- Hitachi Vantara, Gold Sponsors- Exelixi AI, HPE Networking, OPSWAT & VAD Technologies, Silver Sponsors- IFS & Finesse and supported by the Event Partner- ASUS.
After the introductions the event began in earnest with a keynote speech by Veebs Devendran, AI Sales Specialist at Hitachi Vantara entitled: The Burj of AI – Scaling Intelligence to Unimaginable Heights with Hitachi. This was shortly followed with a panel discussion moderated by the CNME Editor Mark Forker. Under the title of AI Leadership: Infrastructure Agents & Sovereignty in 2026 the panel featured insights from IT professionals such as Dr. Fayid Kadambodan – An Assistant Director of Enterprise Solutions at Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), Mario M. Veljovic – The General Manager at VAD Technologies, Rami Hazime – The Regional Sales Director for OPSWAT and Wael Mustafa – The General Manager for the Middle East & Pakistan at Hitachi Vantara.
Before the awards ceremony began Ahmad Halabi, Managing Director at Resecurity Inc, took to the stage to deliver the second keynote presentation of the evening on: Intelligence-Driven Cyber Defense Across the Entire Threat Landscape.
Kausar Syed, Group Publishing Director praised the winners, who she described as among the ‘leading lights’ in the IT industry. “Our CIO Leadership Awards are a unique event, and this is the 18th iteration of the conference. The sheer pace of change in the technology industry is incredible, and at the centre of that are CIOs that are driving change within their organisations every single day. Congratulations to all our winners who have demonstrated such excellence over the last 12 months”.
The winners of the CIO Leadership Awards 2026 are:
- Kenneth D’Costa, OMNIYAT
- Kevin Neogy, The Kanoo Group
- Alaa Elayyan, Relaam Real Estate Company LLC
- Ali Al Jumaily, Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group
- Faisal Khaliq, Al Ghurair Investment
- Will Douglas, Premier Inn Hotels – Middle East
- Abdulwahab Al-Khateeb, Deyaar Development
- Abdulla Ibrahim Abdulla, Zayed University
- Wael Omar, Taaleem Group
- Suresh Bathrachalam, GEMS Education
- Arunachalam Palaniappan, Choithrams
- Sageer NK, Burjeel Holdings
- Jawad Abu Farha, Juma Al Majid Holding Group
- Farukh Ali, IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Rashed Al Hammadi, The Presidential Court – Abu Dhabi
- Uttam C. Yadav, Innoventures Education
- Dr. Majeda Mohamed Al Marzooqi, EDGE Group PJSC
- Jacob Mathew, UAE Government Entity
- Prashant Nair, Airtel Africa
- Dr. Fayid Kadambodan, Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ)
- Anas Elsadig Eltahir, The Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department
- Muhammad Tariq Siddiqui, Abu Dhabi National Takaful Co. PSC
- AI Vendor of the Year Award, Exelixi AI
- Feroz Patel, IMG Worlds of Adventure
- Yanal Qasim Alkhasoneh, The General Administration of Customs – Abu Dhabi
- Muhammad Affan, Sharjah Maritime Academy (SMA)
- Dr. Mohammad Abdulla Alawadhi, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP)
- Basem Easa, Dubai Sports Council
- Padam Sundar Kafle, Aster Hospitals UAE
- Mohammed Rizwan Razeek, Al Matroushi Group
- Sreedhar Suragouni, Sukoon Insurance
- Rameshkumar Ponram, NEOPAY
- Manish Agarwal, M. H. Enterprises LLC
- Mustansir Aziz, Automech Group
- Rohit Anand Bajpai, Gulf Islamic Investments (GII)
- Hari Nair, Minor Hotel Group MEA
- Somaya Al Hemeiri, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD)
- Ebrahim Kamalzadeh, Al Nabooda Automobiles LLC
- Her Excellency Dr. Mubaraka Ibrahum, Emirates Health Services
- Abdalla Al Ali, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC)
