EMC Corporation announced that The Royal Bank of Scotland's John White received the 2008 EMC Information Leadership Award. White, the bank's Head of Manufacturing, RBS Americas, was recognized for his expertise, vision and innovation in information management during the annual Computerworld Honors Awards gala on Monday night in Washington, D.C.

"We established the EMC Information Leadership Award to honor individuals with the insight, foresight, passion and the ability to harness their digital repositories of information to transform how their companies operate," said Bill Teuber, EMC's Vice Chairman. "John joins the rare few who lead their companies' efforts to achieve real business benefits from their IT investments. 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 global offerings."

Appointed Head of Manufacturing, RBS Americas, in 2008, Mr. White had previously led The Royal Bank of Scotland through critical transformations, and is now leading the creation and development of a new manufacturing division in RBS Americas and the ABN AMRO integration. He joined RBS in October 1999 as a key member of the bank's team and headed the IT integration during the NatWest acquisition, which was achieved ahead of schedule and without any service loss to the bank or its customers. Prior to joining The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Mr. White spent six years with the National Australia Bank, his last position being Global General Manager of Electronic Banking.

In addition to being honored with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2003, Mr. White's contributions to banking and technology have earned The Royal Bank of Scotland Group recognition as a world-ranking, extremely cost-efficient organization. As a Fellow of both the British Computer Society and the Chartered Institute of Bankers Scotland, Mr. White has been an active member of the Prince's Trust Technology Leadership team for three years. Additionally, among the 18 awards from the British Computer Society and other European organizations the bank received under his leadership, he was recognized as IT Director of the Year, Operations Director of the Year, and Outstanding Contribution to the Industry by an Individual.

"Each year, the Computerworld Honors Program presents several prestigious awards to individuals whose leadership has left an indelible mark on the world," said Bob Carrigan, CEO of IDG Communications, Worldwide and chairman of the Computerworld Honors Chairmen's Committee. "The 2008 EMC Information Leadership Award recognizes an individual whose deep understanding of the value of information has led him to play a central role in transforming its use for the benefit of society."

Established in 2001, the EMC Information Leadership Award recognizes individuals whose unusually deep understanding of the value of information has led them to play a central role in transforming its use for the benefit of society. A nominating committee comprising leaders in government, technology and education selected the winner. Previous winners of the EMC Information Leadership award include Laura Campbell of the Library of Congress; Linda Dillman of Wal-Mart and Ralph Szygenda, General Motors.