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Margaret Brisbane, a member of the SouthFloridaCIO team and director of the Information Technology Department for Miami Dade County in Florida, is the 2023 South Florida winner of the Large Enterprise ORBIE award. She received the award at a celebratory event on June 9, 2023, at The Diplomat Beach Resort.

The Large Enterprise Award

Brisbane received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for her work as the CIO/Director of Miami-Dade County’s Information Technology Department. This award is presented to CIOs of enterprises with over $5 billion in annual revenue. As CIO, Brisbane heads a team of IT professionals charged with servicing the county’s technology needs, chiefly in security, platforms, and applications. She also leads administrative staff in supporting the operations of county departments, providing enterprise solutions for financial, payroll, human resources, public safety, legislative, commerce, and PeopleSoft systems.

First Woman/Person Of Color to Serve as County’s CIO

Before becoming the CIO/Director of Miami-Dade’s IT department, Jamaican-born Margaret Brisbane was appointed as its interim CIO when the former CIO Angel Petisco retired, becoming the first woman and the first person of color to serve in that position. She was previously appointed the department’s

deputy director in 2020 and before that, she worked as the county’s assistant IT director under Petisco, who became CIO in 2009. During the 14 years she worked with Petisco, she supervised more than 250 staff members in support of critical systems and county agencies. She managed a budget of $57 million and developed the county’s enterprise and IT architecture strategies. Brisbane also led technology event programming such as eMerge, an annual technology and entrepreneurial conference that attracted over 15,000 participants in 2019.

Education and Experience

Brisbane attended St. Hilda’s Diocesan High School in Browns Town, Saint Ann, before attaining a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Florida International University (FIU), majoring in International Marketing. She also earned a master’s degree in Business Administration with Honors from Nova Southeastern University. Before working with the county, Brisbane was Director of Vendor Management and Service Delivery for Burger King where she led international outsourcing efforts in hardware, software, network, and support services.

Professional Achievements and Honors

Brisbane received the Torch Award from FIU and was named “Female Technology Leader of the Year” by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. She also received the “Ones to Watch” award from the CIO Executive Council. She is a member of the Technology Committee for the Greater Chamber of Commerce and the Beacon Council and has served as co-chair of the Community Services Committee for the Florida International University (FIU) Alumni Circle. She serves as co-chair for the yearly United Way Women’s Leadership breakfast event and chair of the IT Women Virtual Mentoring Program. She established a mentoring program involving the county IT department and the IT Academy of a local high school that has been operating for a decade. In 2007-2008, Brisbane was the chair of the Greater Chamber of Commerce Leadership Miami Program and a member of its executive committee for seven years.

Recognizing the importance of CIOs

The ORBIE Award was first presented in 1998 to honor Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who are central to business transformation in all organizations. As technology has increasingly served as the engine driving innovation and growth in all industries and sectors of the global economy, the ORBIEs recognize that it is the CIOs who facilitate change by enabling technology initiatives in their organizations. Since 1998, more than 500 individuals have been named CIO of the Year and presented with the ORBIE throughout the United States. In 2023, ORBIEs were presented to CIOs in Florida in the Global, Large Enterprise, Enterprise, Corporate, Nonprofit/Public Sector, and Leadership categories.

Photo – Official LinkedIn Page For Margaret Brisbane

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The 2023 Florida Jerk Festival was a very special one in that it marked the festival’s 20th anniversary.  Held annually on Memorial Day Monday, the 2023 event took place at the spacious John Prince Park in Lake Worth Florida—roughly 10 miles south of Palm Beach.

This tasty outdoor festival event afforded patrons the opportunity to revel in Jamaican and Caribbean culture while indulging themselves in Jamaican jerk cuisine that included including jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk fish, jerk lobster, jerk ice cream, and even jerk ackee ‘n saltfish.  What’s more, this year’s staging of the Festival featured a Jerk Cook-Off, as well as a concert that went into the night headlined by Minister Marion Hall (formerly known as ‘Lady Saw’), Ghost, Luciano, Ding Dong (and Ravers Clavers).

Well Supported by Jamaican Officials & Entertainers

There were a number of officials and other notables in attendance, including:  Oliver Mair (Jamaica Consul General to the Southern USA); Commissioner Maxwell Chambers (City of Miramar); Commissioner Denise Grant (City of Lauderhill); Ian Lewis (of iconic reggae group, Inner Circle; and Tifa (Jamaican dancehall artist).  Jamaica’s jerk style seasoning and cooking is undoubtedly special and unique not only in the kitchen, but also where the island’s vibrant culture is concerned.  In fact, jerk is like a national heirloom to Jamaica so it is befitting that the Florida Jerk Festival is dedicated to the all things jerk, especially when considering its undeniable, spicy flavor that seemingly goes well with everything—even ice cream.  And so, it was certainly nice to see the annual Florida Jerk Festival hit the 20 year mark, while also celebrating the rich mouthwatering Jamaican culinary scene in South Florida.

Photo Highlights of 2023 Florida Jerk Festival

20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Inner Circle’s Ian Lewis, 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Ghost, 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Minister Marion Hall (formerly known as Lady Saw), 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Consul General Oliver Mair, Lauderhill Commissioner Denise Grant (far right), 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Luciano, 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Luciano and his daughter Nefertiti, 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Miramar Commissioner Maxwell Chambers (far left) Consul General Oliver Mair (center), Lauderhill Commissioner Denise Grant (far right), 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Ding Dong and Minister Marion Hall (formerly known as Lady Saw), 20th Anniversary – Florida Jerk Festival 2023 – (John Prince Park – Lake Worth, Florida)

Photo – Nick Ford

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The disciples were shocked that Jesus was speaking with her. First, she was a woman and Jewish rabbis considered it scandalous for a man of distinction to speak with a woman in public. According to Bible scholar Adam Clarke, “If a man meets even his own wife in the street, he does not speak to her; and this is done to keep up the appearance of chastity and temperance.” Second, the people of Samaria were particularly hateful to the Jews. In fact, when Jesus, while sitting by the well, asked the woman for a drink of water (John 4:7), she expressed her surprise, “‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?’ For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans” (v. 9, AMP). Third, this woman had quite a reputation. She previously had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband (vv. 16-18). It is no wonder the disciples reacted the way they did though none of them questioned Jesus about what He was doing (v. 27).

However, what was a conundrum for the disciples was nothing for Jesus. He knew the woman and her back story. When He tried to introduce Himself to her by offering her “living water,” eternal life (v. 10), she was still hung up on Him being a Jew asking her a Samaritan woman for water and that He was there at the well with “nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?” (v. 11). Nothing was making sense to her, but if He was offering her water that would make her never be thirsty again, she wanted some of that. She said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw” (v. 15). Realizing she still did not get it, Jesus shifted the conversation by asking her to go and call her husband (v. 16). According to the narrative, “The woman answered, ‘I do not have a husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. You have said this truthfully.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I see that You are a prophet’ (vv. 17-19).

What followed has been recorded in the Scriptures for all times. Now that He had her attention, Jesus not only spoke with her but He spoke to her before revealing that He was indeed the promised Messiah (vv. 20-26). As the disciples returned, “Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?’ So the people left the city and were coming to Him” (vv. 28-30). Bible scholar Albert Barnes puts it this way, “Her mind was greatly excited. She was disturbed and hastened to the city in great agitation to make this known. She seems to have been convinced that He was the Messiah and went immediately to make it known to others. Our first business, when we have found the Saviour, should be to make him known also to others.”

Author Max Lucado was right when he said, “God answers the mess of life with one word: Grace.” A Samaritan woman with a colorful past, a nobody as far as the Jews were concerned, came face to face with a Jewish rabbi, Jesus the Messiah, and experienced a personal and spiritual transformation. This was against the natural order of the times, but a marvelous demonstration of God’s grace. For it is only God who can pick up a nobody to become somebody in front of everybody without asking anybody. Come to think of it, wasn’t that exactly what He did with you and me? Awesome God!

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