Nashville's technology industry held one of its largest parties of the year on Thursday night, honoring everything from fast-growing startups to the city's largest public company.
The Greater Nashville Technology Council's annual awards program drew a crowd of 550 people, representing 130 tech companies and other organizations, to downtown's Wildhorse Saloon. The Tech Council is the largest and most visible representative of the region's quickly growing tech scene, counting more than 600 members.
Nominees in the 15 categories below were vetted by a group of more than 70 judges from across the region. At the event, the council also recognized Charlie Yielding, CEO of G Squared Wireless, as its Champion of the Year.
(Winners are in bold; category finalists are bulleted and italicized.)
Technology Company of the Year: Juice Analytics
- L3Harris/ForceX
- Realtracs Inc.
Technology Startup Company of the Year: Mployer Advisor
- Pivot Technology School
- Clovers
CIO of the Year: Randy Blue, DentaQuest
- Chris Montini, M3 Technology Group
- Lance Rea, Baker Donelson
CTO of the Year: Bill Simpson, Ncontracts
- Trevor Hinesley, Soundstripe
- Dean Paquette, Quorum Health
Cybersecurity Leader of the Year: Jason Barnett, HCA Healthcare Inc.
- Dianne Rose, Asurion
- Jon Bowker, Ncontracts
Community Leader of the Year: Suzi Earhart, McorpCX
- Michael Erskine, MTSU
- Rod McDaniel, S3 Recycling Solutions
Data Scientist of the Year: Jason King, Xsolis
- Christi French, Digital Reasoning
- Sundar Kuppuswamy, Asurion
Emerging Leader of the Year: Ali Bakhta, HPA - A Cognizant Company
- Mikil Taylor, Healthcare Bluebook
- Rod McDaniel, S3 Recycling Solutions
Software Engineer of the Year: Kevin Huber, Digital Reasoning
- Daniel Cottone, Asurion
- Nathan Watkins, HCA Healthcare Inc.
Diversity & Inclusion Advocate of the Year: Sheila Gibson, HCA Healthcare Inc.
- Sam Zaza, Middle Tennessee State University
- Stephen Castaneda, FortyAU/Culturally Tech
Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year: Culturally Tech
- Comcast Business
- Nashville Digital Inclusion & Access Taskforce
Innovator of the Year: Aaron Montlary, HCA Healthcare Inc.
- Samantha Burgess, New Orchard
- Sean Mooney, BluWave
Product Manager of the Year: Colleen Hoy, ENA
- Jenny Zhao, Asurion
- Michelle Egly, GoNoodle
Tech Influencer of the Year: Taylor Desseyn, Vaco
- Zach Gemignani, Juice Analytics
- Haley Zapolski, Nashville Software School
Technology Educator of the Year: Emily Hines, Central Magnet School
- Kelly Carey, Metro Nashville Public Schools
- Lauren Holtslander, Hillsboro High School
