ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest technology trade association for life science and technology, today announced the winners of its 26th Annual Industry Awards. More than 700 technology and business leaders from around the state attended the celebration last night, which took place at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.
“The individuals and companies we honored at last night’s industry awards celebration represent the tremendous talent, innovation and dedication we have in Maryland’s thriving technology community,” said Phil Schiff, TCM’s CEO. “The nominees for this year’s awards were truly outstanding, and exemplify how Maryland’s technology community is playing a vital role in ensuring our state’s long-term prosperity.”
The winners of the 2014 TCM Awards are:
Advocate of the Year
Michael
E. Busch, Speaker of the Maryland State House of Delegates
Serving
as Speaker of the House since 2003, Busch plays a vital leadership role.
He works closely with the governor and members of the state on a wide
array of issues facing Maryland, including education funding, job
creation, public safety and environmental policy. Busch is a consistent
proponent of the business community, and is being honored for the
business and economic development package that he and Senate President
Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, Jr. offered during the 2014 session. This
package has a strong focus on fostering entrepreneurship, increasing
economic development and seeding new cybersecurity companies, as well as
modernizing Maryland’s tax climate and improving the state’s overall
business climate.
STEM Educators of the Year
Dr.
Agnes Taguines, science educator at the Youth Opportunity Academy
Sister
Ellen Marie Hagar, president, Elizabeth Seton High School
Dr.
Taguines teaches physics, biology, and chemistry courses at the Youth
Opportunity Academy, an alternative school for low-income and at-risk
students in Baltimore. Colleagues describe her as an organized
powerhouse and, though there is no laboratory for her students to get a
full scientific experience, she provides creative, resourceful and
rigorous instructional strategies. Dr. Taguines is able to make
cross-curricular and real life applications, which has helped students
excel in courses like mathematics and technology.
Sister Ellen Marie has served as president of Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg, Md., since 2009 and has worked in educational administration for 25 years. She has transformed the curriculum and the culture of the high school so that every student has the opportunity to learn and explore the STEM professions. She has developed the LEAD program—Learning Engineering and Design—which provides high quality, hands-on, innovative STEM education for the students in the classroom coupled with challenging internships and other experiential learning opportunities in the public and corporate sectors.
Executive of the Year
Ahmed
Ali, President, TISTA Science and Technology Corporation
In a
year marked with sequestration, shutdowns and furloughs, TISTA, under
the direction of President Ahmed Ali, grew by 45 percent and showed a
singular vision in support of its employees when executives donated
their time and salaries so that employees were paid during the 17-day
government shutdown. Last year, the Rockville, Md.-based TISTA also
brought in more than $23 million in new contracts and received multiple
accolades, including being named #13 on Washington Technology’s
Fast 50 list of the fastest growing small businesses in the Washington,
D.C., area.
Chief Financial Officer of the Year
Robert
Latchford, CFO, Optoro
Optoro is an IT company based in Lanham,
Md., that enables retailers and manufacturers to increase revenue from
returned and excess inventory. As the CFO, Latchford was instrumental in
getting two VC fundings completed for a total of $32 million, as well as
closing on a $7 million debt facility, all within his first nine months
on the job. He also helped close the lease that enabled the company
expand to Washington, D.C. and he managed the company’s growth from more
than 60 employees when he started to more than 140 today. Latchford also
coordinated Optoro’s involvement with Defending the Blue Line, a charity
that works to provide hockey equipment to children of military families.
Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology
Officer of the Year
Mark Pietrasanta, CTO, Aquilent
Pietrasanta
was the driving force behind the Laurel, Md.-based Aquilent’s move from
an onsite data center to a complete Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
implementation. He also drove the development of Olympus, powered by
Aquilent, a cloud management portal that lets an IT team manage a hosted
environment through a real-world business view.
Life Science Firm of the Year
Amplimmune
Amplimmune,
based in Gaithersburg, Md., is focused on developing novel therapeutics
through immune system modulation. With its strong product-based focus,
Amplimmune has developed three biologic candidates including AMP-224,
which is in Phase 1b trials in cancer in collaboration with
GlaxoSmithKline; AMP-110 for autoimmune diseases in partnership with
Daiichi Sankyo; and AMP-514 for cancer and infectious diseases. By
leveraging its GMP manufacturing capabilities and in-depth knowledge of
immunomodulatory pathways, Amplimmune is developing novel
immunomodulatory molecules with broad spectrum applications in treatment
of cancer, autoimmunity, transplantation and infectious diseases.
Amplimmune was purchased by MedImmune in late 2013, and has retained its
location and entire workforce.
Technology Firm of the Year
2U
Inc.
Founded in 2008 by a team of education and technology
veterans, 2U is a Landover, Md.-based company that enables leading
colleges and universities to deliver their high quality education to
qualified students anywhere. By 2012, 2U had eight graduate
partnerships, and today has created online degree programs for 11
graduate schools. 2U’s cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform
has enabled its partners to educate and engage more than 9,000 students
around the world.
Government Contracting Firm of the Year
Social
Solutions Global, Inc.
Social Solutions Global is the leading
provider of performance management software for human services agencies.
The Baltimore-based company equips more than 16,000 high-performing
non-profits, public agencies, donors and evaluators with web-based data
tracking and outcomes-oriented case management tools. In the past seven
years, the company has been recognized as a Baltimore Sun “Top
100 Workplace,” Smart CEO magazine “Future 50” winner, Daily
Record “Innovator of the Year,” Outstanding Incubator Company,
Maryland Incubator of the Year and Inc. magazine’s 5000.
Emerging Firm of the Year
KoolSpan
Inc.
KoolSpan develops hardware-based encryption and security
applications to protect data and voice communications over
network-connected devices. The core of KoolSpan’s technology is its
Trust Chip, a validated technology deployed in more than 50 countries
powering security offerings from S-1, the security division of Samsung,
and AT&T’s voice encryption platform. Based in Bethesda, Md., KoolSpan
also has earned an industry wide reputation for innovation and a solid
business model. The company holds 18 patents and was named one of Federal
Computer Week’s “Hot Companies to Watch.”
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.