Changing Face of State's Tech Industry on Display as Energy and Robotics Companies Take Key Categories; Software and Communications Also Score Big
BOSTON, November 4, 2010 - Akamai's Paul Sagan was named Public Company CEO of the Year, Boston Power's Christina Lampe-Onnerud took the Private Company CEO award and Acme Packet and Carbonite won Company of the Year Awards at last night's Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council Gala Awards Ceremony at Boston's Seaport Hotel. In a special live audience vote, Aurora Flight Sciences won Product of the Year for its high intelligence portable drone aircraft.
This year's event showcased the state's evolving technology landscape, with nominees in a wide array of technologies and with energy and robotics companies joining more traditional categories such as software and network communications in the winners' circle.
"The new Massachusetts tech industry was on full display tonight," said Tom Hopcroft, President and CEO of the Council. "While we still have a huge presence in traditional IT and communications, we're tapping into brand new, high potential markets, including mobile applications, digital games, data analytics, health IT and, of course, energy and robotics."
Close to 500 senior executives filled the waterfront hotel's ballroom and, for the first time in Council history, the audience members were allowed to vote in real time via text messaging for product of the year.
"We thought there would be no better way to put new technologies on display than to have audience members use their mobile devices to send their votes via text to a web-based data analytic tool that is hosted in the cloud," said Heather Johnson, Senior Vice President of the Council. "Besides touching a lot of technology bases at once, it had the added benefit of being just plain fun for the audience."
The Council bestowed special honors on four individuals for their leadership in the Massachusetts technology community. Those awardees were:
- Commonwealth Award Winner: Dr. George Hatsopoulos, entrepreneur, educator and founder of Thermo Electron
- Policy Leader of the Year: Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Workforce Development Leader: Dr. Jack Wilson, President of the 性闻联播
- Innovation Catalyst: Tim Rowe, CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center
The winners in all other categories are:
- CEO of the Year, Private Company: Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Boston Power
- CEO of the Year, Public Company: Paul Sagan, Akamai
- CIO of the Year: Jay Leader, iRobot; and Bill Fandrich, BlueCross Blue Shield of MA
- Emerging Executive of the Year: Robert Connors, Director of Preparedness and Crisis Management, Raytheon
- Private Company of the Year: Carbonite
- Public Company of the Year: Acme Packet
- Deal of the Year: A123 Systems
- Product of the Year: Aurora Flight Services
A committee of Council Trustees, local thought leaders and media were involved with the selection process for the nominees and, with the exception of Product of the Year (which, as noted above, was selected by live vote at the event), chose the winners in each category.
MassTLC wishes to give special thanks to the sponsors of the Awards Program: Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ropes & Gray, Silicon Valley Bank, Fidelity, Raytheon.
About The Mass Technology Leadership Council, Inc.
The Mass Technology Leadership Council, Inc. is the only business association that addresses the critical leadership issues of innovative technology and technology-enabled companies. Drawing on the rich legacies of Massachusetts Network Communications Council, the Massachusetts Software Council, and the New England Business and Technology Association, Inc., the organization is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and promoting the success of companies that develop and deploy technology across industry sectors. The Mass Technology Leadership Council conducts educational programs, hosts industry events, facilitates networking, sponsors research, advocates in favor of technology policies that promote innovation, entrepreneurship and competition, and recognizes industry-leading companies and people. For more information, visit or .