CIO100 2023: Unveiling the top transformational tech leaders and teams in ASEAN and Hong Kong

CIO ASEAN is proud to announce the winners of the CIO100 Awards in 2023, recognising the top senior technology executives and teams in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong driving innovation and influencing rapid change.

Winners were unveiled during an in-person awards ceremony at Suntec City Convention Centre in Singapore, housing more than 300 executives from all key markets across ASEAN, Hong Kong and the wider region.

First launched as the CIO50 ASEAN awards in 2019, it expanded to 75 awards in 2021 in recognition of a wealth of standout submissions and a desire to showcase examples of best transformation practice across all regional markets and sectors. In 2022, an additional 25 awards were added to establish the CIO100 ASEAN awards and sustained in 2023.

Apart from the prestigious CIO100 List, this year the awards presented the inaugural Next CIO Award, which celebrates an emerging ICT leader who is on the pathway to becoming a CIO.

In addition to individual recognition, the Team of the Year awards – introduced in 2022 – continued in this year’s awards season, spanning Innovation, Customer Value, Talent, Culture, and, a brand new category, Sustainability.

In 2023, CIO100 ASEAN saw expansive entries from the entire region, with tech leaders and teams represented across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

All entries were reviewed by a select and independent CIO100 judging panel, who rated each section of the questionnaire to determine the final list. The most powerful nominations provided real-world examples of where technology and digital chiefs are successfully providing value to organisations, driving innovation and leading teams.

“The CIO community encompasses the most influential business technology leaders and teams in the region who are at the forefront of technological evolution and strategic change,” said Shirin Robert, Editor of CIO ASEAN.

“We are honoured to uplift these testimonies of transformation and celebrate honourees of this year’s awards season. Congratulations to all finalists, highly commended and winners.”

This year, the awards were co-located with the CSO30 awards, which honours the top 30 senior cybersecurity executives driving business value and demonstrating leadership.

These awards are aligned to Foundry’s global awards program and viewed as a mark of excellence within the enterprise.

In association with Webex by Cisco, Slack, SentinelOne, Alteryx and Workday, CIO100 continues to be the leading awards program for technology leaders in the region, forming part of a broader Asia Pacific initiative alongside the CIO50 Australia, CIO50 New Zealand, and CIO100 India awards. These are in addition to CIO100 awards in the US and UK, plus CIO50 Middle East awards.

Unveiling the top transformational tech leaders and teams in 2023

Hendy Harianto, Group CIO of Meratus Group, takes the top honour as the highest-ranked CIO in this year’s awards.

He is recognised for his role in initiating a series of digital transformation initiatives for Meratus. In partnership with IBM, the logistics and shipping giant has harnessed intelligent automation, combining robotic process automation with AI, machine learning, natural language processing, and optical character recognition to automate end-to-end processes using intelligent bots.

Hendy and his team also expanded their innovation portfolio by incorporating Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure technology into projects that enhance shipping systems, container logistics centre systems, and vessel performance monitoring, in addition to optimising systems and developing SuperApps – an integrated e-commerce platform for maritime and logistics.

Hendy and his team maintain a focus on balancing speed and agility with quality and security, promoting a culture of excellence and implementing DevSecOps for the past couple of years.

CIO congratulates all honourees in 2023. The top 10 CIOs are ranked – the remaining honourees recognised are listed alphabetically by name.

#1 Hendy Harianto, Group CIO, Meratus Group

#2 Lai Khim Poh, Divisional Director IT/Chief Digital Information Officer, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority

#3 Ivan Chong, CIO, Telekom Malaysia

#4 Andy Luk, Head of Digital Transformation & Insights, HK Express

#5 Stuart Gurr, CIO Singapore and Group CTO Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank

#6 Amaar Khan, Managing Director, Chief Information Officer & Head of Engineering – Asia Pacific, BNY Mellon

#7 Ivan Ng, CTO, City Developments Limited

#8 Geraldine Wong, Chief Data Officer, GXS Bank

#9 Peter Tay, Chief Digital Officer, Income Insurance Limited

#10 Kai Yang, Asia Pacific CIO, HSBC

• Aaron Lee, CTO, YF Life Insurance
• Ahmed Abbas, Head of Systems Development and Innovations, BankIslami Pakistan Limited
• Alex Chi, Chief Information Digital Officer, S P Setia
• Allan Wong, Director of Information Technology, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Andri Hidayat, Digital Service Transformation & IT Director, PT. Prodia Widyahusada Tbk.
• Ash Shah, Head of IT – Asia, RGA (Reinsurance Group of America)
• Athikom Kanchanavibhu, Executive Vice President, Digital & Technology Transformation, Mitr Phol Group
• Attapol Sinchalong, Chief Innovation Officer, MQDC Idyllias
• Bruce Leong, Director, Technology and Strategy, Mt Alvernia Pte Ltd
• Bryan Lee, Managing Director, Head of Architecture, Bank of Singapore
• Carlos Santos, Chief Transformation and Technology Officer, AXA Philippines
• Charles Chen, Digital IT APAC and ASEAN IT Lead, Boston Scientific
• Charlotte Wong, CIO, HSBC Hong Kong
• David Tan, Chief Data Officer, Income Insurance Limited
• David Hardoon, Chief Executive Officer, Aboitiz Data Innovation and Group Chief Data and AI Officer, Union Bank of the Philippines
• Dr Deny Rahardjo, Group Chief Information & Digital Officer, Sime Darby Berhad
• Dzulastra Bin Abdul Latib, Head of IT & Infrastructure,      P&O Insurance Co Bhd
• Edmund Situmorang, Group CTO, Asian Bulk Logistics
• Frankie Shuai, APAC Regional Information Security Officer, DWS Group
• Gary Ng, Divisional Director & CIO, Sentosa Development Corporation
• Geetha Gopal, Chief Operating Officer, Verdana International Limited
• Henk van Rossum, General Manager, Group Cloud, Infrastructure and Operations, International SOS
• Herman Widjaja, CTO, GoTo Group & Tokopedia
• Hock Keong Ng, Deputy CEO (Infocomm Technology & Digital Services), Central Provident Fund Board
• Ichwan Peryana, Director, Pinjam Modal (PT Finansial Integrasi Teknologi)
• James Thang, Group CIO, UCSI Group Holdings Sdn Bhd
• Jan Morgenthal, Chief Digital Officer, M1 Limited
• Jim Man, CIO, UA Finance
• John Ang, CTO, EtonHouse International Education Group
• Juliana Chua, Sr. Director, Group Digital Technology (Global), EssilorLuxottica
• Keith S. Chan, Vice President for Technology, Wilcon Depot, Inc.
• Ken Soh, Group CIO, BH Global Corporation
• Khang Nguyen Trieu, Group Chief Technology Architect, Accor
• Kiam Keong Ee, CIO, Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore
• Leonard Ong, Director, Cyber Defense Group – Policies, Risk Management and Capabilities Development, Synapxe
• Miao Song, Global Chief Information Officer/Executive Committee Member, GLP
• Miranda Ip, Group Technology Risk and Regional CIO for Asia Pacific, FNZ (Singapore) Holdings Pte Ltd
• Mohamed Hardi, Director & Chief Information Officer, National Heritage Board
• Mohd Suhail Amar Suresh, Group CTO, Maybank Group
• Muhammad Suhada, Director and CTO, PT. MNC Kapital Indonesia Tbk.
• Natalie Que, CIO / Chief Digital and Data Officer – North Asia and Southeast Asia, Kenvue
• Natarajan Sriram, Managing Director – Global Head of Emerging and Domestic Payments, GPS Technology, HSBC
• Nilesh Timbadia, CIO, Port of Tanjung Pelepas
• Nilo C. Zantua, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)
• Nirupam Das, Chief Data Officer, Liberty Mutual Insurance
• Rajesh Nandakumar, Head of Technology, Westpac Banking Corporation
• Ralph Ostertag, APAC Director, Digital & Technology, The HEINEKEN Company
• Ratikant Sahu, Head of Technology – Data Analytics, UOB
• Ravel Lai, CIO, Uni-China Group
• Richard Parcia, Group CIO, Citadel Pacific Ltd.
• Shariq Khan, Head of IT, ERGO Insurance Pte Ltd. Singapore
• Sharon Ng, Ministry Family CIO (Trade & Industry), GovTech Singapore
• Sutheshnathan A/L Sunmuganathan, CIO International and Head of Group Technology Strategy Office, Maybank Group
• Teck Guan Yeo, Chief Business Transformation Officer, Singapore Pools
• Tran Phu Nghia, CIO, Novaland Group and CISO, Nova Group
• Ts. Saiful Bakhtiar Osman, Head of IT – Shared Services, PNB Commercial Sdn. Bhd.
• Winnie Rebancos, CIO, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.
• Yee Pern Ng, CTO, Far East Organization
• Yew Jin Kang, CTO, PLUS Malaysia

Next CIO

Irvan Bastian Arief, tiket.com

Irvan is the current VP of Data Science and Machine Learning Engineering at tiket.com and wins this award for pioneering advancements in AI and machine learning within his team, which have played a pivotal role in positioning the organisation as a leader in online travel agencies in Indonesia. He is well-positioned and recognised by his colleagues of all ranks as a transformative leader and mentor to create a positive impact on the business.

Team of the Year – Culture

AXA Philippines

AXA Philippines wins this award for its efforts to revamp the culture within its Transformation and Technology (T&T) Group, including creating Centre of Practice teams for best practice sharing among various functions and encouraging career development, with 20% of employees attaining new IT certifications. As a result, the company’s Employee Net Promoter Score rose from +1 to +27 while more than 18% of employees have received promotions due to clarity of roles and assignment planning.

Highly Commended: Maybank Group

Team of the Year – Customer Value

HK Express

HK Express wins this award for utilising AI to refresh its approach to customer engagement. From post-flight feedback to social listening to call centre interactions, the team’s AI deployments enable HK Express to better understand its customers and provide tailored, satisfying experiences. Tapping on large language models, customer comments are transformed into structured data, which is projected to increase efficiency by 50 percent, with 12-month savings of $204K and 840 manhours.

Highly Commended: YF Life Insurance

Team of the Year – Innovation

Changi Airport Group (CAG)

Changi Airport Group wins this award for establishing its Enterprise Digital Hub as part of efforts to overhaul its IT architecture design and power the next generation of digital solutions. Made up of a customised stack of services in a decoupled architecture, CAG is supporting all business and operation needs while providing a seamless customer experience.

Highly Commended: National Heritage Board

Team of the Year – Sustainability

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Nanyang Technological University wins this award for its innovative methods of leveraging technology to fulfill its sustainability goals, with initiatives to promote sustainable campus living and university operations. NTU has established a 15-year Sustainability Manifesto and launched a S$1 billion multicurrency Sustainability Linked Bond aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 and reduce gross carbon emissions intensity by at least 50 percent from its 2019 baseline. 

Team of the Year – Talent

Central Provident Fund Board

The Central Provident Fund Board wins this award for its strong talent management framework, with its focus on employees’ professional growth through leadership development, mentorship, and numerous staff development programmes. The Board’s commitment to growing a sustainable talent pipeline is key to the Board’s ambition of a “Workforce that Achieves Together”.