New Statesman Media Group‘s Virtual CIO Symposium, which now takes place on the afternoon of Wednesday 18 November, will feature European CIO and Chief Digital Officer leaders managing thousands of technology staff and billions of pounds of IT and innovation investment.

Fellow CIOs, CTOs, digital leaders and technology executives are invited to register and hear from Met Office CIO Charles Ewen, Equinor CIO Åshild Hanne Larsen, Chief Digital Officer for London Theo Blackwell, and Philip Morris International CTO Michael Voegele.

>> Register for  the Virtual CIO Symposium here <<

New Statesman Media Group‘s Virtual CIO Symposium will be supported by cyber experts Darktrace.

The leading CIOs will be sharing their experiences, insights, innovations, opportunities and challenges with New Statesman Media Group journalists.

Virtual CIO Symposium speakers

London Chief Digital Officer Theo Blackwell was appointed in 2017 as the Mayor of London’s first CDO to lead on London-wide digital transformation, data and smart city initiatives at City Hall. Since then he has developed the Smart London Together Roadmap (2018) and initiated a series of programmes to build London’s collective capability for innovation including the establishment of the London Office of Technology and Innovation, the Mayor’s Civic Innovation Challenges and the Connected London Programme for fibre infrastructure.

Equinor CIO Åshild Hanne Larsen was named CIO of the Year Europe at the end of 2019 by an independent jury, and will share her leadership lessons, the Norwegian energy giant’s digital transformation and data innovation journey, responding to Covid-19, and why the coronavirus crisis has pushed tech and IT even further up the business agenda.

Charles Ewen is Director of Technology and CIO at the Met Office and will be in conversation with CBR reporter Claudia Glover. Ewen works closely with the Met’s science teams on the organisation’s High Performance Computing capability and mass storage systems – and is responsible for delivering cutting-edge IT to improve the quality of forecast services and increasingly to make those services accessible and effective for customers and the public.

Philip Morris CTO Michael Voegele, who joined from his role as Adidas CIO at the start of 2019, will discuss digital transformation at one of the world’s biggest manufacturing organisations, and how the technology function is helping PMI on its mission of delivering a smoke-free future by pivoting the 173-year-old company’s business away from combustible tobacco products.

Virtual CIO Symposium agenda

1.30pm – 2pm
Welcome in Exhibition Hall and Networking Area
Video introduction by Edward Qualtrough, New Statesman Media Group Technology Editor

2pm
Philip Morris International CTO Michael Voegele interview
Disrupting a successful business model in ‘smoke free’ transformation

2.40pm
Equinor CIO Åshild Hanne Larsen interview
Digitisation and data – and why HR leadership matters for CIOs

3.20pm – 3.30pm
Virtual CIO Symposium partner presentation

3.40pm – 4pm
Break

4pm
Chief Digital Officer for London Theo Blackwell interview
Digital innovation opportunities in the Mayor of London’s Office

4.40pm
Met Office CIO Charles Ewen interview
Utilising HPC and data in an increasingly autonomous world

Delegates at the Virtual CIO Symposium will be able to engage with presentations on the main stage, and with each other in Q&As with the speakers, sponsors, and their peers in virtual chats and private conversations.​

New Statesman Media Group Technology Editor Edward Qualtrough said: “Following on from the success of the April 2020 Virtual CIO Symposium, it will be a privilege to welcome European CIO leaders based in Switzerland, Norway and the UK at our successor event on Wednesday 18 November.

“Overseeing large teams, digital transformation agendas, significant levels of IT innovation investment, and influencing large ecosystems of organisations, citizens and partners, we look forward to hearing from London’s CDO Theo Blackwell, Philip Morris CTO Michael Voegele, Equinor CIO Åshild Hanne Larsen, and Met Office CIO Charles Ewen as they share their insights with our audiences.

“We hope to welcome you on Wednesday 18 November and hope you are able to engage with and learn from our expert speakers and each other.”

Previous speakers at New Statesman Media Group executive technology events in 2020 include Sainsbury’s CIO Phil Jordan, Parliamentary Digital Service CIO Tracey Jessup, Northumbrian Water CIO Nigel Watson, Johnson Matthey CIO Paul Coby, British Army CIO Major General Jonathon Cole, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Chief Digital and Information Officer Karl Hoods, British Red Cross CIO Rosie Slater-Carr, and SSE Energy Services CIO Philip Clayson.

>> Register for our Wednesday 18 November Virtual CIO Symposium <<