2009 NCTA Tech Executive of the Year

(POLL CLOSED - Winner will be announced on November 12 at the NCTA 21 Awards)

For the first time, the ‘Tech Executive of the Year’ will be selected by popular vote and will be recognized at NCTA’s annual 21 Awards gala on Thursday, November 12. NCTA members and non-members can cast their votes until October 31. The Tech Executive of the Year Award is sponsored by NYSE Euronext.

Scroll down to view nominees and select your choice for 2009 Tech Executive of the Year.

Tom Brown, President
Stratapult, Inc.
Mr. Brown, President of Inmar Technology Solutions, Inc., has extensive experience in the conception and implementation of technology driven solutions for business. He has over twenty years of experience and has served in management roles in the telecommunications and financial management industry for Inmar, Nynex, First Data Corporation and Accenture.

Mr. Brown has demonstrated expertise in pioneering various product development initiatives. He implemented a centralized distribution model that revolutionized the computer reseller industry and led the effort to create a new business focused on leasing, deployment and repair of credit card terminals. He was the driving force behind the design and development of an award-winning, business analysis portal providing leading consumer packaged goods manufacturers with secure access to the behavior of their promotions. He led an effort to develop an innovative Cloud Computing platform that helps retail pharmacies manage their receivables. Most recently, he brought a new mobile software platform to market that improves the cycle time for conducting supply chain studies.
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Michael Capps Ph.D., President
Epic Games, Inc.
Dr. Michael Capps is the president of Epic Games, Inc. based in Cary, NC. Epic has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its “Unreal” series, as well as the 2006 Game of the Year “Gears of War,” which has sold over 4.7 million copies. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games including 2K Games’ 2007 Game of the Year “BioShock” and BioWare’s 2007 RPG of the Year “Mass Effect.” Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder and three-time consecutive winner of Game Developer magazine’s Front Line award for 'Best Engine.' Epic was also recognized as 2006 Studio of the Year by Spike TV, 2006 Developer of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine and 2007 Large Company of the Year by the North Carolina Technology Association.

Michael serves on the board of directors for two major industry organizations: the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which supports the needs of game publishers; and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), which is charged with recognition of outstanding achievement in the entertainment software community.  Michael is also an advisory board member of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the industry's foremost convention for game developers, and he has served as board director of the International Game Developer's Association (IGDA), the world's largest nonprofit membership organization for game developers.

Prior to entering the game industry, Michael served as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.  He specialized in defense and entertainment collaboration, virtual reality and computer graphics.  For his work in these areas, he was one of 50 graphics pioneers interviewed for the ACM SIGGRAPH documentary, 'The Story of Computer Graphics.'  While at the Naval Postgraduate School, Michael was the producer, designer and lead programmer of the "America's Army" computer game.  This unique project has been covered by print and televised media around the world, and the game was accessed over 30 million times in the first week of its release.
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Andrew J. “Flip” Filipowski, Executive Chairman and CEO
SilkRoad technology, Inc.
As the executive chairman and CEO of SilkRoad technology, Inc., Andrew J. “Flip” Filipowski is one of the world’s most successful high-tech entrepreneurs, philanthropists and industry visionaries. Prior to SilkRoad technology, Flip founded PLATINUM technology, Inc. in 1987, growing the company from a startup to the eighth largest software enterprise in the world, reaching $1 billion in revenue. PLATINUM amassed one of the most valuable technology and service offerings in the software industry with its industry leading products for database management, business intelligence, application development and internet tools. In 1999, he sold PLATINUM to Computer Associates International, Inc. for nearly $4 billion in cash – the largest acquisition of a software company at the time.

Flip has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Individuals in the Technology Field by Upside magazine and is a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Torch of Liberty Award for his support in fighting hate on the Internet. He has also received the Illinois High Tech and KPMG Peat Marwick’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Under Flip’s leadership, SilkRoad technology has also been named one of the Top One Hundred Hot Public Companies by Forbes magazine, the eighth largest Independent Software Company in the World by Software Magazine, made Business Week’s Top Ten Research and Development lists for R&D spending per employee and R&D spending in relation to sales, and was chosen by Network World as one of the Ten Companies to Watch.
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Cynthia G. Marshall, President
AT&T North Carolina
Cynthia G. Marshall is President, AT&T North Carolina and directly responsible for the company’s regulatory, legislative and community affairs activities in the state. Nationally, she serves on the Board of Governors of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and is a Vice Chair of the National Utilities Diversity Council. Within North Carolina, she is First Vice Chair of the North Carolina State Chamber, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the CEO Advisory Council of the North Carolina Center for Non-Profits, and the Board of Trustees of Bennett College. She also serves on the boards of Junior Achievement of the Central Carolinas and the Foundation for the Carolinas.

Recognizing the importance of advanced technology for community development and economic growth in rural areas, she worked to bring 450 new jobs to Goldsboro, staffing a new technical support center to serve AT&T’s consumer broadband customers. Under her leadership, the company brought its state-of-the art AT&T U-verseSM service to North Carolina, launching the Charlotte region in November 2008, in the Triangle region in December 2008, and in the Asheville market in August 2009. Deeply committed to advocacy for children in need of adoption or in need of support in foster care situations, Cynthia is a member of the Board of the North Carolina Children’s Home Society. She is also a strong believer in public education and serves on the General Assembly’s Committee on Dropout Prevention and on the North Carolina New Schools Project Board of Directors. She has led AT&T North Carolina in focusing its corporate citizenship activities on dropout prevention, and was instrumental in AT&T becoming the title sponsor of the North Carolina Teacher of the Year program. Since coming to North Carolina, Cynthia has received numerous awards, including the prestigious “Friend of Education Award” from the NC Board of Education.
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Select Your Choice for 2009 Tech Executive of the Year (you may vote once per day):

Tom Brown, President of Stratapult Michael Capps, President of Epic Games Flip Filipowski, Chair/CEO of SilkRoad technology Cynthia Marshall, President of AT&T (NC)