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SIM Leadership Institute

The SIM Leadership Institute is a progressive leadership development pathway for technology executives. Wherever you are in your leadership journey, SIM will take you further. Some programs are designed for our members at the executive level, while others are ideal for developing the technology leaders on your team.

IT Management & Leadership Professional

Ideal for Your Team Members

In partnership with the SIM Leadership Institute, the ITMLP® class is delivered to help IT managers become more effective leaders.

Coming Soon

IT Management & Leadership Studies

Ideal for Your Team Members

12-week program designed to enhance current job performance and accelerate the upward mobility of current IT Managers and Directors.

Coming Soon

Rising Leader Forums

Ideal for SIM Members or Their Team Members

An immersive, in-person learning lab that shapes rising talent into confident leaders of hearts and minds.

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Executive Leader Forum

Ideal for SIM Members

A high-caliber space for leaders building the confidence, strategic clarity, and peer community that define exceptional executive presence.

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Advanced Practices Council (APC)

Ideal for SIM Members

An invitation-only executive forum for enterprise CIOs and C-suite leaders focused on enterprise-level strategic collaboration.

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SIM National Members in Transition

The Members in Transition (MIT) program was developed to assist SIM members navigating a career transition by providing a trusted forum to share leads, opportunities, and advice. This program is open to all members for interactive collaboration — whether you are in transition yourself or looking to support others.

SIM National hosts weekly MIT calls across three regions. Sign in to your SIM member profile at simnet.org to view access details and meeting links.

  • EAST: Every Thursday at 8:00 am ET
  • WEST: Every Tuesday at 12:00 pm PT
  • SOUTH: Last Monday of the month at 12:00 pm ET
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IT Executive of the Year Awards

The IT Executive of the Year Awards recognize IT business people and IT related businesses that have employed Information technology or communications to improve lives within the communities they serve.

Since 1998, the awards have brought together local organization's to collaborate with the organizers and sponsors of the InnoTech Austin IT & Innovation Conference & Expo to produce the IT Executive of the Year Awards.  This year marks the 27th anniversary of the program.  The Awards are IT Public Sector Executive of the Year Award and IT Corporate Executive of the Year Award. The IT Executive of the Year Awards spotlight IT Executives and Managers for their Creativity, Impact, Innovation, Process Transformation, and/or Leadership to the organizations they work so hard to support.  

A nominee must be a current, senior information technology executive/CIO in an Austin area company. The basis for recognition is leadership in the use of information technology within an organization. This leadership should be demonstrated through one or more of the following accomplishments:

  • Creativity/Innovation - A strengthening of the competitive position of an organization's product or service through the creative use of information technology.  Creation of a new system, technology, or application of IT that is unique and/or market-leading.

  • Impact/Process Transformation - An increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization through the use of information technology.  A significant transformation of business processes to improve customer service or vendor relationships.

  • Leadership/Community Service – Excellence in leadership skills and execution in the eyes of the IT staff and the executive management of the organization. Excellence in leadership skills through community involvement and service.

Past IT Executive of the Year Award Recipients

2025 Recipients

Cory Wilburn, CIO, University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business (pictured left)

Lynda Jarrett, VP & Deputy GM, IT, Tokyo Electron (pictured middle)

Vern Williams, ISSA Distinguished Fellow, IEEE Senior Member. (pictured left)

2024 Recipients

Kathy Wetzel, CIO, Texas Association of School Boards (pictured center right)

Tanya Acevedo, CIO, CapMetro (pictured center left)

Joshua Kuntz CISO, Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation. (pictured right)

  • Harsha Bellur, Chief Information Officer, James Avery
  • Jayapal Parakkuth (JP), Chief Information Office, ERCOT
  • Shirley Erp, CISO, City of Austin.

  • T Executive of the Year, Public Sector - Anh Selissen, CIO, TxDOT
  • IT Executive of the Year, Private Sector - Kevin Hansel, CIO, Sailpoint

  • IT Legacy Award - Mitchell McGovern
  • IT Executive of the Year, Public Sector - Kevin Schwartz, Technology Officer for Learning and Systems, Austin ISD
  • IT Executive of the Year, Private Sector - Joanne Corum, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, McCoys, Inc.
  • Pandemic Patriot Award - Stephanie Hayden, Director, Austin Public Health, City of Austin

  • Austin Women in Tech Excellence Award - Anh Selissen, CIO, Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT)
  • IT Executive of the Year, Public Sector - Melody Parrish, Deputy Commissioner of Technology (CIO/IRM), Texas Education Agency
  • IT Executive of the Year, Private Sector - Lou Senko, Senior VP of Hosting and CIO Q2

  • Austin IT Legacy Award - Russ Finney, Advisory Partner and Researcher/CIO/McCombs School of Business Lecturer at itmWEB Group LLC
  • IT Executive of the Year, Public Sector - Khalil Shalabi, VP Strategy, Technology and Marketing Operations at Austin Energy
  • IT Executive of the Year, Private Sector - Michael Elliott, Chief Information Officer at Farm Credit Banks, TX
  • Information Technologist/CTO of the Year - Adam Blue, Chief Technology Officer at Q2 Holdings, Inc.
  • Austin IT Lifetime Achievement Award - Joe Iannello, Chief Information Officer at Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority

  • IT Executive of the Year, Public Sector - Blake Holman, Chief Information Officer at St. David's Foundation
  • IT Executive of the Year, Private Sector - Arleene Porterfield, VP of Global Sales and Marketing Operations at National Instruments
  • Information Technologist/CTO of the Year - Mike Lunt, VP of Engineering at Zenoss
  • Women in Technology Award of the Year - Laura Donnelly, Founder and CEO at Latinitas, Inc.

  • IT Executive of the Year - Brad Englert, UT Austin
  • CTO of the Year - Mark Magnuson, Concepture
  • CIO of the Year - Charles Valentine, Indeed, Inc.
  • Tech Community Leadership - Ben Bentzin, Interactive Health Technologies

  • IT Executive of the Year - T Michael Minks, Seton Healthcare
  • IT Executive of the Year - Bill Wood, EZ Corp
  • IT Executive of the Year - Rudy Montoya, Office of the Attorney General
  • Woman in Technology Award of the Year - Tricia Berry, University of Texas

  • IT Executive of the Year - Walt Meffert, Hanger
  • IT Executive of the Year - Stephen Elkins, City of Austin
  • CTO of the Year - Terence Spielman, NewComLink
  • Woman in Technology Award of the Year -Tamara Hudgens, Girlstart
  • Austin Tech. Community Leadership - Hugh Forest, SXSW Interactive

  • IT Executive of the Year - Diane Kenyon, Harden Healthcare
  • IT Executive of the Year - Bowden Hight, TX Health and Human Services
  • CTO of the Year - Jim Keeler, Invodo, Inc.
  • Woman in Technology Award of the Year - Tanya Acevedo, Travis County

  • IT Solution of the Year - Halo Mobile App, National Instruments
  • IT Executive of the Year - Karen Robinson, TX Department of Information Resources
  • IT Executive of the Year - Victor Fetter, Dell Online
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Mickey Ristroph, Mutual Mobile

  • IT Community Leadership Award - Steve Guengerich, Appconomy
  • IT Executive of the Year - Vijay George, LCRA
  • IT Executive of the Year - Steve Finnerty, Applied Materials
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Ross Buhrdorf, HomeAway

  • IT Solution of the Year - Tom Lott, LCRA
  • IT Executive of the Year - Gary Gumbert, Health and Human Services Comm.
  • IT Executive of the Year - Scott McKinlay, Austin Children’s Shelter
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Andy Maag, Bazaarvoice

  • IT Solution of the Year - David Dulak - Tokyo Electron
  • IT Exec of the Year - Eric Hungate, TASB
  • IT Executive of the Year - Dennis Strong, McCoy’s Building Supplies
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Joshua Baer, OtherInBox

  • IT Solution of the Year - Advisors Team, National Instruments
  • IT Executive of the Year - Richard Reynolds, City of Bee Cave
  • IT Executive of the Year - Scott Smith, Temple-Inland
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Jim Keeler, Wayport, Inc.

  • IT Executive of the Year - Sam Coursen, Freescale
  • IT Executive of the Year - Jim Weatherby, Texas Legislative Concil
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Mike Hoskins, Pervasive Software

  • IT Executive of the Year - Russ Finney, Tokyo Electron
  • IT Executive of the Year - Greg Sedlock, TX Windstorm Insurance Assn.
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Manoj Saxena, Webify/IBM

  • IT Executive of the Year - Umesh Manathkar, Silicon Labs
  • IT Executive of the Year - Andres Carvallo, Austin Energy
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Samy Aboel-Nil, MessageOne

  • IT Executive of the Year - John Cox, Texas Higher Education Recording Board
  • IT Executive of the Year - Bill Mclellan, Texas Mutual Insurance
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Tony Alagna, Whole Security

  • IT Executive of the Year - Gary Cowsert, Activant
  • Very Special National IT Influence - Fred Mapp, AMD
  • IT Executive of the Year - Peter Collins, City of Austin
  • Info Technologist of the Year - Tom Ballard, Hoover’s Inc
  • Special Executive Leadership Award - Russ Finney, Tokyo Electron

  • CIO of the Year - John Ciulla, Vignette
  • CTO of the Year - Joe Harlow, Travis Co. Info & telco systems
  • CTO of the Year - Dr. Jikku Venkat, United Devices

  • CIO of the Year - Diana Williamson, Office of the Attorney General
  • CTO of the Year - Dr. Cathy Fulton, NetQoS

  • CIO of the Year - Treg Russell, Texas Medical Liability Trust
  • CTO of the Year - Hayden Steward, Triactive

  • CIO of the Year - Jerry Oliver, Austin Bergstrom Airport
  • CIO of the Year - Jeff Tyler, Collective Technologies
  • CTO of the Year - Neil Webber, Vignette

  • CIO of the Year - Jerry Gregory, Dell Computer
  • CTO of the Year - Steve Madere, Deja news