ATDC representatives made a strong showing at TiECON Southeast 2012, nearly sweeping the awards categories and helping to prove ATDC’s reputation as a major hub for technology entrepreneurship. Member companies and mentors won four out of the five awards given out at the recent conference, including Entrepreneur of 2012, Top Up-and-Coming Entrepreneur, College Student Entrepreneur and Deal of the Year.
TiE Global is the world’s largest organization for entrepreneurs, with more than 13,000 members worldwide. TiECON Southeast is the largest convention in the region dedicated to entrepreneurs, offering a day full of informative presentations, workshops and a celebration of local success.
Andrew Ibbotson of Digital Assent, an ATDC Select Member, won Entrepreneur of the Year. The prestigious award is presented annually to an entrepreneur who has accomplished extraordinary success and demonstrated high commitment to the entrepreneurial community. Ibbotson was selected by a panel of independent judges made up of previous award recipients, technology company CEOs, private capital investors and other regional business leaders.
“Building a company is a team effort and it gives me great pleasure to share this recognition with everyone at Digital Assent,” said Ibbotson. “Growing as quickly as we have over the past 18 months is not without its challenges. This award is a testament to the hard work, talent and dedication of our team.”
David Moeller of member company CodeGuard received the Up and Coming Entrepreneur award, which honors “rising stars” in the industry. As the young founder of a high-growth company, Moeller was tapped for demonstrating great potential and the characteristics of highly successful entrepreneurs.
“I was honored to be awarded the ‘Top Up-and-Coming Entrepreneur’ of 2012, and join the company of past winners including David Cummings (Pardot), Michael Cohn (Cloud Sherpas), and Shashi Reddy (Case-mate),” said Moeller. “I am thankful for the hard work of my teammates at CodeGuard and for our investors, and am motivated to continue our forward progress.”
Rounding out the top finishers: Kurt Heinrich of ATDC member company eCommHub won the student award, which recognizes college students who have shown entrepreneurial vision. Devon Wijesinghe, an ATDC mentor, earned Deal of the Year for founding and developing a “company with excellence in industry innovation, management and financial accomplishment.”
Congratulations to all four for rocking the awards portion of the TiECON Southeast conference this past weekend!