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Codec is proud to announce we have been shortlisted once again in 2 categories at the forthcoming Belfast Telegraph IT Awards taking place on Nov 11th in the MAC Belfast: IT Woman of the Year and IT Professional of the Year.
Business Consultant, Christina Matier has been shortlisted in the IT Woman of the Year category for the 2nd year running and Technology Strategist and Belfast site lead, Brian Illand has been nominated in the IT Professional of the Year category.
Christina has been nominated and shortlisted based not only on her outstanding contributions within Codec and for customers such as Ulster University and Queens University but also for her dedication and contribution to the support of women in IT.
Christina is a passionate advocate for women in tech and actively promotes the IT sector as an accessible and rewarding career choice no matter the personal or educational background. Using the various community events including “women in tech” meet ups, she aims to educate participants on the non-technical roles available.
Customers love to work with Christina as illustrated by Oonagh Kelly, Project Manager with Ulster University's Digital Programme and Innovation Office: “Ulster University are delighted to partner with Christina on our Digitisation journey with Microsoft Power Apps. Christina’s industry knowledge, technical expertise, and reassuring nature were recognised from the onset of the project. Throughout our engagement, whether the task is building stakeholder confidence, leading the team through technical challenges, or influencing business process design, Christina’s personal and professional attributes shine. Christina’s contribution continues to help the University team achieve our I.T. business transformation goals”.
Christina was nominated not only for her outstanding contributions within Codec and the customers she has worked with but also for her contribution to the support of women within our chosen charity partner, Ruhama and her leadership in setting up a similar initiative with the Northern equivalent – Flourish NI.
Ruhama’s Education and Development Coordinator, Dr Anne O’Keeffe, commented: “Ruhama feel blessed to have a powerful and influential woman in the IT sector opening doors for migrant women, inspiring them to start looking for opportunities. She is building belief and hope in women that they too can pursue careers in a sector where many felt had no place for them. Christina tells students that IT is accessible to them and that women can and do thrive in the sector. Christina possesses an empathy that has created an incredibly positive learning environment for Ruhama’s service users, she is a beacon of light and hope and is a pleasure to work with”
We are also delighted that Brian Illand was shortlisted in the IT Professional of the Year category which is much deserved for the outstanding contributions that Brian has made in not only growing the Codec consultancy business but for his passion around Microsoft Power Platform.
As a technology strategist, Brian has grown the Codec business significantly over the last 12 months, delivering as lead architect and technology consultant across the education, public sector and private sectors in Northern Ireland.
Post-covid, Brian’s focus has been on growing the Codec consultancy business from a small team to a large pre-sales and delivery team delivering innovative low-code, no-code solutions. This has resulted in the business scaling rapidly benefiting from economies of scale, increasing margin and revenue and allowing Codec to become the place where young technical talent in Northern Ireland can shine and grow.
He is passionate about the Microsoft Power Platform, having founded the Power Platform User Group in Belfast, a community where IT professionals, business users and Power users come together to use Software as a Service technologies to solve real business problems. His focus has been on bringing on-board young IT talent, mashing it with business experience to create future leaders in the organisation.
Brian has been instrumental in winning new business and delivering a variety of local Northern Ireland low-code and no-code projects to time and to budget, including large digital transformation projects for local Universities and public sector bodies in Northern Ireland.
We wish both Christina and Brian the very best of luck at the awards ceremony taking place Friday 11th Nov.
