Business: Executives

HoustonCIO Announces Recipients of 2020 CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards

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HOUSTON (PRWEB)

HoustonCIO announced the winners of its 2020 CIO of the Year® ORBIE® Awards. HoustonCIO recognized chief information officers in seven key categories – Leadership, Super Global, Global, Large Enterprise, Enterprise, Corporate and Nonprofit. The Houston CIO of the Year Awards were presented virtually.

“The HoustonCIO ORBIE winners demonstrate the value great leadership creates. Especially in these uncertain times, CIOs are leading in unprecedented ways and enabling the largest work-from-home experiment in history,” according to Monique Cook, Executive Director of HoustonCIO. “The ORBIE Awards are meaningful because they are judged by peers – CIOs who understand how difficult this job is and why great leadership matters.”

The 2020 Houston CIO of the Year ORBIE Award winners are:


  • Wayne Shurts, EVP & CTO, Sysco Corporation (fmr), received the Leadership CIO of the Year ORBIE.

  • Jennifer Hartsock, CIO, Baker Hughes, received the Super Global ORBIE for organizations over $4 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.

  • Ishmael Cooper, VP & CIO, LivaNova, received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $1 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.

  • Jonathan Sider, CIO, Mattress Firm, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $2 billion annual revenue.

  • Todd Renaud, CIO, Conn’s HomePlus, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $500 million annual revenue.

  • George Crawford, CIO, Catapult Energy Services, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $500 million annual revenue.

  • Charles Thompson, CIO, Port of Houston Authority, received the Nonprofit ORBIE for government, education & not-for-profit organizations.

The CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards is the premier technology executive recognition program in the United States. Since inception in 1998, over 1,000 CIOs have been honored as finalists and over 225 CIO of the Year winners have received the prestigious ORBIE Award. The ORBIE 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:

  • Leadership and management effectiveness

  • Business value created by technology innovation

  • Engagement in industry and community endeavors

The CIO Awards ceremony was keynoted by Becky Blalock, Former SVP & CIO of Southern Company. Over 300 guests attended, representing leading Houston organizations and their technology partners.

The 2020 Houston CIO of the Year Awards was made possible by the following sponsors:

  • Underwriters: Pariveda, CenturyLink, Blue Sky IT Partners & Athenian Consulting

  • Gold sponsors: Utegration & Presidio

  • Silver sponsors: Splunk, NetSync, Workday, Deloitte, Credera, SHI & Mphasis

  • Bronze sponsors: KPMG, Blackberry Cylance, Sendero Consulting, ReCode Solutions, Caliber Solutions, Dell Technologies, Layer 3 Communications, ServiceNow, Microsoft, Infosys, Capgemini, Visionet & Between Pixels

  • Media partner: The Houston Business Journal

  • About HoustonCIO

HoustonCIO is the preeminent peer leadership network of Houston chief information officers. HoustonCIO is one of 17 chapters of the InspireCIO Leadership Network, a national membership organization comprised exclusively of CIOs from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare and nonprofit institutions.

HoustonCIO is led by a CIO Advisory Board, supported by an executive director and staff. Underwriter executives ensure programs remain non-commercial and exclusive to qualified CIOs and members.

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