TechFinitive Awards 2026 – Technology Leadership

The Technology Leadership category at the TechFinitive Awards 2026 recognises individuals making a tangible difference to the technology industry through their leadership, decision-making and ability to turn ideas into results. This year’s five finalists bring different perspectives to that challenge, from scaling businesses and expanding into new markets to rethinking enterprise software and preparing organisations for emerging security threats.

Each has demonstrated a distinct approach to leadership, whether through product innovation, business growth, international expansion or helping organisations navigate the next generation of technology challenges. You can read more about what our judges had to say about each submission here (scroll below).

Without further ado, the nominees for Technology Leadership in 2026 are:

• Somya Kapoor, CEO, IFS Loops
• Chris Lloyd, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Syspro
• Matt Mills, CEO, Ripjar
• Lukáš Vršecký, CEO & Co-Founder, Patron GO
• Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO & Co-Founder, QuSecure 

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The winners will be announced towards the end of November. Follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss it!

Here’s what our judges had to say about the nominees

Somya Kapoor, CEO, IFS Loops

Somya Kapoor impressed us by thinking one step ahead of so many in this industry. As CEO of IFS Loops, she is looking at digital workers in a mature way – a part of an enterprise’s operational infrastructure that can, when deployed correctly, achieve real RoI. Quite aside from the numbers, we’re impressed by the continual innovation – including the creation of IFS Loops Agent Studio in April this year that made it easier for enterprises to roll out digital workers without hands-on coding.

Matt Mills, CEO, Ripjar

Matt Mills joined Ripjar in January 2026 – his first role as CEO – on the back of a decade’s experience growing a company from a dozen to several hundred employees – and helping take it to a near -$1 billion acquisition by Visa. He’s had an immediate impact at Ripjar, including helping to secure a high-value deal with a big European bank, and has rebuilt the platform around AI. Meanwhile the company continues to go from strength to strength, with annual recurring revenue increasing by 40% in May 2026.

Chris Lloyd, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Syspro

Chris Lloyd is a superb example of someone who takes a deep technical understanding to deliver real value to businesses. He’s also not afraid to make big decisions. With a wider remit this year than before, he has helped Syspro’s ERP to double the features it offers and the releases during 2026. Reacting to data sovereignty concerns, he’s also created a hosting-agnostic environment. All of which means that the company’s customers are getting even more value.

Lukáš Vršecký, CEO & Co-Founder, Patron GO

To make our shortlist, we were looking for individuals who had made a real impact – and continue to do so. Lukáš Vršecký, CEO & Co-Founder of Patron GO, has taken the Czech fintech from startup to a top ten place in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe 2025 list – and is now leading the company’s international expansion, with Germany the latest addition in October 2026.

Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO & Co-Founder, QuSecure 

We sit on the threshold of a post-quantum computing world, where the cryptography solutions we’ve all come to rely on become far easier to break. Rebecca Krauthamer founded QuSecure in 2019 to counter these threats, and now counts the US Air Force and US Army as key clients. She’s also helped to lead the way for ethics in technology, contributing to Coursera’s Certified Ethical Emerging Technologist Program and is an advisor to the AI Ethics Journal.