Today’s blog was written by Robert Haley, Marketing Manager of Compunetix. Robert has been a member of the teleconferencing community for over 25 years. Contact Robert at rhaley@compunetix.com.
That was the question of the evening at the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s annual Pittsburgh Tech 50 celebration last Wednesday evening at the Wyndham Grand Hotel. The dinner and program represented the 25th anniversary of the yearly gala, with over 500 attendees in the hotel’s second floor grand ballroom. Dinner attendees were presented with an exciting program that highlighted emerging organizations and shone a spotlight on some of the area’s brightest technology companies.
Interspersed between awards, the program featured video interviews with company principals as they were asked to describe where they were when this recognition program began back in 1997. These clips threaded together the PTC’s narrative regarding the booming technology sector growth in Pittsburgh over the last quarter century. The personal and humanizing remarks scored with the audience as we all reflected where we might have been at that period in our lives. The reflections ranged from memories of working previous start-ups and struggles to get funding, all the way to some younger speakers identifying which year of high school they were attending at the time. Together, the short clips articulated the common experiences of this group of entrepreneurial leaders as they moved their organizations forward.
The PTC and other sponsors of the evening recognized and presented Innovator of the Year awards to companies across a series of business categories including Consumer, Medtech/HealthIT, Life Sciences, and Manufacturing. In addition, the program recognizes a CEO of the year, which was presented to Alicia B. Harvey-Smith, President and CEO of Pittsburgh’s Technical College. The Pittsburgh Technology Council President and CEO, Audrey Russo introduced the evening’s program by highlighting the dedication of the PTC’s own Jonathan Kersting, who Russo explained has been in attendance for EVERY Tech 50 dinner since its inception.
Compunetix, a previous Tech 50 award recipient, was proud to populate our table at this year’s dinner with employees from each of the company’s areas of operation. Compunetix President and CEO Dr. Giorgio Coraluppi, a primary founder of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, joined the council board members at the lead table for the presentations. A complete list of the finalist and the winners can be found HERE.
Personally and professionally, 25 years ago, I had just relocated to a suburb outside of Pittsburgh to begin a new position with an emerging collaboration juggernaut – Compunetix. That was my introduction into the technology sector of Pittsburgh, and to the PTC. It’s been one heck of a quarter century, and as evidenced by the enthusiastic crowd in attendance last evening, the next 25 years promise only more of the same.