ChaTech, the Chattanooga Technology Council, announces the winners of the second annual Technology Excellence Awards (TechX). These awards recognized individuals and regional companies for outstanding involvement, achievements and accomplishments in the
Chattanooga technology community. Across the 10 categories, there were 62 nominations
among 35 companies.
The 2021 Winners are:
CxO of the Year - Steve Hitchings, Kenco Logistics
Recognized in part, for successfully migrating the business to the Cloud to improve Disaster Recovery, Recovery Time Objectives, Recovery Point Objectives, dramatically decreasing customer startup times and implementing innovative technologies that bring value to customers.
Data Analyst or Data Analytics Leader of the Year - Tanya Mathur, TVA
Recognized for an extraordinary portfolio of projects at TVA that touch many business units. Her projects included: The Materials Intelligent Catalog Assistant (MICA) and a COVID impact analysis of smart meter data to capture energy demand in the residential and commercial sectors. Tanya was instrumental in developing TVA’s first Enterprise Analytics group, the first enterprise analytics strategy, and the Data & Analytics Center for Excellence.
Early Innovator Award - Safe Power Networks, Hayden Data Systems
Safe Power Networks is being recognized for multiple innovations combined into one system. Their sensor hardware in installed on power poles. The sensors are connected to a wireless network. The hardware can be configured to collect multiple types of data tailored to the client’s needs. This can include data on pole movement; wind; rain; temperature and humidity; gases or smoke in the air; photos of vegetation, ice or other visual information. Clients access this information on a web dashboard or mobile app so technicians receive near-real-time data and alerts from each location.
Infrastructure Leader or Engineer of the Year - Jason Flis, Kenco Logistics
Jason is being recognized for collaborative work and upgrades--both within the IT shop at Kenco and in conjunction with customers during a busy-season breakdown.
IT Champion for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - Brenda Hoyle, Stratera Technologies
Recognized for going beyond representing diversity to actively reaching out to under-represented
groups and helping them connect to employment opportunities. Brenda mentors rising professionals and has been active in multiple employer-based and community-based initiatives to bring awareness of opportunities to the Latinx and other under-represented communities.
IT Team of the Year - End-User Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee
Recognized for the extraordinary teamwork demonstrated when they moved a massive workforce to a remote work environment in an extremely short timeframe.
Technology Company of the Year - Freightwaves
Recognized for introducing their SONAR Supply Chain Intelligence platform which provides shippercentric supply chain benchmarking, analytics, monitoring, and forecasting capabilities. FreightWavesTV is the only daily streaming video site dedicated to logistics and supply chain news and content. Since its launch in April 2020, they have had more than 9 million views. The company has experienced astonishing growth in the last year and is the recipient of numerous awards.
Unsung Tech Hero of the Year - Dwight Watt, Georgia Northwestern Technical College
Recognized for his commitment to serving his students and for successfully navigating the challenges faced by IT educators this past year.
Most Impactful Project of the Year - HCS EdConnect, EPB
Recognized for partnering with Hamilton County Schools (HCS), the Enterprise Center, Hamilton County, the City of Chattanooga and other public and private community partners to provide K-12 students in need with access to high speed internet at home. Galvanized by the beginning of the pandemic, HCS EdConnect has provided fiber fast internet service with symmetrical speeds and no data caps at no charge to more than 14,000 students. Including these students and their families, HCS EdConnect has impacted more than 25,000 people so far and enrollment continues. These students and their families will stay connected year-round, including summers, for up to 10 years, as long as they have a child enrolled in Hamilton County Schools and maintain eligibility.
Software Developer/Engineer or Leader of the Year - Anna Sherman, Zillion
Anna is the leading architecture decisions on a business integration system and then coding the solutions for the plan Gathering metrics on customer behavior and mistakes then creating a simple solution to prevent future errors.
ChaTech Marketing Associate Jen LaRose said “We would like to have gathered in person, but of
course we are happy over 200 people attended our virtual event. A big congratulations to all the
finalists and our winners. We would also like to thank our amazing sponsors for helping us with
100 Cherokee Blvd. Chattanooga, TN 37405 jen@chatechcouncil.org www.chatechcouncil.org
this event, AWS - Premier Sponsor, Freightwaves, Unum, Kenco Logistics, EPB, CMAC, Arista,
Syssero, Red Hat, DC Blox, CGI and the Chattanooga Airport.”
The winners were announced at a virtual celebration last Wednesday at noon.
For more information and to watch the awards ceremony, visit www.chatechcouncil.org.