Woodside Energy's chief technology officer Shaun Gregory has been named CIO of the year at the fifth annual iTnews Benchmark Awards last night.
The awards, hosted by CRN's sister publication at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, recognise the best IT projects delivered by enterprises over the year, judged based on the creative application of technology to solve large and complex problems.
Gregory took out the top prize thanks to his team's pioneering application of artificial intelligence and cognitive computing at the oil and gas giant. He also won Industry CIO of the year earlier in the night.
Woodside impressed the judges with its sophisticated virtual avatar Willow, co-developed with IBM using its artificial intelligence platform Watson.
Staff can interact with Willow to poll Woodside's IT systems to find answers to their questions. The project represents a significant expansion in the technological capabilities of Woodside's work with Watson.
The cognitive system allows staff to delve into 30 years of data through one interface. It has since grown to 12 cognitive instances that encompass everything from human resources to geotechnical data.
Woodside's experimentation of emerging technologies made it "one of the enterprises to watch for guidance on how to succeed" in the industry, according to iTnews.
The judges also commended Gregory for having the courage to take advantage of nascent technology, making Woodside the "go to" leader in the industry.
"All I can say is wow," said data science manager Shelley Kalms, who accepted the award on Gregory's behalf.
"We're really proud of what we've acheived. We've started but we're still going. There's lots of scope out there, it's really exciting. This recognition is fantastic."
The full list of winners:
Consumer CIO of the year: Kogan's Goran Stefkovski
Finance CIO of the year: ME Bank's Mark Gay
Utilities CIO of the year: News Corp's Alisa Bowen
Healthcare CIO of the year: Ramsay Health's John Sutherland
Federal Government CIO of the year: Bureau of Meteorology's Lesley Seebeck
Industrial CIO of the year: Woodside Energy's Shaun Gregory
Education CIO of the year: University of Wollongong's Fiona Rankin
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