TECH TALK

TALENT AND TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASED AT CITC GALA

Dinesh K. Patnaik, High Commissioner of India to Canada. Image credit: INDIAINTORONTO on X.

The Canada India Tech Council recognised twelve senior technology leaders at its Third Annual Awards Gala on Friday, September 25 at TELUS Harbour in downtown Toronto.

200+ guests attended, mostly technology executives – CIOs, CTOs and heads of technology from the banks, hospitals, utilities, insurers, retailers and public bodies that run Canada’s largest technology estates.

The evening was held under the theme Leadership at the Edge, built around four qualities the Council sees in the year’s strongest technology leadership: transformation, resilience, trust, and value. The awards were presented by Kundan Joshi, Founder and Chair of the Canada India Tech Council, alongside Dinesh K. Patnaik, High Commissioner of India to Canada, and Mahaveer Singhvi, Consul General of India in Toronto, along with Nina Tangri, MPP for Mississauga to Streetsville and Associate Minister of Small Business.

“A community needs people it draw inspiration from,” said Kundan Joshi, Founder and Chair of the Canada India Tech Council. “Every one of us got here because somebody went first. Most of that work is invisible. Tonight we made it visible. These twelve leaders did not win for the biggest budget or the loudest launch. They won because they moved something real this year, and did it in a way the rest of us can learn from.”

The 2026 recipients:

CIO of the Year, Enterprise Dharmesh Gandhi CIO, BC Hydro

CIO of the Year, Corporate Steve Mohammed CIO, Canadian Tire Financial Services

CIO of the Year, Public Sector Sumon Acharjee CIO, City of Markham

CTO of the Year Alpesh Sethia Chief Product and Technology Officer, First National Financial

Excellence in Innovation Jazz Pabla Chief Innovation Officer, WSP Global

Chief AI Officer of the Year, Global Shobhit Jain SVP, Applied AI, Chubb

Chief AI Officer of the Year, Enterprise Souvik Adhya Chief Data, AI & Analytics Officer & Head of Business Enablement, BMO Financial Group

CISO of the Year, Enterprise Zaki Abbas CISO, Brookfield

CISO of the Year, Corporate Tushar Chandgothia CISO, goeasy

Emerging Leader of the Year, Enterprise Jaspal Sawhney VP, Technology Platforms, Loblaw

Emerging Leader of the Year, Corporate Hashmat Rohian VP, AI, EQ Bank

CITC Member of the Year Meg Atreya VP, Business Solution Delivery, goeasy

Nominations were reviewed by the CITC Advisory Board, a panel of serving technology executives drawn from across Canadian enterprise, public sector and financial services. Awards are open to leaders accountable for technology outcomes inside their organisations rather than to vendors serving them, consistent with the Council’s membership model.

The Canada India Tech Council is a not-for-profit peer community of Indo-Canadian technology leaders, now more than 600 strong. It convenes chief information officers, chief technology officers, chief AI officers, chief information security officers and heads of technology from non-vendor organisations that employ at least 1000 employees for confidential peer exchange, research and recognition. Every member session runs under Chatham House Rules, and vendor pitches are not permitted inside them. Alongside the Council sit the Canada AI Alliance and a sister organisation in the United States, the America India Tech Council, which is 400 strong, and will hold its own summit and awards in New York in December 2026