During The Open Group London Summit, Steve Nunn, President and CEO, The Open Group, proudly announced the winners of the President’s Awards. This included Paul Homan for the ‘Most Valuable Contributor Award for an Individual’ and also Shell (accepted by Ian Betts) for the ‘Most Valuable Contribution as an Organization’ Award.
Most Valuable Contributor Award for an Individual
Paul Homan CTO for Industrial Sector, IBM Services UK & Ireland

Paul is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer for Industrial Sector Clients, IBM Global Services, responsible for Technology Strategy & Industry Architectures for Automotive, Aerospace & Defence, Oil & Gas, Electronics, Industrial Products and Construction industries.
Paul Homan has been with The Open Group for 25 years. He started in the Architecture Forum and was involved in the early days the development of the TOGAF® Standard, a standard of The Open Group, including the TOGAF 7 standard. Paul has also done 20 Enterprise Architecture (EA) Minutes, part of Toolkit Tuesday since it started in Spring 2021, as a leading subject matter expert.
Most Valuable Contribution as an Organization
(accepted by Ian Betts, Shell)

Shell has been participating with The Open Group since the early 90s, since X Open and then as The Open Group in 1996.
Shell joined in the mid 90s and was one of the most contributory energy companies with their level of participation and tangible support. Over the years, Shell has participated in the original Customer Council, The Open Group Security Forum, Architecture Forum, and ArchiMate® Forum.
After receiving the awards, I caught up with Paul Homan and Ian Betts, as they shared how they felt about the award, and what it meant to them.
“It’s quite humbling in many ways because I know how much over that time people I respect for have contributed. To think of myself in that same group is pretty humbling too.”- Paul Homan
“I work for Shell, and I sit on the Management Committee of the OSDU™ Forum. I am delighted to receive this award on behalf of Shell, as it reflects our decades of involvement with The Open Group and the many people who have contributed in that time. The community and ecosystem we participate in through The Open Group is fantastic!” – Ian Betts
Finally, congratulations to all the nominees for their participation in The Open Group initiatives over the years. We would not be able to accomplish the work we do or create the standards that are helping to drive the technology industry, without working together to achieve our vision of open standards.

Ash Patel, Marketing Specialist, joined The Open Group in 2020, initially working in the Certification Team as a Certification Services Agent, before moving into the Marketing Team where he now works on digital communications, content for the staff intranet (O-Zone), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and analytics. Ash holds a First-Class Bachelor’s Degree in Media Production (BA hons) from Coventry University and has a background in content writing, copy writing, script writing, photo editing, and video editing. He is based in the UK.