Look What Happened at the E.U. Chief Digital Officer Summit in Amsterdam

Digital Transformation, Inside and Out, Amsterdam, Chief Digital Officer Summit, 2015

Corinne Avelines, Jeroen Verkroost, and David Mathison at the inaugural Amsterdam Chief Digital Officer Summit

The CDO Club held its inaugural EU CDO Summit on Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 at the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The CDO Summit addresses the challenges and opportunities arising from big data, the cloud, digital disruption, and social and mobile media, with an emphasis on the ascendant role of the Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data Officer.

Click the video below to watch the highlights from the Amsterdam CDO Summit.

Thanks to Fraser Wallace and the DreamingFish Productions team for the videos from both London and Amsterdam 2015 CDO Summits.

According to original research by the CDO Club, in 2015 alone, 10 Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) have become CEO/President, while four have become Board Directors/NED (Non-Executive Director).

That’s already double as many as in all of 2014. Additionally, the number of Chief Digital Officers is on track to double again in 2015, to 2,000 CDOs globally.

The data was presented during CDO Club founder and CEO David Mathison’s keynote presentation, “Hall of Fame: CDOs Who Have Become CEO and Board Directors.”

The CDO Club is the sole organization tracking the CDO to CEO and Board Director/NED career trajectory. (See here and here.)

Patrick Hoffstetter, CDO of the Year, Amsterdam, CDO Club, Chief Digital Officer Summit, 2015

Patrick Hoffstetter, Chief Digital Officer at Renault was named the first E.U. CDO of the Year by the CDO Club

The biggest news of the day was the presentation of the first-ever EU CDO of the Year award to Patrick Hoffstetter, Chief Digital Officer at Renault.

Hoffstetter was placed in charge of digital transformation at the carmaker in 2011, where he founded the Digital Factory, a special unit in charge of coordinating all the firm’s digital activities.

Under his leadership, Renault launched new mobile and social media marketing initiatives, implemented digital technologies in dealerships and garages, and launched an enterprise social network for employees.

Hoffstetter is also the founder of the eG10 club, a networking group for CDOs.

“With this award,” Mathison remarked, “we recognize Patrick’s strategic vision and leadership skills in bringing digital transformation to a large, worldwide organization operating in a sector now deeply affected by digital disruption.”

The award was presented after Hoffstetter’s keynote, “Digital Transformation in the Auto Industry and Large, Traditional Corporations.”

Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Google, Chief Digital Officer Summit, Amsterdam, E.U., 2015

Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Head of Digital Transformation at Google

Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Head of Digital Transformation at Google and Amsterdam native, also caused a stir with his keynote “Online Brand Identity: Getting And Keeping Your Brand Future Ready.”

Other speakers included Sean Cornwell, Chief Digital Officer at Travelex; Mike Ellis, CEO at ForgeRock; and Richard Kramer, Managing Director at Arete Research.

Two moderated conversations were also held. The first, “Finding the Needle in the Big Data Haystack,” featured open data and open government expert Paul Suijkerbuijk, Chief Data Officer at the Government of the Netherlands; David Dunne, CEO of Velocidi; and Daniel Raskin, VP Strategy and Marketing at ForgeRock.

The second conversation of the day, “Digital Transformation, Inside and Out,” featured Jeroen Verkroost, former Chief Digital Officer at De Persgroep; and Corinne Avelines, Global Head of Digital and eCommerce at AkzoNobel.

MutualMind, Richard Kramer, Chief Digital Officer Summit, Amsterdam, E.U., 2015

Richard Kramer, Managing Director at Arete Research and the social monitoring platform provided by MutualMind and powered by IBM Watson

Social media engagement was tracked, analyzed, and presented on a social monitoring platform provided by MutualMind and powered by IBM Watson.

Participants competed for their place on a live leaderboard displaying the analysis of Watson’s “adaptive listening” technology.

The Amsterdam CDO Summit was sponsored by ForgeRock and Mendix.

The CDO Club also partnered with ForgeRock to help present the ForgeRock Identity Summit the next day, Thursday November 5th, 2015 to an overflowing room filled with participants eager to implement Identity Management solutions in their organizations.

Attendees learned how identity is the key to creating the secure, relevant, and personalized digital experiences that customers and citizens now expect.

Mike Ellis, ForgeRock, Chief Digital Officer Summit, Amsterdam, E.U., 2015

Mike Ellis, CEO at ForgeRock

Notable speakers included Accenture’s Floris Van Den Dool; digital identity thought leader David Birch; and Gartner Research Vice President Ant Allan.

CDO Club founder and CEO David Mathison also spoke on a panel discussion on digital transformation.

To read or view insights from the summit, simply join the CDO Club.

CDO Club members can watch and read about panels and keynotes not only from this event, but from every single CDO Summit since its inception.

Just a few days after the Amsterdam CDO Summit, on Monday, November 9th, the CDO Club’s associate partner CDO Turkey presented the “Leaders of Digital Transformation” event to a full house at the Wyndham Grand Levent Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.

The event was organized by CDO Turkey’s Ali Malaz, a tireless entrepreneur and successful business leader who simultaneously serves as CDO Turkey Advisory Board Member, TÜBİYAD President, and a Board Member of EuroCIO.

The goal of the event was to discuss strategies and explore best-practices in the wake of global digital disruption, with an emphasis on the role of the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) in informing the way government, organizations, businesses, and institutions in Turkey adapt to these dynamic changes.

The event was sponsored by Samsung Turkey, in cooperation with Tansu Yegen, Vice President at Samsung Turkey. Tansu is a seasoned industry veteran who has held senior level roles with some of the world’s most successful technology companies, such as Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Apple, Turkcell, and IBM.

The Leaders of the Digital Transformation, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015

The Leaders of the Digital Transformation in Istanbul, Turkey

More information about the Istanbul Summit will be posted on CDOClub.com on Thursday, November 19, 2015.

The CDO Club will be announcing more global affiliate partnerships and events in Israel, Italy, Germany, and France, in addition to planned CDO Summits in NYC, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Toronto.

To find out more about creating a CDO Club affiliate in your country or city, contact info@cdoclub.com.

The next CDO Summit will be held on February 24th, 2016, in Sydney, Australia, presented by Accenture Digital.

David Dunne, Paul Suijkerbuijk, and Daniel Raskin, Chief Digital Officer Summit, Amsterdam, 2015

“Finding the Needle in the Big Data Haystack,” featuring David Dunne, Paul Suijkerbuijk, and Daniel Raskin


If you are tasked with understanding what digital leaders must do in order to succeed in almost any industry, the best place to learn more is at the CDO Summit.

Register today for the Sydney CDO Summit on 01 March, 2016, presented by Accenture Digital.

Also sign up now to lock in our Super Early Bird Discount for NYC in April 2016, and Toronto in July 2016.

Reserve your place now:

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The CDO Summit is the “must-attend” digital event of the year. The 2013, 2014 and 2015 CDO Summits received stellar endorsements from dozens of speakers and attendees alike:

“Thank you for an intense and inspiring U.K. CDO Summit. The content and networking were well worth the trip and investment.”


"The NYC CDO Summit was an awesome day - content - speakers - learnings. Everything."


“The opportunity to keynote at the inaugural U.K. CDO Summit in London was once in a lifetime experience. As the world’s youngest CDO, I learned valuable lessons from other digital leaders and gained a greater sense of confidence and energy leaving the event.


"Great experience at the CDO Summit in NYC. Hats off to David Mathison (@BeTheMedia) and the organizers for getting so many incredible digital leaders in one room, year after year."

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