College Director of IT and Digital wins NextCIO 2025 Award

Stoke on Trent College’s Director of IT & Digital has won the prestigious NextCIO award at a ceremony at the Sofitel London St. James.

Chris was one of 26 awarded a place on the 2025 cohort of rising stars in the UK IT sector.

The highly competitive process involved selection by a number of high-profile judges from multiple organisations including Stantec, Viridor, FlyingBinary Ltd., University of London and The IN Group.

The award reflects a career of continuous improvement in a number of roles at different employers over the past two decades, including Chris’ role of overseeing all IT & Digital advancements at Stoke on Trent College.

Chris has overseen a comprehensive Digital Strategy, plus sustained investment into IT, creating significant improvements across the College.

Chris Hodgson, Director of IT & Digital at Stoke on Trent College said:

“I’m incredibly proud to be recognised as a NextCIO 2025 award winner, a testament to the exceptional collaboration and innovation within the teams I have led during my career. This award inspires me to continue driving digital transformation that empowers our college to deliver outstanding outcomes for our learners, staff and wider community.”

Hassan Rizvi, Principal & CEO at Stoke on Trent College said:

“Were extremely proud to see Chris be recognised for his contributions to the IT & Digital sector with the NextCIO award.

“Chris has brought many years of expertise within IT to the college and the changes and advancements we continue to make in this area, ultimately benefiting our learners and staff. Going forward we are looking to embed new and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help increase productivity and efficiency.”

Find out more about the NextCIO 2025 Awards here.