Top Technology Executives Recognized at the 2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards 

Leading CIOs honored for leadership, innovation, and business impact at the BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards on October 2, 2026, at the Santa Clara Marriott.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards honored leading chief information officers (CIOs) from Intel Corporation, Flex, Zoom, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Waymo, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Barracuda Networks for their exceptional leadership. Hosted by BayAreaCIO, one of over 50 Inspire Leadership Network chapters, the prestigious award honors CIOs who drive business transformation and industry impact. View finalists, partners, and more on the Digital ORBIE Feature. 

This exclusive event brought together top executives and industry leaders from across the Bay Area. The morning honored excellence in technology leadership across seven award categories at the Santa Clara Marriott.  

“Behind every technology innovation is a CIO who sets the vision and drives the strategy,” said John Wrenn, Chair of BayAreaCIO. “The ORBIE Awards represent the highest honor for recognizing the technology leaders making innovation possible.”

Meet the 2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Award Winners: 

• Cynthia Stoddard, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Intel Corporation, received the Leadership ORBIE.
• John Wrenn, CTO, Flex, received the Super Global ORBIE for organizations over $10 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
• Awinash Sinha, Chief Digital Information Officer, Zoom, received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $5 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
• Ajay Waghray, EVP & CIO, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $3 billion annual revenue.
• Kris Krishan, Head of AI, IT &Digital Transformation, Waymo, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $1.5 billion annual revenue.
• Jonathan Russell, Associate Lab Director for IT & CIO, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $700 million annual revenue.
• Siroui Mushegian, CIO, Barracuda Networks, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $700 million annual revenue.
  

About the ORBIE:
The ORBIE is the preeminent executive recognition for C-suite leaders. Since 1998, the ORBIE Awards have recognized leadership excellence, building relationships between executives and trusted business partners, and inspiring the next generation of leaders. Finalists and winners are selected through an independent peer-adjudicated process led by prior ORBIE recipients based on the following criteria: 

• Leadership and management effectiveness 
• Business value created by technology innovation
• Engagement in industry and community endeavors
  

BayAreaCIO ORBIE Keynote & Attendance: 

The keynote address for the BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards was delivered by Velchamy Sankarlingam, President, Product & Engineering, Zoom, who was interviewed by Nichole Meister, Divisional Vice President Information Technology, Abbott Medical Devices. Over 300 guests attended, representing leading Bay Area organizations and their technology partners.

The following partners made the 2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards possible:

• Underwriters: Comcast Business, Milestone Technologies, Rimini Street
• Gold Partners: Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, PwC, Serval
• Silver Partners: Accenture, Ahead, Cato Networks, Cisco, Cloudflare, Cognizant, Cyera, HCLTech, Hexaware Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services
• Bronze Partners: Between Pixels, Boston Consulting Group, Capgemini, Deloitte, Forcepoint, Infosys, NTT Data Inc., Opsera, RGP, Zensar
• Media Partner: San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley Business Journal
• Nonprofit Partner: Year Up United

To learn more about partnership opportunities and how to connect with leading C-suite executives across North America, click here.

About BayAreaCIO:

BayAreaCIO is the preeminent peer leadership network of chief information officers (CIOs) in Bay Area. As one of over 50 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, BayAreaCIO belongs to a national membership organization exclusively comprised of C-suite leaders from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.

BayAreaCIO is led by a CIO Advisory Board, with support from an executive director and staff. Underwriter executives support the chapter and ensure the programs remain member-led and exclusive to qualified CIOs and members.

About Inspire Leadership Network:

Inspire Leadership Network is the preeminent peer leadership network of C-suite executives. With over 2,000 members across over 50 chapters, Inspire members serve public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and non-profit institutions. Inspire exists to help leaders thrive in today’s most challenging executive roles.

Media Contact
Nicole Lammes
nicole.lammes@inspirecxo.com 

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8577c4f5-de09-4ebe-994d-8a4391efb3b0

2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Awards

Meet the 2026 BayAreaCIO ORBIE Award Winners