Massachusetts’ largest technology trade association announced the winners of the region’s most prestigious technology awards at their 20th annual Mass Technology Leadership Awards Gala at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. Hundreds gathered to celebrate the people and companies shaping the Massachusetts technology economy in 14 categories—including Company of the Year, athenahealth; Emerging Company of the Year, Toast; and CEO of the Year, Wayfair’s Niraj Shah.
MassTLC highlighted the stories to three special leaders who’ve made significant contributions to the technology community. The inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, received the Council’s highest honor, the Commonwealth Award. The MIT App Inventor team accepted the Council’s Distinguished Leadership Award for working to make application development universally accessible. And, Tech Connection and Black Tech Boston Founder Melissa James was honored with the Mosaic Award for her commitment to promote diversity and inclusion within the state’s tech sector.
“The Mass Technology Leadership Awards celebrate the extraordinary leaders and innovators whose work is at the heart of our innovation economy,” said Tom Hopcroft, CEO, MassTLC. “Each year, I am honored to recognize the hardworking visionaries that are leading the state – and the world – towards a better future.”
Selected from hundreds of nominations, and evaluated by panels comprising dozens of executives, investors, analysts, and thought leaders, the 2017 Mass Technology Leadership Award winners are:
CEO of the Year – Niraj Shah, Wayfair
CTO of the Year – Wayne Whitcomb, Salesforce
Emerging Executive of the Year – Katie Burke, HubSpot
Company of the Year – athenahealth
Emerging Company of the Year – Toast
Building a Better Workforce – EF Education First
Innovative Tech of the Year: Consumer – Franklin Robotics
Innovative Tech of the Year: Financial – Elsen Inc.
Innovative Tech of the Year: IoT – Elemental Machines
Innovative Tech of the Year: Robotics – Soft Robotics Inc.
Innovative Tech of the Year: Security – Veridium
Innovative Tech of the Year: Sales & Marketing – Yottaa
Cutting Edge Technology of the Year – Desktop Metal
Technology for a Better Tomorrow – Sterilis
The full list of finalists for the Technology Leadership Awards can be found here.
Awards Program Platinum Sponsors include Cisco, Forgerock, Marsh & McLennan Agency, Microsoft, and PwC. Gold Sponsor are The Boston Foundation and Raytheon. StartHub Boston is the marketing sponsor.
Watch videos from the event:
Leadership Awards introductory video
Commonwealth Award: Sir Tim Berners-Lee
