More than 300 nominations were submitted across 20 categories, from operational risk and financial crime prevention to third-party governance and the use of AI in GRC. Winners are announced at ExCeL London on the evening of 11 November.
The #RISK Awards are delighted to unveil the shortlist for the 2026 awards, celebrating the individuals, teams, organisations, programmes and solutions demonstrating excellence across governance, risk and compliance.
The #RISK Awards recognise those making a meaningful impact across the GRC profession through innovation, leadership and a commitment to strengthening the way organisations identify, manage and respond to risk. This year’s awards attracted more than 300 nominations, with the shortlist bringing together an outstanding selection of individuals, teams and organisations demonstrating excellence across the industry.
Across 20 award categories, this year’s shortlist reflects the breadth of the GRC landscape, showcasing achievements across operational risk, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity and data protection, operational resilience, financial crime prevention, third-party risk, technology and AI, alongside outstanding individual and team leadership. Together, the finalists demonstrate the expertise, innovation and commitment helping to drive the GRC profession forward.
Delivered by GRC World Forums, the #RISK Awards form part of a wider commitment to celebrating excellence across governance, risk and compliance, bringing together the people and organisations tackling today’s most significant risk challenges and recognising those helping to raise standards across the profession.
The winners will be announced at the #RISK Awards 2026 ceremony on 11th of November at the ExCel London, where leaders and professionals from across the GRC community will come together to celebrate the achievements of this year’s finalists and recognise those making an outstanding contribution to the future of governance, risk and compliance.
The ceremony closes #RISK Expo Europe
The #RISK Awards are held on the evening of 11 November at ExCeL London, at the close of #RISK Expo Europe — the two-day event running 10–11 November across three stages: BFSI, GRC and RISK. Around 5,000 risk, compliance, security and governance professionals attend, with 100+ sessions, 200+ speakers and 120+ exhibitors.
Several shortlisted organisations are also speaking at the show. Euroclear has a finalist in Operational Risk Excellence and speakers on the BFSI Stage in Filip Maertens and Gill Loisel. Aviva is shortlisted twice — in Technology Innovation and for its AI-enabled iCARE GRC platform — and is represented on the programme by Arcangelo Leone de Castris.
Elsewhere across the two days, Michael Rasmussen anchors the GRC Stage. Ian Rae of John Lewis Partnership and Lorraine Pinter of Arsenal FC bring the retail and sport perspective on operational resilience, and Duncan McDonald of NCC Group covers continuous third-party assurance. On day two, the co-located PrivSec AI Governance conference features keynotes from Max Schrems, founder of noyb, and Lord Chris Holmes, alongside Michael Charles Borrelli of AI & Partners on EU AI Act enforcement.
Delegates spend the day in sessions and on the show floor, and finish the evening in the same building, recognising the work the sessions have spent two days discussing.
The shortlist
GRC Program Excellence Award
- ITC Compliance Limited
- Imaginera
- ZR Consultants
- Copla
- Admiral
- Tesco Insurance and Money Services
Enterprise Integrated GRC Architecture Award
- Battleground Group
- Mitratech
- Initia Risk
- calQrisk
- Investec UK
Operational Risk Excellence Award
- Sorie Mansaray, Euroclear Bank
- NatWest
- Valerie Arko-Adjei, Cybhrsec
- Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)
- Risk and Compliance Team, iPSL - Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited
- MoneyCorp
- JustEat
Regulatory Reporting & Change Management Award
- Copla Registry
- Tamila Fathi, Huntington Bank
- CUBE Global
- ViClarity
Risk Manager of the Year Award
- OLUWATOSIN Akanbi, Munich Re
- Nadine Esposito, Wellthspan Advisory
- Marc Hulin, ITC Compliance Limited
- Anifat Atanda, FirstBank Group
- Mandy Stanbury, Admiral
- Wendy Feng, Islington council
- Rodney Burns, Young Lives vs Cancer
- Josephine Pryor-Jones, iPSL - Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited
- Dr. Motto Anthony Xa, independent
- Tulika Dhar, Stream Ventures Group t/a Stream. Money
- Wiam Ghalmi, beIN Media Group
- Elena Cremin, Audley Group
Compliance Leader/Team of the Year Award
- Czarnikow Group Limited
- Alyson Cooling, Hemsley Fraser Group Ltd
- Sunny Badiani, VFX Financial Plc
- Elzira Batyrbekova, Colibrix One
- Varsha Sujata Pullut, VP Business Solutions Ltd
- Admiral
- Andrew Harvey, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
- Marcel Umeh, Nomba Financial Services Limited
- Valeriu Sirbu, Muviq S.r.l.
- Peace Jaja, Worldpay
- Jasmine Stuart, Complex Risk Ltd
Young Risk Professional Award
- Florence Nwabuzo-George, CWG PLC
- Eli Goldberg, Battleground Group
- Ha Le-Savic, Allianz Services
- Themis Vincent, Joelson LLP
- Divine Shomoye, Murex
- Adaora Ononiwu, NHS property Services
- Amelia Houghton, Evelyn Partners
- Lareb Ijaz, Metro Bank
Ethics & Compliance Champion Award
- Nadine Blackford, Cater Allen (Part of Santander UK Group)
- Jasmine Stuart, Complex Law Ltd
- Vijay Mitra, Nationwide Building Society
- Varsha Sujata Pullut, VP Business Solutions Ltd
- Kostas Avramidis, AEGEAN AIRLINES S.A.
- Juliana Oliveira Nascimento, SOMPO
Diversity & Inclusion in GRC Award
Abdoulie Sohna, National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC)
- Nazia Sharieff, QDREIC
- Compliance Women Committee
- Dilek Ulu, Janus Henderson Investors
- Dr Jean-Michel Tchamba, My Bridge International UK
Technology Innovation in GRC: SME
- Mandatry
- Elliot Poublan, Initia Risk
- Aspida Group
- Elizabeth Matthew, V&E Solutions
- RiskSmart
- CoreStream GRC & SANNOS
- LioraEngine
- Behavox
Technology Innovation in GRC: Large Company
- Shell plc
- Princess David Okoro, Trainline
- Amelia Brackenbury-Read, Aviva
- Drata
- Okta
- Gizem ÖZAK, SOCAR Türkiye
Cybersecurity & Data Protection Award: SME
- Alexandre Horvath, Cryptix AG
- Onur Korucu, DataRep
- Andrea Amico, Privacy4Cars
- NormCyber
- Laura O’Neill, Data Protection Professional Services Ltd
- Privacy Culture
- DataGuard
Cybersecurity & Data Protection Award: Large Company
- Maithe Lopez Santaella, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International
- Dr VENU GR, SNEL USG
- Abhishek Tiwari, PwC India
- Marcelo Canha, Organon Pharmaceuticals
- Alexandra Searle, Ericsson
- Nicholas Hutson-Alvarez, HX Group Ltd
- Artur Davydenko, Meta
- Dan Ferris, Target Group
Operational Resilience & Business Continuity Excellence Award
- Samuel Tyler, Atom Bank plc
- Helen Lipscombe, Resilience Continuity Consulting
- Hellios Information
- Shona Calder, Propensio Finance Ltd
- Katie Koetke, Roche
Physical Security & Asset Protection Excellence Award
- Nathan Bell, NSB-Global Enterprise Limited
- Laura Robinson, Securitas Security Services (UK) Limited
- Shaharyar Abdul Aziz, Mitie
Financial Crime Prevention Award
- Gira Bhatt
- The Payment Fraud Team, HP
- Nataliia Chornohub, YOUCONTROL WORLD LTD
- Nadine Blackford, Cater Allen (Part of Santander UK Group)
- James Saunders, RelyComply
- Sumsub
- Ocorian
Credit Risk Management Award
- Alan McDonald, Citi
- George Kladeftiras, Goldman Sachs
- Julien Mareschal, National Wealth Fund
Third-Party Risk Management Award
- Mitratech
- Samuel Adewoyin, AVEVA
- Hellios Information
- Copla VendrIQ
- Lloyds Banking Group, Supplier Risk
- Geeta Sriskanthan, Mizuho
- Vendict
Procurement Risk & Supplier Governance Excellence Award
- Mitratech
- Hellios Information
- Alessia Di Camillo, Admiral
- APEX Analytix
- Ansh Gupta, PAY UK
Best Use of AI in GRC
- ReadiNow
- Workiva
- LogicGate
- Optro
- ServiceNow
- Shell plc – Enterprise GenAI Ethics & Compliance Assistant
- CoreStream GRC & SANNOS AI – AI-Native Compliance Assurance
- Aviva – AI-Enabled iCARE GRC Platform
- Liora – LioraEngine Compliance Verification Platform
Topics
- #RISK
- #RISK Expo Europe 2026
- #RISK Intelligence
- AI and Automation
- AI governance
- Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
- Cryptocurrency
- Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)
- Data Protection & Privacy
- Digital Transformation
- Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
- Financial Crime
- Financial Crime & Fraud Prevention
- Geopolitical Risk
- Insider Risk
- Market Volatility
- Operational Resilience
- People Risk
- Security Intelligence
- Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)
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