SearchINDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (February 18, 2015) — TechPoint, Indiana’s technology growth initiative, has announced the nominees for its 17th annual Mira Awards presented by Angie’s List, Interactive Intelligence, and Salesforce. The Mira Awards program is a five-month season of events and communications honoring ‘The Best of Tech in Indiana’ each year.
“This year’s Mira Awards are the first ever to have three presenting sponsors, all three are publicly-traded technology companies, and all three employ more than 1,000 people here in Indiana,” said Mike Langellier, president and CEO of TechPoint. “We couldn’t have planned it better or wished for better supporters than we have with Angie’s List, Interactive Intelligence and Salesforce.”
Eight of the 14 award categories are brand new this year. The changes reflect both the tech community’s maturation and TechPoint’s narrowed focus to address critical community needs — like filling the tech talent pipeline and accelerating high-potential, emerging tech companies.
Nominees were selected by 40 independent subject matter experts who evaluated and ranked the applications. Later this month, all nominees will deliver presentations and answer questions in-person with one of the independent judging panels, and then the judges will select the winners following their deliberations.
Key Mira Award events coming up in March, April and May include:
- “Meet the Nominees Event” – The public can learn more about this year’s nominees at 60-second pitch event on Thursday, March 17.
- “Mira Awards Gala” – Mira Award winners will be announced at a black-tie awards ceremony and gala on Saturday, April 23, at The Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
- “Winners Circle” – Current and past Mira Award Winners will have the chance to meet face-to-face with venture capital and private equity firms from across the country during the Winners Circle event on “Fast Friday” May 20, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The official 2016 TechPoint Mira Award nominees are:
PEOPLE
| Rising Star Award
● Adam Gillaspie, Co-founder and Director of Engineering, PactSafe ● Ashton Chaffee, President, DinnerCall ● Jamie Steiner, Product Manager – Analytics, Angie’s List ● Lindsay Ewing, Program Engineer, Raytheon ● Michael Welling, Associate Software Engineer, BidPal ● Teresa Becker, Owner, TKB Consulting ● Tim Balz, President, Freedom Chairs ● Tim Hickle, Digital Marketing Strategist, MilesHerndon ● Tom Hanley, Founder and Executive Director, Nine13sports ● Zack Baker, CEO, PassWhiz
Investor of the Year ● Bill Godfrey, 4G Ventures ● Don Aquilano, Allos Ventures ● Don Courtney, eBricks Group ● Hyde Park Venture Partners ● Maggie Musgrave, Innovate Indiana Fund ● Michael Earley, Advisor ● Simon Venture Group |
Tech Educator of the Year
● 1st Maker Space ● Andy Harris, Sr. Lecturer, Computer Science, IUPUI ● Ball State Achievements Team, Ball State University ● Calvin Hendryx-Parker, CTO, Six Feet Up ● Dan Rigsby, Senior Software Architect, Angie’s List ● Dow AgroSciences Science Ambassadors ● Dr. David Fisher, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology ● Dr. Kylie Pepple, Associate Professor of Learning Sciences, Indiana University ● Duke Realty Corporation ● Eleven Fifty Academy ● Miles Z. Sterrett, Partner, Fretless ● Tammy Laughner, CEO and Founder VIMME Learning |
PRODUCTS
| Best New Tech Product
● BoxFox ● Clear Software ● DATTUS ● DemandJump ● Enspire Commerce, an enVista company. ● Interactive Intelligence ● PAN – Performance Assessment Network ● POLARIS Laboratories® ● Rook Security ● Springbuk Analytics ● TinderBox Close™ |
Innovation of the Year
● Angie’s List ● DemandJump ● ExactHire ● Lectio ● Mesh Systems ● Monon Bioventures ● Raytheon Mission Data Server ● Rundown ● TinderBox Insights™ ● y!kes |
COMPANIES
| Company Culture of the Year
● Angie’s List ● Delivra ● DoubleMap ● eimagine ● Formstack ● Hanapin Marketing ● MOBI ● Moser Consulting ● Return Path ● Squaremouth ● Studio Science ● TrendyMinds
Corporate Innovator of the Year ● Eli Lilly and Company ● InnovateMap ● mAccounting ● Telamon Corporation ● The Schneider Corporation |
New Start-up of the Year (Launched 2015)
● BoxFox ● DemandJump ● Eleven Fifty Consulting ● Enspire Commerce, an enVista company ● Sigstr ● Torchlite Marketing™ ● Upper Hand ● WorkHere
Tech Company of the Year ($20M+) ● Appirio ● First Internet Bank ● Interactive Intelligence ● Kinney Group ● NextGear Capital ● Renaissance Electronic Services ● Salesforce ● The AME Group |
| Scale-up of the Year ($100K-$5M)
● Bluebridge ● Cimcor ● Copper Mountain Technologies ● Springbuk ● PactSafe ● Perceivant ● pi lab – Edwin the Duck ● SmarterHQ ● Vennli
|
Scale-up of the Year ($5M-$20M)
● Blue Pillar ● Bluelock ● CloudOne ● Extension Healthcare ● Geofeedia ● MOBI ● Rook Security ● Scale Computing |
In addition to the competitive Mira Awards categories, three special industry recognitions — TechPoint Foundation for Youth BridgeBuilder Award, TechPoint Trailblazer in Technology Award, and new category Community Champion of the Year — are selected by the TechPoint Foundation for Youth and TechPoint boards of directors respectively.
The black-tie awards ceremony and gala at The Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday, April 23, features dinner and cocktails, live music and other fun, energized activities. Early-bird and “Under 30” tickets are on sale now at www.techpoint.org.
