-- CityLIGHTS Award: Given to an individual that has made a significant
impact on the Illinois technology community.
-- Jerry R. Mitchell, Midwest Entrepreneurs' Forum
-- Linda Darragh, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship
-- Anna Belyaev, Type A Learning Agency
-- Shelly Stern, Microsoft Coporation
-- CEO of the Year Award: Given to the CEO who has driven his company
to new heights in the past year.
-- Douglas R. Waggoner, Echo Global Logistics
-- Bill Conroy, Initiate Systems
-- Scott Etzler, InterCall
-- Gregg Kaplan, Redbox
-- George Burciaga, smarTECHS.net
-- Spotlight Award: Given to the CIO/CTO for leadership and outstanding
contributions in the application of information technology.
-- Deepak Singh, Adeptia Inc.
-- Eric Dirst, DeVry Inc.
-- Rich Holada, SPSS Inc.
-- Michael Fineberg, SurePayroll
-- Laurie E. Lasseter, WMS Gaming
-- Lighthouse Award: Given to the company that best represents the
region's growing stature as home to world-class information
technology companies.
-- ArrowStream, Inc.
-- BigMachines
-- SmartSignal
-- Trustwave
-- West Monroe Partners
-- Rising Star Award: Given to the company that has emerged from its
start-up phase to distinguish itself in the technology marketplace.
-- Aleri Inc.
-- Geckotech
-- InXpo, Inc.
-- MediaBank
-- Open Kernal Labs
-- Newcomer Award: Given to the company that has the strongest potential
to emerge from its start-up phase and distinguish itself in the
technology marketplace.
-- crowdSPRING
-- CTH Technologies, Inc.
-- LifeSnapz, Inc.
-- Options City
-- Telemedicine Solutions, LLC
For the first time ever, members of Illinois' technology
community are invited to cast their vote to help determine the winners.
Voting is available through the event website at www.itacitylights.com and
limited to ITA association members. Voting is open now and closes at
11:59pm on April 8, 2009.
"Over the past decade, CityLIGHTS has honored excellence within Illinois'
ever-expanding technology industry," said ITA President Fred Hoch. "In the
spirit of collaboration, we believe the Illinois technology community
should pick the winners."
CityLIGHTS is ITA's annual celebration of vitality and innovation in
Illinois' burgeoning technology community and is the Midwest's premier
technology-related award event. The awards gala will recognize key players
-- from industry veterans to rising stars -- whose innovations are driving
positive change. All Illinois companies and executives are invited to
attend the event, which is the largest gathering of technology executives
in the state.
Sponsors of this year's CityLIGHTS Awards include Platinum Sponsor Grant Thornton; Gold Sponsors Aladdin Knowledge Systems and McGuireWoods; and Event Sponsor SPSS. For more information, or to
register to attend the event, please visit www.itacitylights.com
About the ITA
The Illinois Technology Association
(ITA) represents the interests of a diverse membership of
more than 550 companies in Illinois that create, deploy and utilize
information technology as a core part of their organization. By connecting
members with industry peers and participants, providing the latest
strategic information, market research and critical market insight and by
promoting key thought leaders to raise visibility and gain a greater market
awareness and presence, ITA is focused on building and developing the
Illinois technology community through collaboration. Additional information
is available at www.illinoistech.org.
Contact Information: Contact: Lee Figora Senior Account Executive Ruder Finn +1.312.329.3978 figoral@ruderfinn.com