Richard Tallboy connects with workforce management specialist Sona as CIO Advisor

Richard Tallboy has joined Sona as Chief Information Officer Advisor, a newly created executive advisory role designed to accelerate the workforce management specialist’s enterprise strategy and deepen its expertise across key areas of hospitality operations.

He brings more than two decades of senior technology leadership experience in hospitality, having held CIO and CTO roles across the likes of Pizza Express, Wagamama and The Restaurant Group. Most recently, as CIO at Côte, he played a pivotal role in architecting Sona’s hospitality vertical and championing the platform’s adoption at enterprise scale.

He will work with Sona’s leadership team with the aim of driving value across product strategy and guiding go to market execution, tapping his experience in managing complex vendor relationships and building on his tenure on Oracle’s customer advisory board.

“Hospitality leaders are under more pressure than ever to make the right technology decisions, particularly as AI becomes embedded across operations,” says Tallboy.

“I’m delighted to be joining Sona at such an exciting moment in its journey. The pace of growth, the calibre of hospitality brands Sona partners with, and the company’s clear ambition around technology and AI make this a compelling opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with the team to continue building technology that genuinely supports operators and helps them navigate what’s next for the industry.”

“Many hospitality businesses don’t have the luxury of an in-house CIO and therefore lack a clear tech roadmap, and a practical plan for how to get from A to B,” says Steffen Wulff Petersen, Sona’s Co-Founder and CEO.

“Richard has not only done this across Pizza Express, Wagamama and Cote as CIO, but has also helped Hawksmoor, Flat Iron and NWTC as a fractional CIO. Bringing Richard into Sona allows us to offer his CIO expertise to hospitality businesses on a much broader scale and at a much lower cost.”

“We hope this will help the hospitality industry leverage the benefits of technology and AI faster, at a time where efficiencies are badly needed across the industry. We couldn’t be any more excited about the impact Richard will have on Sona.”

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Workforce management will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.