As part of this year's BizTech Inno Fire Awards, we're honoring the up-and-coming talents of the Columbus technology community.
In keeping with our fellow American Inno markets, we solicited nominations for young movers and shakers in order to select this year's Inno Under 25 class.
We asked our 2022 honorees whether they saw a future in Columbus, a key question for the viability and future stability of the region's tech sector.
I was heartened to see that most of the honorees agreed with Josh Beron.
“Columbus is absolutely a place where I can see myself living for a long time," Beron said. “I moved here a little over a year ago, not really knowing anyone; and the community could not have been more welcoming."
Read on to learn a little bit more about our Inno Under 25 honorees, and to hear from the folks who nominated them on why they deserve to be recognized.
Adrianna Andretta
Senior product designer, AndHealth
Age: 25
Hometown: Parkland, Florida
School: Ohio State University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? I'm not sure! In the six years that I've lived here, I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity to find my passion for product design at startups. But, I am always eager to tackle opportunities to grow and have new experiences. I don't know what the future holds for me yet, but I'm looking forward to the growth of AndHealth and my career journey here.
Nominated by Matt Scantland, CEO and founder, AndHealth: "Andretta joined AndHealth as our senior product designer, being one of our first 15 employees. To say her contributions to our success have been instrumental would be an understatement. Her thumbprint is on every aspect of design within AndHealth. From the design of our new office space, to UX, app/product design and user research, to marketing, web, merch and brand design. As her supervisor Frank Rosile states, 'There aren’t many people at any point in their career that have as many talents and play as many roles as Adrianna does. Most companies have to hire a team, or even teams, to do the things she does as well as she does. Which makes her such an incredibly valuable asset to any team, especially a startup.'"
Brooke Yoakam
CEO and co-founder, GiftPocket LLC
Age: 20
Hometown: Columbus
School: Boston College
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? Columbus will always be my home. I don’t know where I will be in the next five to 10 years, but I will always have an office or some form of roots in Columbus. Columbus has supported me on my journey as a founder and has enabled me to stand out, so I will always envision myself living in Columbus at some point. Also with Columbus being the retail capital of the United States, I will always want to be close to Columbus to be in touch with the retail tech scene here.
Nominated by Rajeev Chhajer, president and CTO, GiftPocket: "Yoakam started GiftPocket when she was 12 years old from the problems that she and her peers always faced when it came to gift cards: They would always forget their gift cards when they needed them or their family members would never give them a gift card to a store they would shop at. This inspired the idea of GiftPocket: a mobile app for all of gift cards where you put them all in your digital wallet, exchange gift cards you don’t like for new ones and send gift cards to celebrate important moments. The app has now been available in the app stores for over three years. (She) continues to grow the business while being a sophomore in college and is extremely motivated to help all brands grow their gift card programs while staying laser focused on the day-to-day use of gift cards."
Faith Voinovich
Principal, Ohio Innovation Fund
Age: 25
Hometown: Hudson, Ohio
School: Ohio University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? I can absolutely see myself living in Columbus in five or 10 years. The Columbus ecosystem is incredibly welcoming – and from establishing my personal and professional networks to settling into my first house here – I’m building with an eye toward long-term engagement in Columbus. Ohio is my home, and so long as the Columbus community continues to invest in innovation, I see myself sticking around and working to help usher in a new, tech-driven era of prosperity for the state. It’s already been rewarding to see the positive changes over just the past five years. Ohio is retaining top students at higher rates than ever, succeeding in recruiting world-class experts to join our leading research institutions and universities, and building a national reputation as a state that prioritizes innovation. I know this is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see how the city continues to evolve over the next few decades.
Self-nominated: "Voinovich is a principal at the OIF and her role runs the gamut from sourcing and diligencing deals (including forming strong relationships with entrepreneurs across the state) to serving on portfolio company boards as a trusted strategic advisor ... to monitoring the OIF portfolio through key growth metrics, tracking of fund returns and more. (She) is a founding mentor for the National Venture Capital Association’s Venture Forward program, a cohort-based course that provides education on venture capital to underrepresented investors. ... She also serves as an Investor Swarm Mentor for the Cincinnati branch of gBeta, a national accelerator for underrepresented founders, and is an active member of Global Women in VC, an international cohort of over 4,000 women investors."
Joshua Beron
Scrum master and business intelligence lead, Offor Health/SmileMD
Age: 25
Hometown: Towaco, New Jersey
School: Quinnipiac University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? Columbus is absolutely a place where I can see myself living for a long time. Aside from the thriving tech scene, the city has incredible museums, festivals, parks and exciting sporting events. While all these attributes make for a great city, my favorite aspect about Columbus is the people. I moved here a little over a year ago, not really knowing anyone; and the community could not have been more welcoming. In such a short period of time I’ve met some of the most incredible people of my life. To my coworkers at Offor Health, leaders at JewishColumbus, and partners at Columbus Young Professionals – you’ve truly made Columbus my home. There’s a group here for everyone and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about my experiences thus far in Columbus.
Nominated by Kenya Chatman, manager, Offor Health: "Beron is the epitome of paying it forward. He grew up witnessing his younger sister, Julia, overcome so many obstacles and has used her strength as inspiration in everything he does. Julia has a rare neuromuscular disease called Charcot Marie Tooth that damages the peripheral nerves, preventing the transmission of information signals from the brain and spinal cord to and from the rest of the body. Before joining us at Offor Health, (he) worked at a New York financial company. He relocated because he’s always had a passion for helping others and believed in the mission and values our company was built on. ... Josh has earned the ranking of #3 longest practice streak worldwide on Data Camp. He also helped to create the website for Camp Footprint, a camp specifically for people with CMT, like his sister."
Shelbie Briggs
Director of programming, The Urban Business Development Center
Age: 23
Hometown: Columbus
School: Ohio University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? Yes, I see myself still living in Columbus in five or 10 years. This is the city that raised me and it has evolved so much like me. I look forward to the impactful changes that will happen in Columbus and hope that I play an integral part in them.
Nominated by Loren Smith, co-owner, Urban Business Development Center: "Briggs is extraordinary. She was the leader of many civic movements and organizations including NAACP during her time on the Ohio University campus. Over the course of the last two years, Shelbie has completely elevated. Upon graduation from OU, she relocated back to Columbus and immediately got to work. She became a full-time employee with us. During this time, she has assisted with designing innovative programs for youth around entrepreneurship and career development. She redesigned our bi-annual Urban Launch School Accelerator and has built amazing relationships with all our participants. (Briggs) is making a name for herself and deserves to be recognized. The amount of people who come to me and brag about the impact she has made on their lives speaks volumes."
Matthew Benson
Co-founder and CEO, eFuse
Age: 25
Hometown: Chillicothe
School: Ohio University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? Absolutely. It’s a great city filled with big town amenities and small town values such as kindness, hard work, loyalty.
Nominated by Faith Voinovich, principal, Ohio Innovation Fund: "Benson started off his career at the Ohio Innovation Fund as an intern. During his internship, he built the foundation that would become eFuse, and stayed on as an entrepreneur in residence after completing his undergrad at Ohio University. Since launching the company in December of 2019, he’s built the team to 70-plus people, taken on a prime office space on High Street in the Short North, partnered with companies like ESPN, Epic Games, and Activision Blizzard, raised capital from OIF and a number of notable athletes and influencers. (He) is an Ohio native, hailing from Chillicothe, and is a huge proponent for building awareness of entrepreneurship and innovation going on in the state."
Zac Graber
CEO, Opendemia
Age: 26 (25 at time of nomination)
Hometown: Liberty Center, Ohio
School: Ohio State University
Do you see yourself living in Columbus in five or 10 years? Sadly, no. My wife and I are both small-town kids and see ourselves starting our family closer to relatives. However, I definitely expect to be traveling down to Columbus on an almost weekly basis, and given the fact (that) both my wife and I are graduates of the Ohio State University, we will definitely be building a Buckeye household.
Self-nominated: "Graber was raised on a small farm in rural Northwest Ohio, heavily involved in both 4-H and FFA before attending Ohio State University. During his senior year at Ohio State, he was selected as the representative of his class to speak to the board of trustees at the pre-commencement luncheon, as well as being one of two graduating seniors awarded the Ohio State University President’s Prize. Since graduating, he has continued to bootstrap his own ed-tech startup that he founded while at Ohio State. Opendemia is a website designed by students, for students, that assists throughout the entire research and writing process in a simple way. This year, he has also become the director of product at NecoTech, a multi-award-winning clean-tech company based out of Ohio Wesleyan University."
