By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): Coco Brown, Christine Heckart, Tom Hayes, Fawad Qureshi, and Joan Mulvihill
Day two of the Dublin Tech Summit 2025 saw the launch of the CIO 100 Index, followed by a dynamic panel discussion titled ‘Innovation in Action: The CIO Power Shift’. This milestone event, in association with Project Foundry, brought together some of the leading voices in tech leadership to explore the evolving role of CIOs.
Moderated by Siemens’ Creativity Evangelist Joan Mulvihill, the CIO 100 panel, entitled ‘Innovation in Action: The CIO Power Shift’, was both thought-provoking and urgent. Setting the tone, Mulvihill encouraged the room to consider leadership beyond technical prowess and “lead from a more human place.”
Declan Ryan, CEO of Project Foundry, opened the session by highlighting the significance of this moment in tech: “Project Foundry is proud to sponsor this event … Technology is disrupting systems, ways of thinking, and creating extraordinary new capabilities for us. We are at an inflection point, creating immense challenges and opportunities. The speed is unprecedented.”
That sentiment was echoed and expanded upon by Tom Hayes, Group Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at PTSB. As a leader in a banking institution adapting to the digital era, Hayes emphasized the importance of balancing disruption with integrity: “We see ourselves as a challenger bank … Regulation is there for a reason, motivated by doing good. I welcome that. From a banking perspective, when we think of regulation it’s about being responsible. It means your workforce is educated, and you use the technology in ethical ways.”
He also added a personal perspective: “From me, my approach to AI starts with education. Everyone knows the possibilities, but equally, the risks that are involved … You need people who are really expert, who can drive the innovation.”
Snowflake’s Global Field CTO, Fawad Qureshi, brought an international
perspective to the discussion. “Innovation is something very close to my heart,” he shared.
On regulation, he observed, “There is a lot of shift in the space, people are racing to innovate … The US and Europe, the two regions have taken different routes to innovation … There needs to be a fine middle ground.” His insight that “We’ll see global migration patterns based on the regulation in the region … People will move to countries with the most flexible framework … Innovation is happening at a very fast rate” captured the global stakes of tech policy.
Coco Brown, Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance, reflected on the evolution of tech leadership through a gender lens. “In 2005, I started a dinner group for women CIOs … I parlayed that group into Athena Alliance.” She continued, “Our mantra is move fast, break things … That’s at the heart of innovation … What we haven’t thought about is responsibility …. That’s the big question or tension for society today, how do we move fast and compete with each other … and do so from a core of responsibility?”
Lastly, Christine Heckart, Founder and CEO of Xapa World, closed the panel with a more human-centered focus on transformation: “It’s entirely about transformational change … How to work differently, think differently, collaborate with these agencies.” She stressed the enduring value of human judgment. “Fortunately, there are things machines, even with AGI, aren’t going to be as good at as humans … We need skills around judgement, ethics, critical thinking … Really important to pay attention to the humans.”
The panel underscored a powerful message: that the CIO’s role is no longer just about managing infrastructure, but about guiding organisations through an era of rapid, high-stakes transformation—always with humanity and responsibility at the core.
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