This year's NewVa Corridor Technology Council, NCTC, TechNite Awards 10.0 will be presented at the TechNite Awards Banquet on May 21, 2009 at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, Virginia. Over 300 of the area's business and technology leaders are expected to be present.
Nominations closed on March 31, 2009.
Here are the categories, the criteria, and Handshake 2.0's nominations for the 2009 NCTC TechNite 10.0 Awards. Where applicable, the lists are In alphabetical order by last name.
Rising Star
This award recognizes a local technology company whose "star is rising." It may not be a household name yet, but it could soon be another local success story in the NewVA region.
Daryl Scott, Founder, President, CEO, Attaain
We thank our lucky stars that a Silicon Valley star - Daryl Scott - now shines in the New River Valley. His comprehensive experience in all things high-tech - from software, to information systems, to the Internet - seem to converge in his latest innovation, AttaainCI, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) competitive intelligence system that, if used New River Valley-wide, could probably qualify our locale for a Gross National Product.
Allan Tsang, Founder, President, CEO, 88Owls
Allan Tsang's 88Owls has created an awing online software system matching consultants with businesses. Insisting upon the highest quality for his clients – both consultants and businesses – he’s set high-stakes standards: Consultants must have ten or more years of industry experience and businesses must generate $300K or more in annual revenues. Headquartered in the New River Valley of Virginia, this is an entrepreneur whose vision cannot by confined by space or possibility. Watch Tsang, not just for a rising star, but for a cosmic event.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are a different breed. Sometimes it takes nerves of steel to blaze a new path. This award recognizes someone in our community who exemplifies what it means to be a risk-taker in the technology field.
M. Tyson Daniel, Esq., President, LimbGear
"Sometimes it takes nerves of steel to blaze a new path." How about leaving a secure, high-paid position as a public capital defense attorney to become an entrepreneur? Tyson Daniel best shares the story of the founding of Weigh Out, LLC and his line of techno-sports apparel LimbGear in his own words.
NewVa Leadership Award
This award recognizes one of our own who not only succeeds in the workplace, but also leads by example by contributing significantly to the community in which we live.
Stuart Mease, Project Coordinator, City of Roanoke, Virginia
In addition to hosting a weekly video show on our region, broadcast via blog, Stuart Mease uses his own blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, personal appearances at meetings ranging from holiday fairs to high-tech council meetings, and program development such as the Creative Connectors, to promote the talent and opportunities in the New River Valley and Roanoke Valleys of Virginia. With relentless belief in the talent, quality, products, and services offered by our region's businesses, he leads the sharing of the good news of our regional economy with earnest integrity.
Honorable Mentions:
Cory Donovan, Executive Director, NCTC
Nanci Hardwick, CEO, Schultz-Creehan Holdings, Inc.
Innovation
This award recognizes an individual, a group of individuals, company, or other organization that sets the standard for thought leadership and innovation in their respective field. By definition, they are doing something new or different, and they are doing it well. Their innovation represents a significant technological breakthrough or addresses a great market opportunity or both.
Jim Flowers, Director, VT KnowledgeWorks
In 2004, Jim Flowers became the director of an entity born of the Internet economy of the 1990s, a high-tech business incubator. Only five years later, in 2009, Jim Flowers was an internationally recognized expert and speaker on entrepreneurship and business acceleration, a Web 2.0 aficionado, director of a state-of-the-art business acceleration center and technology incubator with almost 50 members, and mentor to local entrepreneurs through person-to-person meetings and Presidents' Councils, and globally via his own blog. He has brought honor and expertise to our region and to the global economy.
One wonders where our region might be now if we had had his leadership beginning in the dot-com days...
Educator
This award recognizes a K-12 educator in the NewVA region that promotes math,science and/or use of technology in creative ways to transfer knowledge and help develop future technology leaders.
Rebecca Hertling, Eighth Grade Science Teacher, Christiansburg Middle School
An innovator by nature, Rebecca Hertling strives to bring the latest in technology to her eighth grade science students at Christiansburg Middle School. She is a Lego League sponsor and initiated, and teaches, a Forensic Science course.
