The Tech Titans Awards honor top innovators, adopters, and executors impacting the North Texas technology industry, from artificial intelligence to robotics, education, automation, and more. Presented by UT Dallas, this year’s September 20 awards gala is coming up fast—and two notable honorees have already been announced.

This year’s gala will be at the Renaissance Addison Hotel from 5 to 9 p.m. September 20. Four companies, four universities, and 32 individuals—including four high school teachers—have been named as finalists.

But before we get to the finalists list, let’s meet the two announced honorees.

InfoVision’s Sean Yalamanchi Named Corporate CEO honoree

Sean Yalamanchi, co-founder and CEO of Richardson-based InfoVision, has been named as the organization’s 2024 Corporate CEO honoree. InfoVision is a leading global IT services and solutions company offering enterprise digital transformation and modernization solutions.

“Sean Yalamanchi is a strong leader in the tech community in North Texas and throughout the world,” Paul Bendel, executive director of Tech Titans, said in a statement. “He’s a true innovator and entrepreneur with a strong track record of success punctuated by his deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of future entrepreneurs and technologists. We greatly appreciate Sean’s contributions to the North Texas Tech community. He’s a past member of the board of directors of Tech Titans and we’re excited to honor him for his leadership as an outstanding CEO.”

InfoVision has earned many industry accolades in the areas of artificial intelligence, product innovation, and cybersecurity as well as recognitions for outstanding business growth and workplace culture, Tech Titans noted.

Yalamanchi is also a co-founder, investor, and board member at Digit7. He has those same three roles at Visual Collaboration Technologies as well. In addition, he is also an investor and board member for Invisinet

InfoNet of Things founder George Brody named to Tech Titans Hall of Fame

George Brody, a longtime leading innovator in the wireless industry, will be inducted into the Tech Titans Hall of Fame at the September gala. 

Brody is the founder and CEO of InfoNet of Things, an IoT solutions company he launched after briefly retiring from a 51-year corporate and entrepreneurial career. He’s also the chairman of the board of Turbostart, a global venture fund and accelerator focused on investing in and enabling early-stage tech-driven startups.

“George Brody is a legend in the tech community of North Texas and globally,” Bendel said. “He had an amazing career, retired, and then came back because entrepreneurs and innovators never really stop thinking and working. We’re grateful to George for his contributions and excited to honor him as being among the best of the best.”

In the 2019 issue of Dallas Innovates magazine, we went deep with Brody on a wide range of tech topics. The IoT expert told us that North Texas’ concentration of industry producers has “long enabled the innovation potential of the convergence of communication, community, and computation.” He also made several tech predictions—and you can check them out by going here.

Brody’s corporate career included leadership roles with Siemens Communications and BNR/Nortel in Canada, Florida, and North Texas. At Nortel, he led large teams with the launch of wireless technologies in the 1980s through the late 1990s including managing the Bell Northern Research Labs in Richardson. At Nortel, he eventually became a corporate “intrapreneur,” developing and managing a entrepreneurial start-ups within Nortel’s internal ecosystem, including Wireless New Business Ventures, a business incubator.

Out of the corporate world in 1998, Brody co-founded GlobeRanger, a venture capital-backed RFID and IoT asset tracking solutions provider that became a leading player in the IoT industry. He served as the CEO and guided its global expansion until Fujitsu acquired the company in 2014, Tech Titans noted. 

Brody now leads InfoNet of Things, which Tech Titans said aligns with his focus on emerging technologies, such as IoT, 5G, AI, and AR/VR and their applications in various sectors, including medical and enterprise. He also serves on an array of advisory councils and boards for UTD’s Jindal School of Management, UTD’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, TiE Dallas Angels, and more.

Tech Titans Awards :: The 2024 Finalists

But many Tech Titans award winners are still to be revealed. Here’s this year’s list of categories and finalists:

Corporate CIO/CTO

Paul Challoner, Ericsson North America
Sandeep Chaturvedi, GM Financial
Kelle L. Fontenot, KPMG US
Rajeev Gandhi, Mobilecomm – A UST Company

Start-up CEO

Sara Doutt, Myngly
Taylor Shead, Stemuli
Veena Somareddy, Neuro Rehab VR
Tom Vazhekatt, Routora, Inc.

Emerging Company CEO

Jon Bolen, ENTOUCH Controls
Eric Fortenberry, JobTread Software
Pradeep Govindasamy, Qualizeal, Inc.
Renee Rump, Heads Up Technologies

Emerging Company CIO/CTO

Seth Coussens, EMERGICON, LLC
Joe Head, Intrusion
Chad Stilwell, Agora Data
Angela Venuk, Datascan

Tech Inventors                                             

Chris Godfrey, Bloodbuy
Ifana Mahbub, University of Texas at Dallas
Astha Malhotra, Phylactics, LLC
Shalini Prasad, University of Texas at Dallas/EnLiSense                      

Community Hero                                                           

Juliet O’Dima, S.T.E.A.M Achievers  
Britney Keepes, Toyota Connected North America
Shoba Krishnamurthy, DFW*ATW
Sunita Manne, Melodies 4 Minds

Tech Advocate

Karen Bruno, Tech CxO Launchpad
Quincy Preston, Dallas Innovates
Deborah Sawyer, The Vistage Group
Sarah White, TechFW

Corporate Innovation

CBRE
Ericsson North America
GM Financial
KPMG US

Emerging Company Innovation

Dallas Museum of Art
ENTOUCH Controls
Netzyn, Inc.
Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation

Tech Titans of the Future – High School

Jason Dewese, Plano Independent School District
Kjeil Lease, Lewisville Independent School District
David Johnston, Richardson Independent School District
Stone Mahnich, Richardson Independent School District

Tech Titans of the Future – Community College and University

UNT Center for Information & Cybersecurity, and UNT Network Security Lab, University of North Texas
Jindal School of Management – Graduate Programs, University of Texas at Dallas
STEM Institute, Dallas College
UTDesign Capstone, University of Texas at Dallas

“All of our finalists are outstanding contributors to the tech industry and deserving of recognition,” Bendel said. “Given the intense and thorough review of candidates from our judging panel, being named a finalist is an admirable achievement by these individuals and organizations. We look forward to announcing the award recipients and celebrating their achievements as well as the achievements of all of our finalists at this year’s awards presentation.”

In addition to UT Dallas, the presenting sponsor of the 2024 Tech Titans Awards Gala, the program is also supported by Amazech, BGSF, BravoTECH, the city of Richardson, Collin College, Comerica Bank, CornerStone Technology Talent Services, Dallas College, Deloitte, Ericsson, HumCap, Moss Adams, the Richardson Independent School District, Southern Methodist University Global Online (SMU GO), Turbostart, and Qorvo.

For more info or to purchase tickets for the event, go here.

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