Finalists Announced for 16th Annual Georgia CIO of the Year Awards

Atlanta, GA, April 18, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA) proudly announces the finalists for the 16th Annual Georgia CIO of the Year® Awards.

Established in 1998, the Georgia CIO of the Year® Awards is the premier technology executive recognition program in Georgia. This annual event honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in managing technology leadership. The five awards categories are: Global, Enterprise, Corporate, Emerging and Non-profit/Public Sector.

Finalists are selected by a panel of distinguished judges, including prior award winners. CIOs are evaluated on their contributions in the areas of innovation, leadership, business value creation, and community involvement. The winners in each category will be announced at the Georgia CIO of the Year® Awards breakfast on October 31, 2014 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

The 2014 finalists are:
Global – Over 10,000 employees and multinational
· Tom Musgrave – EVP & CIO, Americold Logistics
· Jim Scholefield – CTO, The Coca-Cola Company
· Brian Sondergaard – VP & CIO, Fiserv
· John Trainor –SVP & CIO, Aaron’s, Inc.

Enterprise – Over 1,000 employees
· Bryson Koehler – EVP & CIO, The Weather Company
· John Lukas – SVP & CIO, Arby’s
· Kevin McDearis – CIO, Manhattan Associates, Inc.
· Ed Smith – CTO, AutoTrader Group

Corporate – Up to 1,000 employees
· Walt Carter – CIO, Generation Mortgage Company
· Michael Hunsucker – Managing Partner & CTO, Sovereign Systems
· Eric Litz - CTO, Delta Data Software
· Richard Powers – VP Information Systems, CardioMEMS

Emerging – Under 250 employees where technology is primary driver of high growth
· Joel Gilbert – Chief Software Architecht & Co-founder, APOGEE Interactive
· David Moeller – CEO & Co-founder, CodeGuard
· Joshua Silver – VP Product Development, Patientco
· Baha Zeidan – CEO & Co-founder, Azalea Health

Non-profit/Public Sector – Healthcare, government, education, and not-for-profit organizations
· Steven Burrell – VP Technology & CIO, Georgia Southern University
· Curtis Carver – Vice Chancellor & CIO, University System of Georgia
· Samuel Conn – VP IT & CIO, Southern Polytechnic State University
· Anne DeBeer – SVP, CTO & CFO, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

The 2014 Georgia CIO of the Year® Awards is made possible by the following sponsors:
· Gold sponsors: Abacus Solutions, Magenic, Carousel Industries, Ciber, Dell Services, LeadingAgile
· Silver sponsors: Insight, CTS, Wipro, Data Blue, Mitel, 3sage Consulting, Capgemini, Software AG, VeriStor, ECS Team, Pivotal, CSI Leasing
· Digital sponsor: Swarm Agency
· Bronze sponsors: ProSys Information Systems, Presidio, AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, Korn Ferry International, Slalom Consulting, Avaya, Dimensional Thinking, Softchoice Corporation, Genpact, OutSystems, Lighthouse Technologies, AirWatch by VMware, ProIQ Solutions

About the Georgia CIO Leadership Association
The GCLA is Georgia’s preeminent professional association for senior technology leaders. Founded in 2003, its membership is comprised exclusively of chief information officers or individuals in equivalent positions from public and private companies, government, education and not-for-profit organizations throughout the state. The GCLA is a 501(c)(6) professional association led by a CIO Advisory Board with over 100 CIO members who re-certify membership qualifications annually. The GCLA is underwritten by support from Deloitte, IBM, Intellinet, Microsoft and Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP.