Established in 2001, the EMC Information Leadership Award recognizes individuals whose personal leadership has made a critical contribution to the effective use of information technology throughout the world.

"I suspect that quite a bit of innovation doesn’t really get beyond birth.  It kind of dies in the early days. That goes to the quality of leadership in management. For people like me, it means encouraging the line management to look for innovation, to mentor it, to have faith in it, and have faith in the individuals who are reporting – to trust them, but also to bring a sense of reality to it as well." — John White, Oral History

A 2008 appointee to Head of Manufacturing, RBS Americas, John White is now leading critical transformations for the Royal Bank of Scotland, including the ABN AMRO integration and the creation and development of a new manufacturing division.  His focus, on acquisitions planning and the deployment of information technology to better serve customers, has helped to vastly expand the Royal Bank of Scotland’s offerings and global reach.

John joined RBS in October 1999 as a key member of the bank’s team during planning for the transformational acquisition of NatWest.  He also headed implementation of the IT integration during the merger, which was achieved ahead of schedule, and without any losses to the bank or its customers.

As a technology Director at RBS, John was further involved in other significant acquisitions and integrations, which led to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group being recognized as a world-ranking extremely cost efficient organization.  His involvement in these activities has spanned the USA, Europe and China.   

John’s contribution to banking and technology was recognized by Her Majesty the Queen when she awarded him an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2003.   A Fellow of both the British Computer Society, and the Chartered Institute of Bankers Scotland, John has been an active member of the Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership team for three years.  Among 18 awards from the British Computer Society and other European organizations granted under John’s leadership within Group Technology and Technology Integration are: IT Director of the Year, Operations Director of the Year, and Outstanding Contribution to the Industry by an Individual.

Immediately prior to joining the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, John spent six years with the National Australia Bank, his last position being Global General Manager of Electronic Banking.