South Africa’s top tech leaders will come together at the Marriott Hotel in Melrose Arch on 27 May to discuss recent developments in the CIO role and draft a new playbook.
The 2025 CIO Day is set to be an immersive, full-day gathering that reframes the CIO’s mandate as far more than stewarding IT assets. As technology evolves and becomes part of every business operation, these leaders have become enablers of business objectives, culture and innovation.
The event will bring together South Africa’s leading IT executives for an exclusive peer-to-peer learning opportunity. The theme, Beyond the Tech, underscores the shift from technology management to enterprise leadership, offering attendees actionable insights on integrating digital initiatives with organisational strategy and people development.
“When you have a seat at the table, you have a responsibility to that seat,” believes Bidvest Bank CIO Nomonde White-Ndlovu – who will be a speaker at CIO Day – underscoring the civic and strategic role CIOs play. “Perhaps the most fundamental question now should be to those of us who are senior leaders on how we ought to shoulder the responsibility to create space and those who are coming up behind us.”
The day starts with a brainstorming session, where attendees will be split into four different rooms. Each room’s discussion will be led by one IT executive, alongside a business leader outside the technology division. De Beers Group CIO Debbie Vermaak, RMB CIO Gavin Moss, DHL senior IT director Jenny Mohanlall and Toyota VP of IT Devan Reddy will ask attendees, “What’s the next big shift in IT leadership that we aren’t talking about enough today?”.
Their counterparts, MakwaIT chief strategy officer Rishi Birbal, Equinix MD Sandile Dube, HCLTech country head for South Africa Rachit Tayel and Hyland Southern Africa account manager Derren Naidoo will provide an external perspective to the question.
After this, a panel discussion with Webber Wentzel CFO Aneshree Naidoo, Vodacom CHRO Matimba Mbungela, Microsoft CTO Ravi Bhat and AECI Group vice president of technology and digital Sne Dlamini will investigate how CIOs, CFOs, and CHROs are “The Power Trio” when it comes to business transformation.
The CIO Playbook revealed
Following a decadent executive's lunch by Marriott, leaders will once again break away into separate groups, where they will devise a CIO Playbook for unlocking winning IT strategies.
Deloitte Africa CIO programme leader Omeshnee Naidoo, Transnet group CIO Pandelani Munyai, Cassava Technologies CEO Ziaad Suleman, Wits University CIO Dr Stanley Mpofu, iOCO chief executive of OKS Clydie Cronje, RMB chief digital and information officer Christiaan du Preez, and Entelect chief customer officer Daniel Manyemwe will guide the discussions, sharing their advice and best practices.
“Be strategic, be open, be adaptable, be decisive and be bold,” Ravi advises IT leaders. “Don’t get lost in the technical details, be open to new ideas and embrace learning, adaptability, and a positive outlook to drive meaningful innovation and success.”
At the end of the day, School of National Government director of digital transformation Dr Makaziwe Makamba, Virgin Active director of information technology Ankit Shah, and Harambee CIO Hanlie de Bod, will bring all the insights from the day together in one important takeaway.00000
With all of this in store, the 2025 CIO Day is set to be one of thought-provoking dialogue and an engaging exploration of how technology leadership is being redefined across industries. With a programme that combines collaborative brainstorming, strategic panel discussions, and scenario-based problem solving, the day will surface the complex realities CIOs face – and the creative approaches being used to navigate them.
