Catherine De Baets (Attentia) wins the award: ICT & Digital Coach Of The Year 2026
ICT & Digital Managers are the driving force behind the talented ICT teams of Belgian companies. That’s why Amon Geniki wants to put their valuable contributions in the spotlight. And there’s no better way to do that, than with an award. At This is IT 2026, we awarded Catherine De Baets the title of ICT & Digital Coach Of The Year 2026!
Attentia’s passionate CIO was delighted with this recognition: “Over time, I’ve been able to progress into the transformational CIO role that I now fulfil with great passion. I’d like to thank everyone who has given me opportunities, placed their trust in me and set me challenges along the way.”
PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 24th 2026
6.30 PM Welcome for networking, food & drinks
8.00 PM Start show
Keynote Jitkse Kramer (in English)
We welcomed corporate anthropologist, entrepreneur and author Jitske Kramer (The Netherlands) for an inspiring keynote about leadership during tricky times. She stated: “We’re living through a non stop series of crises and we’re unsure how to handle.”
9.00 PM Break
9.30 PM Award ceremony
We witnessed front row who became ICT & Digital Coach of the Year 2026.
9.50 PM Gabriel Riós in concert: Playa Negra
We got carried away by the enchanting sound and the delicate vocals of the incomparable Gabriel Ríos.
10.30 PM Networking
11.30 PM Last drinks
This is IT 2026 has been made possible with the support of our partners
Want to become partner of future Amon events?
Send an email to Kristien Podevyn or call her directly at +32 (0)9 296 16 10.
ICT & Digital Coach Of The Year
The best ICT & Digital people manager in the IT sector in 2026? This exceptional individual was crowned by Amon Geniki during the great award show on September 24th. Of course, the IT community had a hand in it, since the popular vote counted for 50% of the points.
1 | The chosen ones
As a headhunting firm specializing exclusively in ICT & Digital, Amon Geniki knows this community inside out. This means that we are the expert at finding the best ambassadors of coaching leadership.
2 | The IT community voted
Up until June 30th, anyone in the Belgian ICT community had had the opportunity to vote for his or her favourite coach. These public votes counted for 50% of the points.
3 | The jury
An independent jury of experts from the ICT community, the media and the academic sector judged the managers during a personal conversation. They ultimately choose a winner.
4 | And the winner is ... Catherine De Baets
The ranking of the jury, combined with the voting results reveiled a winner. During the award show at This is IT, on September 24th 2026, Catherine De Baets (CIO at Attentia) took home the award of ICT & Digital Coach of the Year.
Amon Geniki presents: The Jury
Dirk Buyens – Vlerick Business School
Professor in Human Resource Management
Inge Opreel – Farys
CIO of the year 2025
Kristof Van der Stadt – DataNews
Editor-in-chief
Bahadir Samli – ING
ICT & Digital Coach of the Year 2024
Bjorn Van De Velde – VRT
CDO of the year 2025
Christophe VanDriessche – Amon
Managing Director
