The Georgia CIO Leadership Association announced the winners of its 2017 CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards. GeorgiaCIO recognized chief information officers in six key categories – Lifetime Achievement, Healthcare, Global, Enterprise, Corporate and Nonprofit. The awards were presented at the Georgia CIO of the Year Awards at the Cobb Galleria.

“The individuals who have earned these awards are the best and brightest leaders – not just within Georgia chief information officers, but in the categories they represent,” said Tamara Lopata, Executive Director of GeorgiaCIO. “In today’s interconnected world, organizations that win in the marketplace benefit from the superior strategic planning and day-to-day execution these CIOs bring to the table.”

The 2017 Georgia CIO of the Year ORBIE Award winners are:

• Dave Barnes, SVP, Chief Information & Global Business Services Officer & CIO, UPS (ret), received the Lifetime Achievement CIO of the Year ORBIE.

• Vish Narendra, VP & CIO, Graphic Packaging International., received the Global ORBIE, for organizations over $500 million annual revenue and significant multinational operations.

• Tom Miller, SVP Innovation & CIO, Anthem, Inc., received the Enterprise ORBIE, for organizations over $500 million annual revenue.

• Tushar Sachdev, SVP & CIO, PRGX Global Inc., received the Corporate ORBIE, for organizations up to $500 million annual revenue. 

• Serena Sacks, CIO, Fulton County Schools, received the Nonprofit/Public Sector ORBIE, for government, education and not-for-profit organizations.

• Ben McKeeby, SVP & CIO, Grady Health System, received the Healthcare ORBIE, for hospitals and nonprofit healthcare organizations.

The CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards is the premier technology executive recognition program of its kind. Since inception in 1998, over 500 CIOs have been honored as finalists and over 100 CIO of the Year winners have received the prestigious ORBIE Award. The Award honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership. Finalists and winners are selected by an independent peer review process, led by prior ORBIE recipients, based upon:

• The size and scope of responsibilities 

• Leadership and management effectiveness 

• Business value created by technology innovation 

• Engagement in industry and community endeavors 

The CIO Awards ceremony was keynoted by James (Jim) Whitehurst, President & CEO of Red Hat. Jim shared his industry experience and insight on how digital transformation is changing the corporation. Nearly 1,000 guests attended, representing leading Georgia organizations and their technology partners.

The 2017 Georgia CIO of the Year Awards was made possible by the following sponsors:

• Underwriters: IBM, Morris Manning & Martin, Microsoft, Intellinet and Deloitte.

• Gold sponsors: TEKsystems (National Sponsor), Insight, Cumberland, Data Blue, VeriStor and Red Hat (National Sponsor).

• Silver sponsors: Nexthink, TIBCO, CSI Leasing, Avaya, Tech Mahindra, CTS, OutSystems, Splunk, Appial (National Sponsor), Convergence Consulting Group, Carousel and Pure Storage.

• Bronze sponsors: iVision, Lightspeed Systems, NTT Data, ProKarma, Aryaka, Onepath, Arris, SPS, Fuze, Grant Thornton, Xpanxion, Presidio, Granite Telecommunications, Box, SHI and Between Pixels.

• Media sponsor: The Atlanta Business Chronicle