Welcome to the Leadership Excellence Awards
The Leadership Excellence Awards are hosted at the globally respected GDS Summits, bringing together senior executives from the biggest global brands who are actively seeking to learn, engage, and find the best technology solutions.
The events provide a forum for leaders to learn from peers about how they are approaching common challenges and opportunities. Each GDS Summit hosts a Leadership Excellence Awards with the ceremony held at the end of the conference agenda. This gives outstanding individuals the chance to be recognized for their achievements in front of the industry in which they serve.
CALLING OUTSTANDING SENIOR LEADERS
Are you, or do you work with, a senior leader that has delivered the greatest value to your businesses over the past year?
This could be through innovation, inspiring colleagues, making excellent decisions, bravery, or achieving outstanding business growth.
These awards are designed to recognized C-Suite (or equivalent) leaders who are the most deserving of recognition for delivering real value through innovation, doing the right thing and improving outcomes for their organizations.
Each award category is aligned to a Summit of the same theme. At the end of the Summit the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards winners will be announced.
This process means that entry deadlines and awarding dates vary from category to category. See below:
UPCOMING ENTRY DEADLINES
Technology Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 16 February)
HSE Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 23 February)
Brand Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 5 March)
Retail Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 17 March)
Technology Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 24 March)
Security Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 24 March)
RevGen Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 30 March)
Security Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 30 March)
Manufacturing Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 30 March)
Data & Analytics Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 14 May)
Oil & Gas/Energy Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 14 May)
This process means that entry deadlines and awarding dates vary from category to category, so please visit our awards portal for more information and to enter.
CATEGORIES
Technology Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 16 February)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) information technology executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: CIO Summit Europe
HSE Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 23 February)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) health & safety executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved wellbeing and reduce harm to their workforce.
EVENT: HSE Summit North America
Brand Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 5 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) marketing executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the applied creativity alongside innovative technologies and strategies over the last 12 months, which have led to improved business performance and reputational benefits.
EVENT: CMO Brand Summit USA
Retail Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 17 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) retail executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Retail Summit North America
Technology Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 24 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) information technology executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: CIO Summit North America
Security Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 24 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) Security executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance, reduced risk and improved operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Security Summit Europe
RevGen Leader of the Year – Europe (Deadline: 30 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) executives in revenue generation roles who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and customer experience.
EVENT: RevGen Summit Europe
Security Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 30 March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) Security executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance, reduced risk and improved operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Security Summit North America
Manufacturing Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 30March)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) Manufacturing executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Manufacturing Summit North America
Data & Analytics Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 14 May)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) executives with data-related roles, who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Data & Analytics Summit North America
Energy Leader of the Year – USA (Deadline: 14 May)
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) oil & gas industry executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the application of innovative technologies or strategies over the last 12 months that have led to improved business performance and operational efficiencies.
EVENT: Energy Summit North America
HOW TO ENTER
Your entry must be uploaded as plain text only written/pasted into the awards portal. To maintain a level playing field, no additional supporting material is required or allowed. There is no option for hard copy or email submissions.
We recommend you draft your content in MS Word first. More details can be found on the live entry form itself, but in essence the content you need to prepare has the following structure:
1. Your goals and challenges for the past year: 100-250 words
2. Your achievements in terms of innovation and transformation: 100-250 words
3. Your achievements in terms of ‘doing the right thing’ (workplace, marketplace,
environment or community): 100-250 words.
4. Your achievements in terms of improving business performance: 100-250 words
Please visit the Enter Now page to view the entry form in full, or submit your entry.
If you would like to be considered, but are short on time then please contact us and we will put you in touch with people who can help you.
OUR JUDGES
Juliet Slot
Consultant & Non-Executive Director
British Olympic Association
Earl Newsome
Chief Information Officer
Linde
Adrian Wong
Chief Innovation Officer
Venture Agenda
Atholl Duncan
Chair
Black Isle Group
Simon Featherstone
Serial Chairman and Advisor to Financial Services
Funding Xchange
Alex Embling
CEO
Strategic ABM
Parimal Kopardekar
Director of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute
NASA
Jeff Moore
Chief Product Security Officer
Draeger
Tim Richardson
Founder
Black Isle Group
Garry Evanson
Registrar
Chartered Security Registration Authority
Richard Jones
Banking & Fintech CEO
Cambridge Sustainable Investment Partners
Kelsey Porter
Director for NAZ Safety
Anheuser-Busch
Joshua Girard
Global Lead in Supply for Safety
AB InBev
Derek E. Brink
VP and Research Fellow, Aberdeen (part of Spiceworks Ziff Davis), CISSP
Adjunct Faculty, Harvard University and Brandeis University
Ramin Takin
Co-founder
Exabler
Jon Kirby
Co-founder
Blinx Solutions
Alyce Reopelle
Senior Vice President
Citi Group
Michael Bodner
CEO
Shipley Supply Company
Bobbi Landreth
Director
Human Resources at FedEx
Dana Wichmann-Chaves
Senior Vice President
First Federal Bank of Florida
Diego Blanco Moreno
Director of Digital Services
Guidewire Software
Graeme Cochrane
Global Director Digital Transformation
ABInBev
Jamie P Walker
Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
UnitedHealth Group
Mikio Fujitsuka
Head of Global Consumer Care
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health
Rose Jia
Head of Growth Marketing
Amazon Grocery
Stefan Latuski
Chief Information Officer
Siemens Mobility
John Dony
Senior Director, Thought Leadership
National Safety Council
2021 WINNERS LIST
Technology Leader of the Year – Europe (Entry Deadline: February 16 2021):
Nadine Thomson – Global Chief Technology Officer (MediaCom) – Gold & Integrity
Utku Barış Pazar – Chief Strategy and Digital Officer (Arçelik A.Ş.) – Innovation
Martynas Sarapinas – Chief Information Officer (Girteka Logistics) – Impact
HSE Leader of the Year – US (Entry Deadline: February 23 2021)
Lauren Hubbard – ANA H&S Director (Acadis) – Innovation
Mary Lou Sinclair – Associate Vice President, Health, Safety & Environment (BGIS) – Gold & Impact
Timmy Carey – Associate Director EHS&S (BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.) – Integrity
Brand Leader of the Year – US (Entry Deadline: March 5 2021)
Louise Clements – Global Chief Marketing Officer (Paysafe Group) – Gold & Integrity
Lisa Bowen – Vice President, Marketing and Customer Experience (PharMerica) – Impact
Annica Conrad – Chief Marketing Officer (Global Franchise Group (GFG Management, LLC)) – Innovation
HOW THE WINNERS ARE SELECTED
Each award category will have three category winners (see below) and one overall winner.
What is the judging process?
The judging process is unique and externally audited by the Independent Awards Standards Council to ensure it is ethical, transparent and robust. The market insight team at GDS will gather the information necessary to invite the right people to participate, and then allow written evidence (supplied in the strictest confidence) into the awards platform to bolster the case of nominees.
Once as much information as possible has been gathered, external independent expert awards judges will review the nominees and select which are worthy of the awards, which will be given out at the associated summit events run by GDS.
The scoring system
Applications will be evaluated based on three key criteria:-
Delivering innovation and transformation Doing the right thing (workplace, marketplace, environment or community) Improving business performance.
An overall winner will be chosen from the judges’ evaluations, and three further awards will be given as follows:
Innovation & Transformation Award:
This award goes to the applicant who demonstrates how they have successfully innovated and/or transformed their operations, team, technology, processes to improve outcomes for their organisation.
The Leading with Integrity Award:
This award goes to the applicant who can demonstrate their achievements in terms of ‘doing the right thing’. For example, they might have improved ethics, improved the working lives of colleagues, supported marketplace change, or reduced environmental impact.
The Business Impact Award:
This award goes to the applicant who has delivered outstanding business performance. This does not have to be purely in terms of tangible financial benefits, it can also be less tangible, such as reputational impacts or reduced risk.
FAQ’s
What is the deadline?
These awards are unusual in that the different awards are presented at different events. So, for example, the European CIO of the Year Award is presented at the end of the CIO Insight Europe summit. Please note that attending the summit, whether virtual or live, is not mandatory to enter or win the award.
As such the deadline for submitting evidence to support each application is different. Please see the schedule on the calendar and deadlines section.
What format should the award submission be in?
The entry is uploaded as plain text only written/pasted into the Awards’ portal, but we strongly recommend that it is drafted and approved in MS Word prior to submission.
How do we submit the final entry?
The entry is uploaded into the Awards’ portal. There is no option for hard copy or email submissions.
Is there a required structure for the written entry?
We recommend you draft your content in MS Word first. It is as follows:
– Your goals and challenges for the past year: 100-200 words
– Your achievements in terms of innovation and transformation: 100-300 words
– Your achievements in terms of ‘doing the right thing’ (workplace, marketplace, environment or community): 100-300 words.
– Your achievements in terms of improving business performance: 100-300 words
What is the judging process?
See the page about how winners are selected.
What is the confidentiality policy?
All the Judges, Administration Team and Project Directors will digitally sign a non-disclosure agreement. Please therefore rest assured that any evidence you submit to back up your case for winning the award will be treated with strictest confidence.
Does anything need to be signed or approved?
No, in submitting your evidence you are confirming it is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
How many stages are there?
This is a single stage process. The written content is used to decide the winner, although judges are also at liberty to do desk-research into applicants too
Are there any important eligibility factors we should be aware of?
These awards are strictly for senior leaders within large organisations. Each award is suitable for either a specific role, or a specific industry. See the Categories page for details.
What are the rules regarding supplying supporting documents/materials?
No supporting material is allowed. The entry is plain text only with the exception of a headshot of the entrant.
Do we receive feedback about why we did or didn’t win?
All those accepting their nomination and going through the judging process will receive feedback on their entry. All applicants will be invited to reapply the following year and either retain their crown or earn an award of a different colour (e.g Silver winners receiving Gold for their achievements the following year).
Who should I contact if I have any questions?
You can contact us via the form found by clicking on the ? icon in the top right of this page.