ATLANTA, March 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- T.E.N.-Tech Exec Networks, Inc. announced finalists and winners last evening for the ISE(TM) Southeast Awards 2011. Awards were presented at a dinner gala held at the Westin Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The awards recognize both Information Security Executives and Projects for outstanding achievements in risk management, data asset protection, compliance, privacy and network security.

This year's recipient of the Information Security Executive(TM) Award was Chris Ray, 2nd VP, Information Security and Software Change Management (CISO), Aflac. Ray was recognized for ensuring customer information is protected through his proactive and early adaptation of regulatory compliance concerns with initiatives such as DLP, Identity Management, Incident Response Training, Security Awareness (SAFE Program), Risk Management Process, and Email Retention, to name a few.

Finalists for the Executive of the Year category were also recognized during the awards program for their achievements in the industry. They included Brad Sanford, CISO, Emory University and Glen Taylor, Vice President, The Walt Disney Company.

The Information Security Project of the Year Award was awarded to Community Health Systems, Inc. for "Identity Management." Accepting on behalf of the project team was Scott Breece, Director of Security Strategy and Compliance. The Identity Management project successfully demonstrated the ability of an Identity Management team of three to maintain a steady state for managing and provisioning a user base that has doubled in less than two years. Through automation, the team met their goals within a tight budget and timeline, which improved the end user experience and delivery of support.

Finalists for the Information Security Project of the Year Award included the US Department of Health & Human Services for the HHS CyberSecurity Technology project and Equifax for their Global Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Platform project.

As part of the evening's recognition, Glen Taylor, Vice President, The Walt Disney Company, was announced as the ISE Southeast People's Choice Award Winner. The award represents the nominee who best exemplifies information security leadership as voted on by the registered attendees.

"The ISE(TM) Southeast Awards 2011 is a well recognized platform for showcasing security executives and their project teams. Each year we raise the bar with the high caliber group of nominees who showcased best practices in information security on all levels and the innovation put forth by the project teams," said Marci McCarthy, CEO and President of T.E.N.

Award winners were selected from the U.S. Southeast Region including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.