Optro Unveils 2026 Connector Award Winners Recognizing Leaders in GRC Intelligence and AI Innovation

Annual awards honor audit, risk, and compliance teams driving real-time intelligence, operational resilience, and autonomous execution.

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Optro, the leading AI-powered GRC Intelligence Platform, today announced the winners of its 2026 Connector Awards program at CRX, its annual user conference in San Diego. The awards recognize the leaders who have partnered with Optro to drive innovation, transformation, and overcome challenges to achieve operational efficiency, scalability, and resilience.

"I want to extend a huge congratulations to our 2026 Connector Award winners. Everything we do here at Optro centers around giving our customers the best possible experience," said Justin Greenberger, Chief Customer Officer at Optro. "The best part of my job is hearing about the transformative business results our customers achieve with Optro. This year's winners have raised the bar once again, combining cutting-edge AI, continuous monitoring, and a unified approach to risk management to set a new benchmark for how modern enterprises build resilience and agility."

The winners of the 2026 Optro Connector Awards include:

• Agentic Pioneer: Celebrating the trailblazers redefining GRC work with agentic AI — teams using Optro's Autonomous Testing as an active, agentic coworker to automate end-to-end workflows and move from sample-based checks to full-population testing.
  • Winner: Reddit "With Optro's agentic AI, we replaced fragmented tools and manual processes with one governed system." - Martin Preedy, Chief Audit Executive, Reddit
• Visionary: Celebrating customers who push the boundaries of innovation with Optro, leveraging AI, Analytics, and integrations to set new standards and drive industry-wide change.
  • Winner: Fortive "With Optro, what began as a compliance transformation has evolved into a platform for innovation across our audit and controls ecosystem." - Marina Tieman and Mike Wilson, Senior Directors, Fortive Internal Audit
• Excellence in Action: Recognizing customers who have achieved significant business impact—improving efficiency, driving growth, & surpassing goals using Optro.
  • Winner: GE Aerospace "Every lesson learned now gets built into the next audit because it lives in Optro." - Jan Murry, Strategic, Innovation, Enablement, and Digital Technology Internal Audit Executive, GE Aerospace
• Bridge Builders: Highlighting customers who drive cross-team collaboration and scalability by integrating Optro across risk, audit, and compliance functions for effective decision-making.
  • Winner: Eaton "Audit, compliance, and infosec now work within Optro's shared platform to identify and address issues faster." - Brandon Masin, IT Audit Manager,  Eaton
• Cyber Resilience: Celebrating organizations using innovative technology, automation, and AI to enhance security, streamline compliance, and drive impactful GRC practices.
  • Winner: Verizon "With Optro, our security leaders query live data instantly instead of second-guessing dashboards." - Emmanual Benton, Director - Internal Audit, Verizon Internal Audit Team
• Agent of Change: Awarding a leader who champions Optro's role in driving change within their organization, elevates the role of audit, and influences the broader industry.
  • Winner: Humana "With Optro, risk and audit now operate from a single source of truth." - Erin Banet, Chief Audit and Risk Officer, Humana

"Winning a Connector Award in 2025 was incredibly validating for our team," said Tara Mavrovitis, Head of GRC and Internal Audit at Collibra. "It proved that our shift to continuous, AI-driven risk management is making a tangible impact and setting a standard for the industry. I love being part of this community of forward-thinking GRC leaders that constantly pushes us to raise the bar, and seeing what the 2026 winners have accomplished reinforces why this program matters so much."

"Every year, we reveal our Connector Award winners live at CRX because there is no better room to celebrate these breakthroughs than one filled with the sharpest minds in GRC," said Raul Villar Jr., CEO of Optro. "Seeing our community gather in San Diego to share how they are pushing the boundaries of AI, continuous automation, and real-time intelligence is deeply inspiring. These leaders are actively setting the standard for modern operational resilience, and it's an honor to recognize their achievements on our biggest stage."

To learn more about how Optro customers are shaping the future of GRC, visit optro.ai.

About Optro 

Optro (formerly AuditBoard) helps enterprises transform risk into opportunity through its AI-powered GRC Intelligence Platform. More than 50% of the Fortune 500 trust Optro to elevate audit, risk, and compliance in addressing a new era of risk. Optro is top-rated by customers on G2 and was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Tools, Assurance Leaders. To learn more, visit optro.ai.

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