BOSTON, June 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2026 BostonCIO ORBIE Awards honored leading chief information officers (CIOs) from Fidelity Investments (ret), Marsh, Pegasystems, The Kraft Group, Granite Telecommunications, Leerink Partners, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Point32Health for their exceptional leadership. Hosted by BostonCIO, 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 New England. The morning honored excellence in technology leadership across eight award categories at Renaissance Boston Seaport District.
“Behind every technology innovation is a CIO leading the vision and shaping the strategy,” said, Patty Patria, BostonCIO Chair. “The ORBIE Awards are the ultimate recognition program for the leaders behind the work.”
Meet the 2026 BostonCIO ORBIE Award Winners:
- Mihir Shah, CIO/Enterprise Head of Data Architecture and Engineering (ret), Fidelity Investments, received the Leadership ORBIE.
- Paul Beswick, Chief Information & Operations Officer, Marsh, received the Super Global ORBIE for organizations over $5 billion annual revenue and multi-national operations.
- David Vidoni, CIO, Pegasystems, received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $1.5 billion annual revenue and multi-national operations.
- Michael Israel, Chief Information & Technology Officer, The Kraft Group, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $3.5 billion annual revenue.
- Padma Yelamanchili, SVP of IT, Granite Telecommunications, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $1 billion annual revenue.
- Jeff Gerson, CIO, Leerink Partners, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $500 million annual revenue.
- Vijay Menta, VP & CIO, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $500 million annual revenue.
- Selma Ferhatbegovic-Fede, SVP & CIO, Point32Health, received the Healthcare ORBIE for hospitals and healthcare 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
BostonCIO ORBIE Keynote & Attendance:
The keynote address for the BostonCIO ORBIE Awards was delivered by Mihir Shah, CIO/Enterprise Head of Data Architecture and Engineering (ret), Fidelity Investments, who was interviewed by Steve Neff, CIO (ret), Fidelity Investments. Nearly 350 guests attended, representing leading New England organizations and their technology partners.
The following partners made the 2026 BostonCIO ORBIE Awards possible:
- Underwriters: Comcast Business, EchoStor Technologies, Markley Group, Slalom Consulting
- Gold Partners: Deloitte, Fortinet, & Kyndryl
- Silver Partners: Amazon Web Services, Blue Mantis, Cisco, Cloud Giants, Cloudflare, Coforge, LTIMindtree, Moveworks, Mphasis, Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow, Tata Consultancy Services, & TeamViewer
- Bronze Partners: Aqueduct Technologies, Between Pixels, CGI, EY, HCLTech, IBM, Island, Nutanix, Perficient, Red Thread, SAP America, & SoftServe, Vortex Consulting, WEI, & Wipro
- Media Partner: Boston 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 BostonCIO:
BostonCIO is the preeminent peer leadership network of chief information officers (CIOs) in New England. As one of over 50 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, BostonCIO belongs to a national membership organization exclusively comprised of C-suite leaders from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.
BostonCIO 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/8a298856-fbca-4b32-98db-1631a26c3fd6
