NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Addresses Technology Leaders at TechCelebration

GMU President Alan Merten honored with Earle C. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award; Sen. Mark Warner presented Chairman’s Award to NVTC’s Arlington National Cemetery Task Force; and Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards winners announced

Last night, 750 members of the Northern Virginia technology community gathered at TechCelebration, the annual banquet of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the largest technology council in the nation. During the event, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. delivered keynote remarks, NVTC honored George Mason University President Dr. Alan G. Merten with the Earle C. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award, Sen. Mark Warner and NVTC honored the core team leaders of NVTC’s Arlington National Cemetery Task Force with the 2011 Chairman’s Award, and NVTC announced the winners of the 2011 NVTC/Washington Technology Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards.

“TechCelebration brings together technology, business, community and government leaders to celebrate the strength and diversity of our region’s technology community. We were honored this year to have Charles Bolden with us this year to share his insights on NASA’s future, including investments in next-generation space technologies,” said NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg. “This year’s event was particularly meaningful for NVTC, as we celebrated our 20th anniversary providing networking and educational events and public policy advocacy to the Northern Virginia technology community.”

During his remarks, Bolden discussed the importance of technology to the space agency’s future, urging continued investments in NASA’s future in order to maintain American technology leadership and serve as a catalyst for high-tech jobs. He highlighted how the agency is streamlining and strategically focusing its investments and partnering with corporate America to encourage innovation. Bolden also listed NASA’s efforts to develop next-generation space technologies including a laser-based optical communications system, a deep space atomic clock and a space solar sail, and described the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on Nov. 25.

NVTC paid tribute to Dr. Merten with the Earle C. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented to a person whose lifetime professional and personal endeavors have made a significant impact on the Northern Virginia technology community. Dr. Merten will retire from the GMU presidency in June 2012.

Sen. Warner and NVTC honored Booz Allen Hamilton, The MITRE Corporation, SAIC, Bob Kahn of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, and George Newstrom, formerly of Lee Technologies, for their leadership of NVTC’s Arlington National Cemetery Task Force with the 2011 Chairman’s Award. The lead companies and task force co-chairs were recognized for their leadership and generous pro-bono commitment of time, talent and resources to assessing and recommending solutions to Arlington Cemetery’s information technology and process challenges.

The finalists of the NVTC/Washington Technology Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards were honored for their critical contributions to achieving results for customers and leadership within their own companies, and the winners were announced and recognized on-stage. Finalists and winners in each award category are listed below:

Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards Large Company

* Jeff Bergeron, Hewlett-Packard
* Deborah Dunie, CACI
* Neil Siegel, Northrop Grumman Information Systems (Winner)
* Mark White, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards Midsize Company

* David Bettinger, iDirect
* Chris Chroniger, Acentia
* Gary Davis, National Government Services
* Dr. H. Gilbert Miller, Noblis (Winner)

Government Contractor CTO Innovator Awards Small Company

* Tim Hoechst , Agilex Technologies (Winner)
* Geoff Howard , Evolvent Technologies Inc.
* Jay Kalath , ARRAY Information Technology
* Dov Levy , Dovel Technologies
* Greg Parchment , Buchanan & Edwards

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia. As the largest technology council in the nation, NVTC serves about 1,000 companies from all sectors of the technology industry, as well as service providers, universities, foreign embassies, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. Through its member companies, NVTC represents about 200,000 employees in the region. NVTC is recognized as the nation’s leader in providing its technology community with networking and educational events; specialized services and benefits; public policy advocacy; branding of its region as a major global technology center; initiatives in targeted business sectors and in the international, entrepreneurship, workforce and education arenas; the Equal Footing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that serves local area youth; and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, which mentors new technology entrepreneurs. Visit NVTC at www.nvtc.org.