Atlanta, GA – Friday, October 21, 2011 – The Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA) CIO of the Year Awards is only one week away – October 28, 2011.

This event is always of interest to local IT leaders and for several years it has been the single largest event for Chief Information Officers in Georgia. This year will be even larger because the registration is already up to 700 people. While there are a few seats remaining at the moment, you are encouraged to act now to secure your seat Click here

The GCLA encourages all in the IT community to Tweet about the upcoming event  - the hashtag is #cioawards.

The 2011 Finalists are:

Global – Over 2,500 IT Users and multinational operation

·         Amy Brady, Global CIO Enterprise Control Functions Technology & Operations, Bank of America
·         Tom Conophy, Executive Vice President and CIO, IHG - InterContinental Hotels Group
·         Kevin Kern, CTO and EVP of Global Operations & Technology, First Data
·         Don Riley, CIO & SVP, Logistics, Mohawk Industries, Inc.
·         Bill VanCuren, Vice President & CIO IT Services Division, NCR Corporation

Enterprise – Over 1, 000 IT Users

·         Ed Clary, CIO and SVP Distribution, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc.
·         David Guthrie, EVP, CTO, PGi
·         Alan MacLamroc, EVP and Chief Product & Technology Officer, CDC Software
·         Wes McDowell, CIO, Georgia Power
·         Michael Noel, SVP and CIO, PRGX Global, Inc.

Corporate – Up to 1,000 IT Users

·         Nancy D'Amico, CIO, LeasePlan USA
·         Jay Ferro, VP, Chief Information Officer, Chartis Aerospace
·         Bjarke Ormstrup, VP of IT, PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services
·         Kathy Pittman, CIO, AFCE Popeyes – Louisiana Kitchen
·         Cindy Tierney, CIO/SVP, Beazer Homes

Nonprofit / Public Sector – Not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, schools in the public sector

·         J.L. Albert, Associate Provost/CIO, Georgia State University
·         Reginald Brinson, Associate Vice President/CIO, Clark Atlanta University
·         Ryan Fernandes, CIO, Fulton County Government
·         Ben L. Graham, CIO / Assistant General Manager of Technology, MARTA
·         Dr. Barbara Ann White, CIO and Associate Provost; Professor, University of Georgia

For more information on the finalists, sponsors and awards program, visitwww.cioawards.com

The GCLA appreciates all the 2011 sponsors who serve to make this event possible.

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, MD&E Clarity, CenturyLink, First Data, Extreme Networks, Bank of America, Gartner, Oracle, Insight, Salesforce.com and Dell Services.

Bronze sponsors: Abacus Solutions, AutoTrader.com, Verizon Wireless, Avaya, Presidio Networked Solutions, The Coca-Cola Company, Quality Technology Services,Accenture, Synergis, Southern Company, Slalom Consulting, PGi, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions, Veredus, Mike Collins and Associates, Symantec, NetApp, CDW, Gantec Corporation and McAfee.

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, 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.