Winners of the Intranet and Digital Workplace Awards are determined by an international judging panel of intranet experts, located in Australia, Europe and the USA.
See more about this year’s judges below:
James Robertson, Step Two
James Robertson is one of the global experts on digital employee experience, digital workplaces and intranet strategy. James is the founder and managing director of Step Two, a vendor-neutral consultancy located in Australia. In this role, he has helped high-profile organisations to develop intranet strategies, both within Australia and internationally.
He is the author of Essential intranets: inspiring sites that deliver business value and Designing intranets: creating sites the work, the two best-selling intranet books in the world.
James has keynoted conferences around the globe, including in the UK, USA, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.
Rebecca Rogers, Step Two
Rebecca is an experienced and successful digital workplace and intranet consultant, with extensive experience in corporate and government organisations globally. She manages the Step Two Forum, is a principal consultant and senior member of Step Two’s leadership team.
Rebecca is able to quickly understand business issues and draw on a wealth of experience to tailor approaches that are both strategic and practical. She has a singular focus on helping teams and practitioners succeed, and with boundless energy, she’s known for rolling up her sleeves to get the outcomes that are needed.
She has a passion for UX and human-centred design to create exceptional digital workplaces, intranets and digital employee experiences. She brings an infectious enthusiasm to any setting, with an enviable reputation around the globe as a result of her consulting engagements, presentations and workshops.
As the manager of the Step Two Forum, Rebecca is responsible for supporting practitioners across Australia and around the world, as well as helping build the connections between teams that will last a career.
Susan Hanley, Susan Hanley LLC
Susan Hanley is a seasoned technology professional and the president of Susan Hanley LLC, a consulting firm specializing in intranets and collaboration solutions. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Susan is a recognized expert in the field of intranets, knowledge management, collaboration, and information architecture and has helped organizations of all sizes to optimize their use of the Microsoft 365 platform.
Susan’s expertise has earned her the coveted Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Microsoft 365, which recognizes her exceptional contributions to the Microsoft community. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and events, where she shares her insights and best practices on how organizations can build and manage intranets and knowledge management solutions.
Connect with Susan on LinkedIn. Follow Susan on Bluesky at @susanhanley.bsky.social
Sam Marshall, ClearBox Consulting
Sam Marshall is the founder and Managing Director of ClearBox Consulting and has specialised in intranets and the digital workplace for over 20 years, working with companies such as Arup, Bayer, Diageo, Hilti and GSK.
His current activities focus on intranet and digital workplace strategy, and the business side of Microsoft 365. He is the executive author of the annual ClearBox ‘Intranet an Employee Experience Platform’ report, the most comprehensive evaluation of this technology market.
He has an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, an MA in Psychology and more bicycles than shoes. Email [email protected] or LinkedIn Sam Marshall.
Ellen Van Aken, Independent Consultant
During her career as a food technologist Ellen has had the opportunity to make a move into the world of intranets, SharePoint and Microsoft365. She jumped in and never looked back.
She has worked for about 20 years as SharePoint and Microsoft365 functional manager (intranet manager support, employee support, training and platform administration) and has been instrumental in creating three very different SharePoint-based intranets at three different organisations. (Two multinational manufacturers of branded consumer products, one local mental health care organisation)
She has written extensively about her experiences in her blog, which she managed from 2011 to early 2026. (https://mydigitalworkplace.wordpress.com/) It won the Intranet Now Diamond Award in 2017. Additionally, she has worked freelance for the Digital Workplace Group as a Social Media Manager, was a Judge for the Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards in 2014 and has presented at various conferences in Europe.
Although she has officially retired, she currently manages a collection of about 600 intranet promotion videos from across the world. (ellenvanaken.video) That is, when she is not gardening, travelling the world, being a tour guide in a former jail or doing other fun things that one does in this stage of life. Contact with Ellen via LinkedIn.
Nigel Williams, HM Revenue and Customs
Nigel leads HMRC’s Intranet and Communications Platform Delivery team, bringing together content, community, development, project and platform specialists to support 72,000 colleagues. Nigel focuses on combining user research, meaningful prioritisation and storytelling with data to solve real problems for front‑line colleagues and senior leaders alike.
Nigel’s career has involved working with major technology brands like Sony PlayStation, Google and eBay, as well as designing digital experiences in technically challenged environments, including mobile workers and refugee camps. This diversity has shaped Nigel’s belief that great digital workplaces aren’t about the technology alone—they’re about clarity of purpose, empathy, and creating intuitive experiences that remain familiar even as AI and other tools evolve faster than people can adapt.
With nearly 20 years of driving cultural transformation, product innovation and content strategy across radically different environments, Nigel has learned that brilliant employee experiences are possible in any organisation, regardless of budget, tooling or team size.
Having directly led two previous Step Two Gold Award‑winning solutions, Nigel is excited to join this year’s judging panel to give something back to the awards that have been pivotal in shaping his career and the profession. He is especially keen to encourage new presenters to share their ideas, approaches and even the productive failures that will inspire the next generation of digital workplace teams. Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn.
Rita Zonius, Champions Of Change Coalition
Rita Zonius SCMP is a strategic communications leader with deep expertise in digital workplaces, enterprise social adoption and organisational change. As Communications Director at Champions of Change Coalition, she leads communication and digital engagement strategy across a global coalition of CEOs, integrating data, governance and emerging AI practices to strengthen leadership impact and organisational performance. She works closely with CEOs and Board-level leaders to translate evidence, data and lived experience into practical leadership action, embedding inclusive gender equality as an organisational capability.
Rita has spent her career helping complex organisations move beyond publishing to participation, building enterprise social capability, strengthening governance, and aligning digital platforms with strategic outcomes. She has a strong interest in how digital workplace ecosystems evolve in the age of generative and agentic AI, particularly in how they shape leadership visibility, culture and accountability.
An accredited Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), Rita combines behavioural insight with practical digital implementation. She writes and speaks on workplace culture, leadership communication and the evolving role of digital platforms in driving sustainable organisational performance. Connect with Rita on LinkedIn.
Jerome Colombe, DNV
Jerome Colombe leads the governance and strategy of the intranet landscape within the Group Communications team at DNV (Det Norske Veritas). With more than 30 years of experience across several industries, he brings broad expertise in digital marketing, communications, digital workplace platforms, and social media. His background also includes customer relationship management from front office to back-office functions.
Jerome holds a master’s degree in computer science with a focus on Artificial Intelligence in the 1990s. Today, he enjoys applying those early foundations to new AI initiatives across DNV’s digital workplace and communication channels. His current work supports the shift in how employees collaborate and access information in the future digital workplace.
Outside work, Jerome is curious about nature and enjoys architecture, photography, cycling, and classic cars. He is based in Oslo, Norway. Connect with Jerome on LinkedIn.
Dennis Agusi, Philips
As Head of Digital Communications at Philips, Dennis lead digital communications and drive the communications and brand function toward faster, smarter and more effective ways of working through AI-native models, modern systems and strong operational discipline.
Dennis began his career at Philips in 2010 and has since successfully launched a number of award-winning new channels including a global intranet. Dennis holds a BA in Communication from Hogeschool INHOLLAND.
Dennis frequently speaks at international conferences and has been an active contributor to the global intranet and digital communications professional community for many years. Dennis is based in the Netherlands.
Connect with Dennis on LinkedIn.
Steve Bynghall, Spark Trajectory
Steve Bynghall is a freelance digital workplace and intranet consultant and writer. Following an MSc in Information Science from City University, Steve worked at accounting firm BDO LLP for over 13 years, working in various knowledge roles including managing the firm’s global extranet program. In late 2010 he set up Two Hives Ltd, which now trades as Defiantly Digital. Steve also writes extensively for different digital workplace vendors and providers, .
As well as his consulting activities, Steve produces and coordinates Step Two Design’s Intranet Innovation Awards. Steve is also a consultant, knowledge manager and benchmark evaluator for the Digital Workplace Group, and edits ClearBox Consulting’s intranet software guides. Steve is the co-founder of Spark Trajectory, an intranet and digital workplace consultancy specialising in intranet strategy, governance and operations.
Steve is based in London, UK. Connect with Steve on LinkedIn.