Wilbert Ingels, Group CIO at the international recruitment agency House of HR, and Jean-Luc Martou, CIO at the University of Louvain, have been named Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2025. The announcement was made during a gala in Brussels attended by 500 guests, organised by ‘De Straffe Mannen’, who are hosting the CDO Awards for the 8th time.
Traditionally, an award is presented to both a Dutch-speaking and a French-speaking CDO of the Year.
Wilbert Ingels was named the Dutch-speaking CDO of the Year. House of HR comprises 50 companies with over 700 offices across 10 countries, generating a turnover of around 4.5 billion euros and employing more than 5,000 in-house staff. As co-founder of nine companies, Wilbert Ingels brings a spirit of entrepreneurship to the group. He is also fully embracing AI, notably through ‘House of AI’, where a new recruitment model is being set up using a diverse team of ‘special agents’.
On the French-speaking side, Jean-Luc Martou was appointed from the University of Louvain, which has 40,000 students and an internal staff of 8,000. His strategy is based on motivating his 150 IT staff, minimising the use of Microsoft wherever possible, opting for open source and the pragmatic use of artificial intelligence. This involves working with the French provider Mistral. A new app for students was recently launched, containing their personal details such as their timetable and the option to sign up for all sorts of activities. That app has already been downloaded 30,000 times.
The jury comprises all former CDO award winners and prominent Belgian digital leaders.
