Late last week, members of the largest tech trade organization in the Lone Star State convened to honor the top players in the North Texas ecosystem.

At the Richardson-based Tech Titans Awards gala at the Eismann Center, a number of local tech firms and individuals were highlighted for their “innovative work and leadership.”

“The phenomenal growth the North Texas tech industry is experiencing at this time can clearly be seen in the innovative processes and applications of the finalists and winners that were honored at the awards gala,” Paul Bendel, executive director of Tech Titans, told Dallas Innovates.

The theme: ‘Building Community’

Paul Bendel

Under the theme of “building community,” this year’s finalists spanned 11 categories, from corporate innovation to community hero, representing everything from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Also given their props were individuals and institutions driving change in the local tech scene and “transforming the world in which we all live by developing innovative applications and technical solutions.”

“The ‘building community’ theme set the tone for the entire evening,” Bendel said in a statement. “The need to come together as an industry, reconnect with friends, and build new business connections were really what this year’s awards gala was all about as we recognized the outstanding achievements of these companies and individuals.”

Hall of Fame inductee, Corporate CEO Award winner

Hall of Fame inductee Doug Moore

The gala’s highlights included the induction of Fujitsu North America President and CEO Doug Moore into the Tech Titans Hall of Fame, a presentation sponsored by Matrix Resources.

According to the organization, Moore was honored for career achievements and commitment to building the technology industry in North Texas and across the globe.

Another highlight was the naming of Charlie Vogt, CEO of telecommunications firm DZS, as the winner of the Corporate CEO Award, which recognizes CEO leadership in corporate companies within the technology and communications industry.

Charlie Vogt, CEO of DZS

Tech Titans said it chose Vogt for his work “transforming” DZS into a leading enterprise in its industry.

According to the company, since Vogt joined it in 2020, DZS has led the effort to acquire and integrate three tech companies and has grown DZS’ customer count by nearly 200. The Corporate CEO Award was sponsored by Comcast-owned Masergy.

“The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is one of the fastest growing and most competitive technology hubs in the world,” Vogt said in a statement. “We are laser focused on transforming today’s service provider into tomorrow’s experience provider by innovating and delivering differentiated access networking infrastructure and cloud-native orchestration, automation, service assurance, end-to-end Wi-Fi management and data analytics software platforms from the network edge to the home.”

TimelyMD takes home the Fast Tech award

TimelyMD CEO Luke Hejl

At the Tech Titan Awards gala, Fort Worth’s TimelyMD won the annual Fast Tech award, which highlights the fastest-growing company in the region. Using three-year revenue growth from 2020 to 2022, Moss Adams and Comerica Bank looked at publicly available data and named TimelyMD as the winner. The collegiate-focused virtual health company recently landed in the No.116 spot on the 2022 Inc. 5000 list, reporting three-year growth of 3,852%. The company says it serves more than 1.5 million students across 250 college and university campuses. The award was presented by Moss Adams, Comerica Bank Tech and Life Sciences, and the Dallas Business Journal.

“Student health and well-being is the pathway to student success, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Luke Hejl, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement. “TimelyMD comprehensively addresses the top concerns of students and campus leaders with the highest levels of quality, services and security. We thank Tech Titans and our campus partners for this incredible honor.”

Meet the other winners

Bendel said that based on the finalists and winners in each category, the “trend in tech in North Texas” is heading toward artificial intelligence, machine learning, and life sciences, such as biotech and health tech. He added that connected vehicles and automation are “also on the list.”

Here are the other winners of the 2022 Tech Titans Awards:

Tech Titans of the Future High School Award sponsored by State Farm
Recognizes a high school math or science teacher for the development and implementation of an innovative teaching technique or program that inspires student interest in math and/or science.
Winner: Wenzen Chuang, Highland Park High School

Tech Titans of the Future University Award
Recognizes educational institutions that encourage and support students in choosing engineering and technology-related disciplines as a preferred path. This award category spotlights DFW-area higher educational institutions’ tech-related curricula and incentives to perpetuate tech-related knowledge transfer.
Winner: The Sustainability + Development Program at Southern Methodist University

Community Hero Award sponsored by Amaztech Solutions
Recognizes an individual employed by a North Texas technology company for outstanding achievements in community service.
Winner: Danyel Surrency Jones, POWERHANDZ

Technology Inventors Award
The Technology Inventors Award recognizes the pioneering accomplishments of a person, team, or group responsible for the creation of breakthrough ideas, processes, or products which have advanced the discipline(s) of the arts, education, electronics, energy, engineering, environment, medicine, and/or science.
WInner: Mark Harrison, Ericsson

Technology Advocate Award sponsored by NTT Data
Recognizes a technology advocate/champion for their outstanding leadership in assisting, advancing, or accelerating the performance of technology companies and/or the technology community.
Winner: Robyn Brown, Bold Idea

Corporate Innovation Award sponsored by Ericsson
Recognizes outstanding innovation and unique accomplishments through recent or potential breakthrough technology or approach within the technology and communications industry.
Winner: Brinker International

Corporate CIO/CTO Award sponsored by Deloitte
Recognizes the chief information officer or corporate technology or science officer of a North Texas-based company with 2021 operating revenue of more than $200 million for exceptional technical leadership that fostered the development or deployment of new technology resulting in significant value.
Winner: Gordon Mansfield, AT&T

Startup Company CEO Award sponsored by DZS
Recognizes the CEO of a technology company with 2021 operating revenues of no more than $2 million.
Winner: Daniel Powell, Spark Biomedical

Emerging Company Innovation Award sponsored by Fujitsu
Recognizes outstanding innovation and unique accomplishments through potential breakthrough technology, processes, or services within the technology and communications industry.
Winner: Aligned Data Centers

Emerging Company CIO/CTO Award sponsored by the University of Texas at Dallas
Recognizes the chief information officer or corporate technology or science officer of a North Texas-based emerging company for exceptional technical leadership that fostered the development or deployment of new technology resulting in significant value.
Winner: Corey Clark, BALANCED Media | Technology

Emerging Company CEO Award sponsored by BravoTech
Recognizes CEO leadership for an emerging company within the technology and communications industry.
Winner: Srii Srinivasan, Changeback Gurus

Find the full list of all the honorees here.

Sponsors of this year’s Tech Titans Award Gala included BravoTech, Comerica Bank, Deloitte, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HumCap, Kibernum, Moss Adams, Masergy, NTT Data, Texas Instruments, and UT Dallas.