Tech Awards wrap-up
Posted by Jim H on March 27, 2008
The Tech Awards last night was a pretty good time. Aside from running into a few people I hadn’t seen in a number of years, I also met a few new people. It’s all about Networking. I was hoping to post a few pictures, but will have to see what I’ve got. I forgot to grab my camera from the house when I left in the morning and made a quick dash into the house over lunch. I ran in the back door, grabbed the camera off the PC in my daughter’s room and right out the front door. Apparently, I left the back gate open and the slider into the back porch open a bit, too. When my wife got home from work she thought someone had broken in. I was just worried about waking up the dogs, because they would have wanted to got outside and get some attention. I didn’t realize until I got to Lynfield and took the camera out that the battery was critically low. Such are the hazards of teenage daughters. I forgot to plug it in last night, so the battery was still drained this morning and I couldn’t download the few pictures I took.
But this is supposed to be a post about the event and not a litany of lame excuses of why I didn’t post any pictures.
I learned that I am a poor prognosticator. The only award winner I guessed correctly was Akonni (Small business of the Year). I was pretty sure about that one, as they’ve made all the right moves. They have a fascinating product, with both military and health care uses, they’ve run the gamut of the various funding organizations and moved into the downtown historic district along Carrol Creek. Plus, they’re growing and hiring people and the new facility is really great.
And so the battle of Frederick last night was won by the IT guys, as both of the other winners were IT companies.
Firm of the year went to Regent Education Incorporated . According to Rick Harris, Executive Director of the Tech Alliance of the Tech Council of Maryland: “This company has revolutionized the way financial aid is analyzed and dispersed in the United States. It has seen growth by more than 300 percent, which is phenomenal, by any standard and their products are truly breakthrough technology. Regent is a model for how to start and grow a business to meet a need.”
Mike Gaver with GTI Federal took the Executive of the Year award. To be honest with you, I am not really sure about the “product” they provide, but can see from their web site that they have contracts with the General Services Administration (GSA), U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), the State of Maryland, DHS, DOE, Navy, the State Department and the NIH to name a few.
There was a final award give to SAIC-Frederick, Inc.. This was the Technology Leadership Award. A lot of times people forget how big and important SAIC really is to Fort Detrick and the county’s biotech community. For example, here are all of their job openings in Frederick:
Geoffrey Way Vaccine Production Facility
Clinical Monitoring Program on Industry Lane
Advanced Technology Program on Toll House
Must run. Maybe some pictures later..
