NJ Tech Council Awards Gala Honors Top-Tier Companies

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Nov 17, 2017

Last night’s full-house NJ Tech Council Awards gala at The Palace at Somerset Park, Somerset, was a literal “who’s who” of some of the best and brightest people leading – or employed by – key technology companies. The Garden State demonstrably remains one of the epicenters of global technological innovation. As NJ Tech Council President and CEO James Barrood told the audience, “Isn’t this a remarkable community?  If you want to innovate, wouldn’t you want to be right here, right in the middle of these people? I work with them every day, and I truly believe we have the best talent on the planet.  That is our competitive advantage.  That’s our strength. That’s what we need to build on.”

From the life sciences arena and data analytics sphere, to visionary individuals and overall impactful companies, an array of companies was honored via in-person presentations, supported by pre-recorded, high-production video broadcast before last night’s attendees.  Dr. Peter Richardson, chief medical officer and vice president of research and development at Adare Pharmaceuticals, saw his company awarded with the Beacon of Light Award, for improving people’s health.

He said, “It is a real honor to take this award on behalf of all my colleagues at Adare Pharmaceuticals. We chose to base our headquarters in New Jersey because of the unique opportunity to access talent, and help us fulfill the mission of improving the lives of patients, when others have left them behind.”

New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Judith Sheft took home the Martinson-Ballen Technology Supporter Award (named in honor of the Tech Council’s founder, John Martinson, and long-time president and CEO Maxine Ballen). She told the audience, “Right now, I am working with a lot of early-stage technology entrepreneurs in commercializing technology from the university. Those sorts of things weren’t really even in existence back when I started my career. I think you have to be open … [People] can’t think, today, that, ‘I am going to have a 20-year career path, and this is what I am going to do.’  You need to really jump on opportunities as they present themselves to you … Internationally, we need to think about the global marketplace, because, the world, particularly with technology, has made it such that anybody can sell their products internationally, so that even small companies are able to work in the international environment…”

Please find below a list of the winners.

Outstanding Technology Company Award

BNY Mellon’s Pershing

Rising Star Award

WorkWave

Beacon of Light Award (improving personal health)

Adare Pharmaceuticals

Consumer Product Award (developed a transformation consumer product)

Boxed

Innovation Technology Award (first of two “suspense” awards) (companies with revenues of $5 to $25 million)

Nominated:

Kaizen Technologies

Sphere Technology Solutions

Wylei

Winner:

Wylei (Click here for a short video of Wylei’s CEO Meg Columbia-Walsh addressing the audience)

Collaboration Award

Hackensack Meridian Health

Trailblazer Award (honors a company that has developed or introduced an ingenious, non-traditional and innovative way of doing business, or creating a culture that produced a significant value in growth, for the company)

Teligent

Martinson-Ballen Technology Supporter Award (named in honor of the Tech Council’s founder, John Martinson, and long-time president and CEO Maxine Ballen)

Judith Sheft, NJIT

Impact Company of the Year Award (serves to better each of our everyday lives)

Finalists:

ECI Technology

EPAM

Radiant

Winner:

EPAM

Private Company of the Year

Artech

Public Company of the Year Award

Johnson & Johnson

Master Technology Company of the Year, for 2017

Dunn & Bradstreet

Legend of Technology Award

Grant Thornton’s Skip Braun

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