The 2025 South Florida ORBIE® Awards honored the region’s top CIOs and senior technology leaders who are spearheading innovation across business, healthcare, public service, and media sectors. The awards celebrate the strategic vision and transformative impact of CIOs who turn technology into lasting business value.
Launched in 1998 by Intellinet in Atlanta, the ORBIE® Awards began as a local recognition for enterprise IT leaders and have since grown into a national movement under GeorgiaCIO, a membership network of leading tech executives spanning industries including government, healthcare, education, and nonprofits. The awards stand apart by focusing not on products or flashy announcements, but on the executives who quietly drive digital transformation behind the scenes.
Winners are selected through an independent, peer-led review process that honors leadership, ethical business practices, and innovation at scale. The annual South Florida ceremony draws hundreds of decision-makers and influencers, marking it as a key moment for the region’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.
Spotlight on 2025 South Florida ORBIE® Award Winners
This year’s honorees reflect South Florida’s emergence as a rising tech hub beyond traditional coastal centers, showcasing leadership in fintech, healthcare, government, media, and more.
Overall 2025 South Florida ORBIE® Leadership Recipient:
Jeff Smith, COO (ret) | World Fuel Services
Recognized for transformative leadership that has helped shape South Florida’s public-private tech partnerships, workforce initiatives, and adoption of emerging technologies across industries.
2025 South Florida CIO Winners:
Eric Firer, Kellanova
Firer played a pivotal role in the massive tech split of the 118 year old Kellogg Company into two independent entities. Overseeing thousands of systems, users, and deployments, his team delivered seamless continuity without disrupting food production or customer service, a feat emblematic of the ORBIE® ethos: leadership that powers complex transformation quietly but effectively.
Venkat Gopalan, Belcorp
With a background spanning Estée Lauder, Sephora, Walmart, and Nike, Gopalan leads Belcorp’s global digital and data strategy, empowering women entrepreneurs through tech innovation. His leadership has earned multiple awards including Data IQ AI Leader of the Year and CIO 100 recognition, underscoring how technology can drive social and business impact at scale.
Tom Gillette, Mount Sinai Medical Center
A healthcare IT veteran, Gillette has advanced Mount Sinai’s AI adoption, digital health initiatives, and clinical workflows. Under his leadership, the hospital earned top national ratings for electronic health records and is pioneering analytics driven care models to improve patient outcomes.
Kevin Olson, Jupiter Medical Center
Olson led JMC’s full Epic electronic health record implementation, the first in the U.S. deployed directly on AWS, integrating AI tools and centralizing patient services. His mission driven, disciplined approach transformed JMC’s digital infrastructure and cybersecurity, enabling scalable growth and better patient care.
Michael Paseltiner, Independent Living Systems
Paseltiner spearheaded a transformation of ILS’s IT service delivery, upgrading from a small operation to a scalable enterprise model that enhanced support, development, and infrastructure, a behind the scenes evolution key to the organization’s operational resilience.
Frank Quintana, City of Miami Beach
Quintana’s public-sector leadership modernized Miami Beach’s infrastructure and cybersecurity while fostering a team culture centered on accountability and purpose. His efforts have built not just systems, but community trust and confidence in digital government.
Archie Satchell, Palm Beach County
A career public servant, Satchell has driven cloud modernization, data governance, and cybersecurity initiatives to strengthen community services across government, nonprofits, and education, embodying the ORBIE® focus on leadership that benefits the public good.
Wendi Iglesias, The Keyes Company
Iglesias modernized IT infrastructure and analytics at South Florida’s leading real estate firm, fostering a tech-savvy workforce to meet evolving market needs. Her collaborative leadership highlights how technology empowers both employees and clients.
Sameer Istafa, Miami Dolphins
Istafa manages technology critical to professional sports innovation, from stadium connectivity to player analytics and fan engagement platforms, illustrating ORBIE®’s broad reach beyond traditional tech sectors.
Sharon Milz, Time
Milz leads digital transformation in media, implementing cloud workflows and AI-driven content systems that power modern storytelling and position Time as a tech-forward media brand.