Never has technology been more important to businesses throughout southeastern Wisconsin than the past year.
As the pandemic forced most businesses to close their offices and employees to work from home, technology moved to the forefront as a major issue for most firms as they attempted to keep their business operating. The departments that had worked in the background were suddenly thrust into the spotlight as executives scrambled to make the tough transition.
But most of the CEOs and other top executives I have talked to in recent months have been full of praise for their IT professionals for the way they stepped up and made sure employees were able to keep producing at a top level with minimal interruptions.
Such was the case for Neal Sample, Northwestern Mutual's executive vice president and chief information officer, who is being honored as our Technologist of the Year.
During the past year, Sample transitioned more than 25,000 employees, financial advisers and support staff to working from home, brought 1,400 new employees on board virtually and delivered the company’s first entirely virtual annual meeting to more than 17,000 attendees.
“We did have a plan for it, but I had to quickly fill in the gaps,” he told Milwaukee Business Journal freelance writer Stacy Vogel Davis.
He is a great example of the technology professionals we are honoring with our inaugural Milwaukee Business Journal Tech Awards. We have been talking about starting this awards program for several years and determined after the challenges to the industry of the past year, the time was perfect.
In all, the Milwaukee Business Journal received nearly 50 nominations for the program, which recognizes the top work in technology for area firms and we are honoring 11 winners in a total of 10 categories.
The nominations were judged by a panel of tech experts that I led, including Tina Chang, SysLogic Inc.; Dana Guthrie, Gateway Capital Fund; Nadiyah Johnson, Jet Constellations; Joe Kirgues, gener8tor; and Andy Nunemaker, Groupware Technologies Inc.
I encourage you to read about all of our winners by clicking on the links below. They are great examples of individuals and companies making a big difference in our region.
The winners and the project or effort they are being recognized for:
Medical/Health Tech
• GE Healthcare -- Artificial Intelligence in MRI
• Novir -- COVID-19 Testing Solutions
Social Impact
• Sojourner Family Peace Center – Centralized Data System
Education Tech
• Advocate Aurora Health -- Wumblekin
Financial/E-commerce
• Waterstone Mortgage -- Digital Mortgage / Remote Online Notorization eClosing
HR Tech
Personal technology
• Exacta Corp. -- Family Organizer Plus
Fan Favorite
Champion of Diversity & Inclusion in Tech
Innovative use of emerging technologies
• Children’s Wisconsin -- Virtual Mental and Behavioral Health
Technologist of the Year
