Tampa Bay Tech Announces 18th Annual Tech Awards Finalists

TAMPA, FL — With nearly 100 nominations this year, Tampa Bay Tech announced the 18th Annual Tech Awards finalists for this year’s technology awards show.

This year’s show will return to Armature Works in Tampa, Friday, Nov. 12, starting at 6 p.m.

“Celebrating this community and its leaders has always been a core value for us and we were overwhelmed by the number of incredible nominations this year — close to 100, which was the most we’ve ever had,” said Jill St. Thomas, CEO of Tampa Bay Tech. “Being able to honor this year’s nominees in person after nearly two years apart is particularly meaningful, and I’m confident this year’s show will be one of our most special ever.”

This year’s show has seven categories:

Tech Leader of the Year finalists are:

• Avani Desai, CEO, Schellman & Co.
• Charlotte Baker, CEO/founder, Digital Hands
• Elias Torres, CTO/co-founder, Drift

Tech Company of the Year finalists are:

• Digital Hands
• Nextech
• OPSWAT

Emerging Tech Company of the Year finalists are:

• Brandon Redding, Salesforce
• Jide Sofowora, Jabil
• Judah Longgrear, Nickelytics
• Saxon Baum, Florida Funders

Tech Project of the Year finalists are:

• Accusoft
• Nextech
• Spirion

Emerging Tech Company of the Year finalists are:

• Blockspaces
• Chattr
• Trustate

Bridge Builder of the Year finalists are:

• Bobby Ceklic, New Horizons Tampa Bay
• Erica Woods, Tech4Good/Apex Systems
• Jesus Vidaurri, U.S. Digital Service

Additionally, the sixth Community Dedication and Leadership Award winner will be announced during the show. This award is voted on by previous recipients who include: Chris Cate, CEO, Valpak; Tony DiBenedetto, founder, Think Big for Kids; Tom Wallace, founder of Florida Funders, Linda Olson, CEO of Tampa Bay Wave; and last year’s winner, Steven MacDonald of MacDonald Ventures.

Tampa Bay Tech is a nonprofit technology council engaging and uniting the local technology community for 21 years. Through its memberships and partnerships, its mission is to build a connected, flourishing tech hub.

With more than 125 member companies representing the region’s more than 110,000 tech employees, Tampa Bay Tech provides annual programming, networking and initiatives to support the tech ecosystem.