About the Award
The Association for Information Systems Leadership Excellence Award will be presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated exemplary leadership and innovation in the use and development of information systems. It will be conferred at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), which takes place annually in different regions around the world. In addition to receiving the award, the winner will deliver the keynote address at the conference each year.
The AIS Leadership Excellence Award was established in 2015 by the AIS Council, and it was presented for the first time in 2016.
- Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager at the European Commission
Ms. Vestager began her career in politics as the Head of Section at the Ministry of Finance in Denmark from 1993-1995 after earning a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Copenhagen. She served in other public service roles until 1998 when she became the Minister for Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs (1998-2001). She has held other Danish government roles, including Member of Parliament and Political Leader for the Social Liberal party, Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior, and Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark.
In 2014, she was appointed to the role of European Commissioner for Competition, and in 2019, she was appointed to the newly developed role, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age.” As the European Commissioner for Competition, she aggressively pursued investigations and litigation against major companies, including technology companies, for antitrust violations and unpaid taxes. Ms. Vestager has been named as one of the World’s Top 50 Women in Tech (2018) and Europe’s Top 50 Women in Tech (2018) by Forbes. In July 2022, two regulations developed in part by Ms. Vestager, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, were adopted by European Parliament. These acts protect users’ rights, create open markets, and require technology platforms to take more responsibility to address issues such as hate speech, data sharing, and promoting their own self-interests.
Executive Vice-President Vestager is a muse for the protagonist in the television series, Borgen, which has been widely watched in Denmark, on the BBC, and on Netflix. She is married with three children and lives in Bruxelles and Copenhagen.
- Dantley Davis, Chief Design Officer at Twitter.
Dantley Davis is the Chief Design Officer at Twitter where he is part of a team whos core responsibility is to help shepherd and take care of the public conversation on the internet. Davis is vocal about diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace and recently launched a UX mentorship program exclusively for women for Twitter Design & Research.
Prior to joining Twitter, Davis was at Facebook, where he led product design for Stories, News Feed, and Video. He spent seven years at Netflix, where he was responsible for design and product strategy for television and mobile experiences. His work transformed streaming user interfaces across the SVOD industry.
Davis received his undergraduate degree and MBA from the University of San Francisco.
- Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys Limited.
Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys Limited. Narayana Murthy Founder, Infosys Limited. Infosys is, today, a highly innovative software services global company listed on NYSE in the US and on the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai with over $12 billion (USD) in revenue and about $58 billion (USD) in market capitalization. Murthy conceptualized, articulated and implemented the Global Delivery Model (GDM) which has become the backbone of the Indian software industry. GDM is based on collaborative distributed software development principles and has resulted in the delivery of superior quality software to global customers delivered on time and within budget. Mr. Murthy also introduced the concept of 24-hour work day to the world. Under Murthy’s leadership, Infosys became the leader in innovation in technical, managerial and leadership training, software technology, quality, productivity, customer focus, employee satisfaction, and physical and technological infrastructure. Murthy was elected as a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is also a member of the Board of Governors and Trustees of the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He received the Founders Medal in 2018, the Hoover medal in 2012 and the Ernst Weber Medal in 2007, all the three from IEEE. He has received Thomas Jefferson medal and James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. Currently, Murthy serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey and the United Nations Foundation. He has served on the boards of Ford Foundation in New York, HSBC and Unilever in London.
Member of the following Supervisory Board Committees: General and Compensation Committee (Chairman), Technology and Strategy Committee (Chairman), Nomination Committee (Chairman)
Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Hasso Plattner is one of the founders of SAP and has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board since May 2003. In this role and as Chief Software Advisor he concentrates on defining the medium and long-term technology strategy of SAP. He also heads the Technology Committee of the SAP Supervisory Board. In 1972 Hasso Plattner and four colleagues left IBM in order to found SAP (Systems, Applications, Products). When SAP went public in 1988 Hasso was appointed Vice Chairman of the Executive Board. From 1997 to May 2003 he was Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of SAP. In May 2003 he was elected to the SAP Supervisory Board and took over the chairmanship from co-founder Dietmar Hopp.
Hasso received his Master‘s Degree in Communications Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. In 1990 the University of Saarbruecken awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 1994 he was granted an honorary full professorship. In 1998 he founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for IT Systems Engineering at the University of Potsdam with the largest single private contribution to a university ever made in Germany. He is a professor at the HPI for enterprise software systems.
Zack Hicks is executive vice president and chief digital officer at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). He also is chief executive officer and president of Toyota Connected North America. Additionally, he has a global role leading information security management for Toyota Motor Corporation.
As Toyota’s first chief digital officer, Hicks leads Toyota’s newly created Digital Transformation & Mobility unit, leading shared mobility, connectivity services, over-the-air upgrades and future business opportunities. This new role is designed to define and accelerate Toyota’s mobility efforts including vehicle connectivity, electrification and autonomous driving technologies in coordination with other company business divisions.
As founder, CEO and president of Toyota Connected North America, Hicks leads the company’s connected car ecosystem and is driving transformational change through cutting edge technology, data and connectivity. This fast-growing startup serves as Toyota’s data science hub connecting vehicles, customers and businesses through machine learning and artificial intelligence. Key products include an industry-leading big data platform, mobility services platform and predictive analytics.
In his role as chairman of Toyota Connected Europe, Hicks oversees this new London-based startup, which supports the growing adoption of new mobility businesses in Europe with products and services tailored to the unique needs of the market.
Hicks is a member of Toyota’s North American Executive Committee, board member of The Toyota Foundation and Toyota Insurance Management, as well as the Toyota Diversity Board, Toyota PAC Board, and chair of TMNA’s Executive Steering Committee.
Since joining Toyota in 1996, Hicks has championed a global telematics ecosystem and facilitated the implementation of cloud-based collaboration tools for Toyota employees, accelerating communication across the company. He also led the development of an award-winning social media analytics platform, enabling Toyota to capture the voice of the customer and intimately connect with them in new ways.
Hicks has held several management positions of increasing responsibility within the company, including telematics, eBusiness, and IT management, where he led the establishment of a demand-management function, development of next-generation dealership technology, and designed a CIO Magazine award-winning information systems strategy framework to align business and IT strategies. He also served as vice president of administrative services.
Hicks was named one of Dallas Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEOs of 2018.” He also received the “Innovator of Year” award from D-CEO magazine in 2016, and he and TMNA are multiple recipients of the CIO 100 award – which honors organizations, their IT leaders and teams for driving business value and growth through digital innovation. Hicks also was named one of the top 10 Global Breakaway CIO Leaders by Evanta/CIO Leadership Network and a Premier 100 IT Leader by Computerworld.
In October 2018 Hicks was appointed to the board of directors of Signet Jewelers Limited, the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry. He also is an active member of the CIO Strategy Exchange and the Corporate Executive Board for Chief Information Officers, as well as the board of trustees for Greenhill School (Addison, TX), and is a former board member of The Trevor Project.
Hicks graduated from Pepperdine University with a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in Business Administration in business and technology from the University of California at Irvine. He received Pepperdine’s Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Graziadio School of Business and Management.
Since being named CEO of Kakao in September 2015, Rim has spearheaded innovation in communication, commerce, content and more. Under his leadership, Kakao has strengthened core-businesses powered by the company’s signature mobile messaging platform Kakao Talk and developed new growth engines by investing in fintech, smart mobility and artificial intelligence.
The continued evolution of Kakao Talk has been one of Rim’s key focuses. Kakao Talk Store, a new service that allows for effortless buying and selling via the Plus Friend platform, is scheduled to launch within the year. Kakao Talk Order and Kakao Talk Mart, both launched in the first half of 2017, are receiving positive reviews from users for their easy sign-up process. A reservation service that offers similar convenience is expected to launch within the year.
Rim has also built strong future growth engines for Kakao by co-operating with various partners to create a vibrant artificial intelligence platform. The company is incorporating its Kakao I technology into a wide variety of fields including automobiles, apartments, offline stores, consumer electronics and home services. Starting next year, Kakao plans to make Kakao I available to business of all sizes. The technology is currently being employed in Daum News as well as a number of content and commerce platforms, and Kakao is committed to offering new, innovative business solutions powered by Kakao I, via strengthening existing services, developing new channels, and actively pursuing symbiotic partnerships.
AIS is pleased announce the inaugural recipient of the Association for Information Systems Leadership Excellence Award is Atish Banerjea, Chief Information Officer for Facebook. The award will be conferred on Monday, December 12th, in Dublin, Ireland, during the ICIS 2016 keynote session, at 11 AM (GMT), where Mr. Banerjea will deliver the keynote address. Please join the conference organizers and the AIS leadership in extending our warm congratulations to Mr. Banerjea for this achievement.
Atish Banerjea is being recognized for his distinguished leadership and innovation in the use and development of information systems. Renowned for his extensive experience in adapting to succeed in the rapidly-changing technology landscape, in his role as CIO he is responsible for overseeing Facebook’s global IT team as the company works to make the world more open and connected.
Most recently, Banerjea served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for NBCUniversal where he was responsible for leading the Information Technology organization and overseeing global technology strategy and applications, corporate systems, and infrastructure and operations worldwide for the company’s media portfolio. Banerjea’s portfolio included technology for Broadcast and Cable TV; Universal Pictures; News; Parks and Resorts; Sports and Olympics; Digital; Media Labs; Sales, Research and Analytics; and NBCUniversal’s International group.
Before this, Banerjea served as Chief Technology Officer for Dex One Corporation, where he led a major redesign of the company’s IT functions and helped transform it from a print-centric business to a digital media-marketing company.
Prior to joining Dex One, Banerjea served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Pearson, where he was responsible for global planning, deployment and management of more than $550 million in information technology investment. He also held roles at Maurices, Inc. and Simon & Schuster. Mr. Banerjea holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Temple University and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Delhi University.
Qualifications and Requirements
- Open to active industry or government professionals for significant leadership and innovation in the use and development of information systems. Retired individuals who are still active members in their professional community or industry may also be considered.
- Nominees must agree to be physically present to receive the award, substitutes are not acceptable.
The Selection Process
The recipient is selected by the Association for Information Systems Leadership Excellence Award Committee, consisting of a chairperson, the current, immediate past, and elected presidents of AIS, the AIS executive director, and the ICIS conference chair. The committee solicits nominations and then evaluates each nominee on a confidential basis.
John Mooney is the Chair of the AIS Leadership Excellence Award Committee and he can be contacted at john.mooney@pepperdine.edu.