2026 BayAreaCISO ORBIE Awards Recognize Bay Area’s Top Security Executives
Leading CISOs honored for leadership, enterprise security, and business impact at the BayAreaCISO ORBIE Awards on
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2026 BayAreaCISO ORBIE Awards honored leading chief information security officers (CISOs) from Monolithic Power Systems, Synopsys Inc., TriNet, Dayforce, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, & ABC Fitness for their exceptional leadership. Hosted by BayAreaCISO, a chapter of the Inspire Leadership Network, the prestigious awards honor CISOs who drive business transformation and industry impact. View finalists, partners, and more on the Digital ORBIE Feature.
Held at the Santa Clara Marriott, the ceremony brought together top executives and industry leaders to honor excellence in security leadership across six award categories.
“Behind every successful cybersecurity strategy is a CISO leading the vision,” said Krishnan Chellakarai, BayAreaCISO Chair. “The ORBIE Awards are the ultimate recognition program for the leaders behind the work.”
Meet the 2026 BayAreaCISO ORBIE Award Winners:
- Huy Ly, Head of IT Infrastructure & Security, Monolithic Power Systems, received the Super Global ORBIE for organizations over $15 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
- Wagner Nascimento, VP & CISO, Synopsys Inc.., received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $5 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
- Timothy Torres, CSO, TriNet, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $4 billion annual revenue.
- Colin Anderson, SVP IT & CISO, Dayforce, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $1.5 billion annual revenue.
- Erwin Lopez, CISO, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $900 million annual revenue.
- Azeem Nizam, CISO, ABC Fitness, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $900 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 executives. 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 protection created by enterprise security
- Engagement in industry and community endeavors
BayAreaCISO ORBIE Keynote & Attendance:
The keynote conversation for the BayAreaCISO ORBIE Awards was delivered by Rajesh Khazanchi, CEO & Co-Founder, ColorTokens, Inc., and Krishnan Chellakarai, CISO, Gilead Sciences. Over 180 guests attended, representing leading Bay Area organizations and their security partners.
The following partners made the 2026 BayAreaCISO ORBIE Awards possible:
- Underwriters: Google Cloud, Lumen, & Okta
- Gold Partners: Chainguard, Comcast Business, & Fortinet
- Silver Partners: Adaptive Security, Armis, DigiCert, Digital.ai, Optiv, SentinelOne, Sublime Security, & Sycomp
- Bronze Partners: 7AI, Between Pixels, Deloitte, Elisity, Fable, & Zafran
- Media Partners: 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 BayAreaCISO:
BayAreaCISO is the preeminent peer leadership network of chief information security officers (CISOs) in Bay Area. As one of over 50 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, BayAreaCISO belongs to a national membership organization exclusively comprised of C-suite leaders from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.
BayAreaCISO is led by a CISO 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 CISOs and members.
About Inspire Leadership Network:
Inspire Leadership Network is the preeminent peer leadership network of C-suite executives. With nearly 2,000 members across over 50 local 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/5f004d94-e807-44b6-a43f-8d389d0b73f7
