CIO of the Year

CIO of the Year is your opportunity to recognize and honor the accomplishments of Southwestern PA's most hardworking CIOs, CISOs, Rising Stars, and Tech Trailblazers. Brought to you by the Tech Council and our partners at the Greater Pittsburgh CIO/CISO Groups, you are invited to join us annually for the biggest celebratory event of the year—a night you and your team surely won’t want to miss!

Click here to purchase tickets for the 2024 CIO of the Year Awards: Thursday, April 18, at The Westin Pittsburgh!


Congratulations to the 2024 CIO of the Year Award Finalists listed below and to the 2024 CIO Choice Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Charles Bartel, VP, IT & CIO at Duquesne University! 

Category: CIO - Megabyte
Paul Allison, PennWest University
Scott Angelo, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney
Jim Dye, Cochran Automotive Group
Adam Gunnett, Busy Beaver Building Centers
Larry Trenga, Wesley Family Services

Category: CIO - Gigabyte
Lisa Biondi, System One
Tushar Lovalekar, Koppers
David Reed, Maxim Crane
Jack Smith, Federated Hermes
Eng Tan, Automated Health Systems

Category: CIO - Terabyte
Chris Carmody, UPMC Information Services Division
Christine Johns, PNC Financial Services
Kathleen Lovett, VSP Vision
Bhaskar Ramachandran, PPG

Category: CISO - Gigabyte
Brian Abercrombie, TeleTracking Technologies
Dennis Carson, PennWest University
Tony Krance, Seton Hill University

Category: CISO - Terabyte
Derek Brown, EQT
Sam Merrell, Kennametal
John O'Rourke, PPG
Pete Zwieryznski, Koppers

Category: Tech Trailblazer
Rachael Afolabi, Paradigm Global Innovations
Ebony Dendy, University of Pittsburgh
Jorge Guajardo Merchan, Bosch Research + Technology Center
Sondra Hunter, Tech Savvy Consultants
Crystal Morgan, UPMC
Frank Pascoe, Koppers
Janeen Peretin, PhD, Baldwin-Whitehall School District
Julie Prough, UPMC Corporate Services

Category: Rising Star
Chris Belasco, City of Pittsburgh
Daniel Elliott, The Wilson Group
Chris Kosek, K&L Gates
Clayton Mathis, Seegrid
Jon Oeler, Reed Smith
Madison Oliver, GitHub
Brian Stein, Koppers

Past finalists include Information Technology and Security Officer executives from companies of all sizes, non-profits, and government/higher education institutions. Each year, winners are selected for individual category awards with one honoree receiving the CIO Choice Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chief Information Officers, Chief Information Security Officers, and IT team members in equivalent positions are eligible and will be recognized for their innovation and creativity in planning and deploying their enterprise systems, future technology goals, management philosophies, and service to the industry and community.

For more information or questions about the event, contact Allison Kaharick, Sr. Director, Major Programs at akaharick@pghtech.org.