Leading CIOs honored for leadership, innovation, and business impact.
CHICAGO, May 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2026 ChicagoCIO ORBIE Awards honored leading chief information officers (CIOs) from Kellanova, Ulta Beauty, Ann and Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital, Health New England, Amsted Rail, and DuPage County for their exceptional leadership. Hosted by ChicagoCIO, one of over 50 Inspire Leadership Network chapters, the prestigious award honors CIOs who drive business transformation and industry impact.
This exclusive event brought together top executives and industry leaders from ChicagoCIO. The morning honored excellence in technology leadership across 7 award categories at Chicagoland.
“CIOs play a critical role in shaping strategy, advancing innovation, and delivering business value,” said Kevin Boyd, ChicagoCIO Chair. “The ORBIE Awards recognize leaders whose vision, leadership, and execution are making a meaningful difference in their organizations.”
Meet the 2026 ChicagoCIO ORBIE Award Winners:
Anuj Gaur, Global CIO, The Marmon Group, received the Leadership ORBIE.
Ramesh Kollepara, Global CTO, Kellanova (fmr), received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $2 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
Mike Maresca, Chief Technology and Transformation Officer, Ulta Beauty, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $4.5 billion annual revenue.
Susan Goodson, SVP and Chief Digital and Information Officer, Ann and Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $2 billion annual revenue.
Casey Hossa, CIO and CSO, Health New England, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $1.2 billion annual revenue.
Michael McDonnell, CIO/ Chief Corporate Services Officer, Amsted Rail, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $840 million annual revenue.
Anthony McPhearson, CIO/ Chief Corporate Services Officer, DuPage County, received the Nonprofit/ Public Sector ORBIE for government and nonprofit organizations.
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
ChicagoCIO ORBIE Keynote & Attendance:
The keynote address for the ChicagoCIO ORBIE Awards was delivered by Anuj Gaur, Global CIO, Marmon Group and Frank Modruson, former CIO, Accenture, who were interviewed by Eric Sigurdson, CIO Practice Leader, Russell Reynolds Association. Over 400 guests attended, representing leading Chicagoland organizations and their technology partners.
The following partners made the 2026 ChicagoCIO ORBIE Awards possible:
- Underwriters: Baker Tilly, Burwood Group, Lumen, Slalom, TEKsystems
- Gold Partners: Cloudflare, Comcast Business, Fortinet, IBM, Wipro, YASH Technologies Inc.
- Silver Partners: Accion Labs, Cisco, Connection, MNJ Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, SHI International, T-Mobile
- Bronze Partners: Avanade, Between Pixels, Customertimes, ETS.inc, EY, HPE, Impact Advisors, Nutanix, NVISIA, Persistent Systems Inc., Quinnox, Trinetix
- Media Partner: Crain’s Chicago Business
- National 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 ChicagoCIO:
ChicagoCIO is the preeminent peer leadership network of chief information officers (CIOs) in Chicagoland. As one of over 50 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, ChicagoCIO belongs to a national membership organization exclusively comprised of C-suite leaders from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.
ChicagoCIO 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 non-commercial 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/e9c1dbe3-757e-41b3-a19e-1348a430e2eb
