Atlanta, GA, - Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - The Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA), the professional organization for Georgia’s information technology leaders, reports a record breaking year for IT executive participation. The number of nominations rendered during one week has surpassed participation levels of all prior years.  The CIO of the Year® Awards program is clearly on a path of positive growth in 2011.

“I continue to be impressed by the spirit of the people within this IT community. They have shown phenomenal support for the CIO of the Year Awards by submitting over 70 nominations in one week.  The GCLA appreciates this tremendous interest and we plan to receive even more nominations next week”, says Randy Fox, GCLA Chairperson and Chief Information Officer, GE Energy Services.

Nominations for the CIO Awards may be made by anyone with firsthand knowledge of the accomplishments and performance of a specific CIO. Nominations are coming in from CIO’s, IT staff members, partners, service providers and professional associates who recognize this as an opportunity to pay tribute to deserving candidates.  The initial step in the nomination process has been streamlined to take less than five minutes, click here to nominate.

Nominee requirements:

• Holds the title of Chief Information Officer or equivalent
• Is employed by a Georgia-based business or a subsidiary based in Georgia
• Has primary responsibility for the IT performance of the company
• Is a member of top management
• Has a proven track record of technology leadership
• Has held current position since prior to 5/31/10

The GCLA is proud to recognize the following sponsors who have already registered for the 2011 CIO of the Year® Awards:

Gold sponsors: Spencer Stuart, NIIT Technologies, Inc, SunGard Availability Services,  Polycom, Inc. and Recall Corporation. 

Silver sponsors: OnX Enterprise Solutions Inc, MATRIX, Tribridge, Wipro Technologies and The People Network.

Bronze sponsors: Abacus Solutions, AutoTrader.com, Verizon Wireless, Avaya,  Presidio Networked Solutions, The Coca-Cola Company and Quality Technology Services.

Sponsorships for this event are available for organizations that are recommended by a local CIO. To recommend an organization, send note to: cioawards@techlinks.net

Descriptions of sponsorship packages are available at: www.cioawards.com/sponsorship

About Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA)

The GCLA is the preeminent professional organization for Georgia’s information technology leaders. Founded in 2003, its membership is comprised exclusively of chief information officers or individuals in equivalent positions at companies and organizations throughout the state.

The GCLA is underwritten by the following companies: Deloitte, IBM Internet Security Systems, Intellinet, Morris, Manning, and Martin LLP and Microsoft.

The Georgia CIO of the Year® Awards is brought to you by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association, www.georgiacio.org and recognizes TechLINKS as the official event management partner.