ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest technology trade association with more than 400 biotechnology and technology members employing more than 200,000 in the region, last night announced the winners of its 2013 TCM Awards. The 25th annual celebration was attended by more than 750 technology and business leaders from around the state.
“Maryland is ripe with innovative companies – from ones focused on high tech and IT solutions that make businesses and governments run smoothly and securely, to biotech companies that are developing cutting-edge cures for serious diseases,” said Doug Doerfler, chairman of TCM’s Board and founding president and CEO of MaxCyte, Inc. “Winners of the 2013 Tech Awards exemplify this broad cross section of individuals and companies that make up the Tech Council membership and are key to driving advances in all aspects of technology.”
The winners of the 2013 TCM Tech Awards are:
- Executive of the Year – Rachel King, Co-Founder and CEO, GlycoMimetics Inc.: King was honored for her strong leadership – successfully growing her company, as well as in the industry, where she now serves as chair of the international group Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). King also is a co-founder of GlycoMimetics, a biotechnology company that has so far raised over $60 million in venture capital financing and completed a strategic partnership with Pfizer. GlycoMimetics is a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company that uses novel and proprietary glycobiology technology to develop treatments for diseases, including sickle cell disease and various cancers. Before founding GlycoMimetics, King was an executive in residence at New Enterprise Associates, one of the nation’s leading venture capital firms. Earlier in her career, she was a senior vice president at Novartis Corp., and spent 10 years with Genetic Therapy, Inc. through the company’s early stage, initial public offering and eventual sale to Novartis.
- Chief Information/Technology Officer of the Year – Vennard Wright, CIO, Prince George’s County Government: Serving as CIO for just one year, Wright has accomplished a great deal in changing the perception of Prince George’s County by effectively partnering with private industry, nonprofits and other government entities to bridge the gap between service delivery and limited resources. In addition to participating in the deployment of CountyStat, he created a 311 call center, deployed a mobile app called CountyClick, created a new contract vehicle that gives transparent and streamlined access to County IT opportunities, refreshed 6,000 computers countywide, created a STEM partnership with the public school system, and is in the process of redesigning the county website, deploying a data warehouse and implementing an ERP system. The initiation and completion of these complex projects shows how Wright has been highly effective while undertaking one of the most aggressive IT agendas in the country. Prior to joining Prince George’s County, his professional IT experience included serving as director of Technology for Hillary Clinton during her successful U.S. Senate re-election campaign and subsequent Presidential Campaign, and serving as director of Technology during Rushern Baker’s successful run for County Executive of Prince George’s County, Md., in 2010. He was also chief technology officer and Technical Organization Delivery manager for Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard (HP).
- CFO of the Year – James Rallo, CFO and Treasurer, Liquidity Services, Inc.: Rallo was recognized for his strong financial leadership through his company’s tremendous growth, managing the organization through mergers and significant expansion of its staff. Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: LQDT) provides leading corporations, public sector agencies and buying customers transparent, innovative and effective online marketplaces and integrated services for surplus assets. On behalf of its clients, Liquidity Services has completed the sale of over $3.5 billion of surplus, returned and end-of-life assets in over 500 product categories, including consumer goods, capital assets and industrial equipment. Since he joined the company in February 2005, Liquidity Services has acquired a total of nine companies in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, increasing sales more than 10 times and profits more than 20 times. Rallo earned a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington and Lee University. He also serves as a founding member on the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Strategic CFO Roundtable.
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STEM Educators of the Year – Thomas Michocki
and Ann Strozyk: Michocki is the Science Department chair
and a chemistry teacher for Gifted & Talented and Advanced Placement
students at Eastern Technical High School. He began working 19 years
ago in Baltimore County Public Schools, teaching middle school science
and various levels of high school science. He also currently serves as
faculty sponsor of the Science National Honor Society, the school
social media coordinator and assists with the student independent
research program. He developed a STEM Center at the school that
students use before classes to obtain peer tutoring. He also
established the concept of Night Labs in chemistry to allow students
to work on lab activities that cannot be completed in a seven-period
school day. Michocki makes active use of social media, Web 2.0 tools
and iPads to keep students engaged about science discoveries and new
strategies for instruction. He also understands that a true STEM
lesson and seamlessly infuses science, technology, engineering, and
math in a natural way that involves students in investigation and
inquiry.
Strozyk, an environmental educator for the Howard County Conservancy, has worked with more than 2,000 students and educators in STEM education in 2012 alone. Strozyk has taught science for over 15 years, and demonstrated a high degree of competency when she was asked and agreed to teach a Master’s Level Course titled, “STEM in the Environment” for other educators at the University of Maryland. As an environmental educator, she engages and challenges students in grades 6 to 12 in field experiences that marry using technology to the study of the environment. Strozyk is the first teacher in the county to design field experiences that touch thousands of students in STEM-focused activities. She developed geochallenges that are stations where students learn gross motor activities, problem solving, decision consensus and group interpretation in a team setting. She has created professional development opportunities for educators in her school district and across the state. Strozyk also created the first annual “Weather to the Extreme” Conference at the Howard County Conservancy for more than 100 ninth grade students from five area high schools. This conference involved activities using infrared thermometers, mapping schoolyard watersheds, viewing live tsunami footage, construction of rockets and extreme weather preparation.
- Technology Firm of the Year – Sourcefire, Inc.: Sourcefire was honored for how it transforms the way organizations and government agencies manage and minimize network security risks. With 2012 revenues totaling $223.1 million, Sourcefire is one of the largest providers of cybersecurity products in the United States. With solutions from a next-generation network security platform to advanced malware protection, Columbia, Md.-based Sourcefire provides customers with Agile Security® as dynamic as the real world it protects and the attackers against which it defends. Founded in 2001, Sourcefire has been consistently recognized for its innovation and leadership with numerous patents, world-class research and award-winning technology. Today, Sourcefire has grown synonymous with agile end-to-end security protection.
- Emerging Company of the Year – Sonatype, Inc.: Silver Spring, Md.-based Sonatype is ushering in a new era of fixing application risk with its Component Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform, the first and only solution to secure the entire component lifecycle – from design, development and deployment through to production. The CLM platform enables organizations to significantly reduce the risk in using freely available, open source software (OSS) components to build software applications. Founded in 2001, Sonatype operates the Central Repository, the industry's primary source for open-source components, serving more than eight billion requests per year from more than 70,000 organizations. The company has been a pioneer in component-based software development since its founding by Jason van Zyl, the creator of the Apache Maven build management system and the Central Repository.
- Government Contracting Firm of the Year – Carahsoft: Founded in 2004, Carahsoft has become one of the most respected and fastest growing government-focused IT solutions providers in the nation. In just eight years, the company has grown to more than $1.4 billion in sales. Today, with more than 350 sales, marketing and business professionals, Reston, Va.-based Carahsoft has built an extensive ecosystem of manufacturing, reseller and consulting partners dedicated to serving the government’s IT requirements. As a top-ranked GSA Schedule 70 contract holder, Carahsoft is the largest government partner and master aggregator for many of its more than 100 vendors, including VMware, Symantec, Adobe, Red Hat, EMC, HP Software, SAP and F5 Networks.
- Life Science Firm of the Year – Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA), is a biopharmaceutical company based in Washington, D.C. focused on the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. Vanda has demonstrated perseverance to overcome setbacks and has shown a commitment to address patient needs. Vanda’s product portfolio includes: tasimelteon, a melatonin agonist in Phase III development for Non-24-Hour Disorder, a circadian rhythm disorder with orphan designation in the U.S. and Europe; Fanapt®, an atypical antipsychotic approved in the U.S. for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults; and VLY-686, a Phase II ready, small molecule neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) antagonist.
Hall of Fame Award
In a special presentation to a company that best exemplifies excellence in Maryland's technology or life science industries, TCM presented the Hall of Fame Award to Lockheed Martin. Hall of Fame recipients are recognized for being a pillar in the community, not just by market success or job creation, but by consistently giving back, getting involved and advancing the climate for innovation.
Lockheed Martin is an industry leader in global security and information technology, with $47.2 billion in sales, customers in 75 nations, and has 118,000 employees. The company’s systems operate 60 percent of the world's air traffic, process $600 billion in social security benefits annually, and defend government networks from 2 billion cyberattacks each month. In addition, Lockheed Martin plays an active role in helping to strengthen the quality of life in and around Maryland, supporting STEM programs, events and campaigns that focus on student achievement, teacher development, and gender and ethnic diversity. Lockheed Martin also supports service members with programs that improve their lives and the lives of their families, with enhanced educational and training opportunities.
“I’m honored to accept this Hall of Fame Award on behalf of Lockheed Martin, and proud of our 25-year history with the Tech Council of Maryland,” said Sondra Barbour, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions. “With 100 years of innovation history and roots in Maryland dating back to 1929, our 7,500 employees in the state are committed to our communities and keeping Maryland at the forefront of technology and innovation.”
ABOUT THE TECH COUNCIL OF MARYLAND, INC.
The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM) is the largest technology trade group serving the advanced technology and biotechnology communities of Maryland. TCM’s mission is to advocate for the interests of the technology community, further the role of technology in the Maryland economy, and nurture an environment where technology companies can collaborate, grow and succeed. For more information, visit www.techcouncilmd.com.
