Dave Rizzo, the former Charlotte entrepreneur who rebuilt MCNC and then established venture capital firm IDEA Fund partners as well as the economic development group NC IDEA, will receive a life time service award from WRAL TechWire at its Full Steam Ahead Awards celebration.

Rizzo is one of five people will will be honored as Editor’s Choice recipients for their contributions to the building of North Carolina’s booming tech startup ecosystem.

He joins an elite group of honorees which includes Charles Hamner, Jane Smith Patterson, Dennis Gillings, Monica Doss, Ping Fu, Bob Young, Paul Gilster, Jim Roberts, Jason Caplain, David Jones, Vivek Wadhwa and the members of the North Carolina Next Generation Network executive committee..

Although he retired from his NC IDEA position last year, Rizzo tells friends he will be at the event to accept his honor – and the trademark engineer cap that goes to all Full Steam winners.

We’re breaking with a bit of tradition here by disclosing Rizzo’s selection in advance to give friends, colleagues and entrepreneurs who many not know Rizzo but have benefited from his work over the past 30 years a chance to shake hands, lift an adult beverage and offering some hearty cheers along with applause.

He deserves the praise.

The Skinny published a salute to Dave on Feb. 12. That story is being reprinted today to help explain why WTW chose to honor him. See link with this story.

Who are the other winners?

The other winners remain secret for now, but here are some hints:

  • One was a driving force at NCTA
  • Another has led economic development efforts in the Triangle for decades
  • Triangle tech media today would not have been the same without this entrepreneur
  • And the fourth helped put many Triangle/North Carolina firms on the technology map through marketing efforts

The Full Steam Ahead Awards party is set for April 26.

Tickets are free but limited – and you must register.

What about the other awards?

The finalists in each of 12 categories will be published later today. Check pack at 2 p.m.

Party details

Motorco in Durham is the site for the party.

Get your tickets TODAY!

WTW first made the Full Steam Ahead Awards in 2012. The categories have changed over time to the 2016 format of 12 winners – six individual and six corporate – spread across two categories: Startups/emerging companies and Enterprise companies.

Previous winners:

2012

Editor’s Choice recipients:

  • Dr. Charles Hamner
  • Jane Smith Patterson
  • Ping Fu, then chairman and CEO of 3-D software firm Geomagic
  • Vivek Wadhwa, entrepreneur turned academic and author

Individual winners:

  • Troy Tolle, co-founder and chief technology officer at educational software firm Infinity Learning Solutions (Asheville)
  • Jim Goodmon, Capitol Broadcasting
  • Jimmy Goodmon, Capitol Broadcasting
  • Jim Goodnight, SAS
  • Dr. Michael Capps and Tim Sweeney, Epic Games
  • David Spitz, ChannelAdvisor
  • Charlie Peters, Red Hat
  • Gail Roper, City of Raleigh
  • Jesse Lipson, Sharefile
  • Joan Siefert Rose and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development team
  • Dr. Charles Hamner, The Hamner Institutes
  • Dr. Joseph DeSimone, UNC and NCSU plus multiple companies
  • Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games

Corporate winners:

  • Appia
  • SciQuest
  • Bronto
  • Semprius
  • MCNC

2013

Editor’s Choice recipients:

  • Monica Doss, entrepreneurship
  • Bob Young, founder of Red Hat and Lulu
  • Dr. Dennis Gillings, founder and executive chairman, Quintiles

Individual winners:

  • Chris Heivly and David Neal, The Startup Factory
  • Henry Kaestner, Bandwidth
  • David Morken, Bandwidth
  • Chris Chuang, Bandwidth
  • Kevin Gordon, Quintiles
  • Steven Lorenz, Neuse River Networks
  • Coleman Greene, Sqord
  • Adam Klein, American Underground
  • Adam Klein and Michael Goodmon, American Underground
  • Tim Sweeney, Epic Games
  • Rob Cotter, Organic Transit
  • Andy Schwab, First Flight Venture Center
  • Matthew Coppedge of Downtown Durham, Inc.; Adam Klein of The American Underground; and Casey Steinbacher of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce for Durham’s “Smoffice”
  • Joanne Rohde, Axial Exchange
  • Ginger Dosier, bioMASON
  • Steve Malik, Medfusion
  • Tom Pike, Quintiles
  • Jim Roberts, at the time at UNC Wilmington where he spearheaded entrepreneurial development.

Corporate winners:

  • Bandwidth
  • Cree
  • Red Hat
  • Neuse River Networks
  • Republic Wireless

​(Note: there were no awards in 2014)

2015

Editor’s Choice recipients:

  • Technology columnist and author Paul Gilster
  • Entrepreneur Jim Roberts
  • Venture capitalists Jason Caplain and David Jones, Bull City Venture Partners
  • The North Carolina Next Generation Network committee. Members:
    • Tracy Futhey – Vice President for Information Technology / CIO, Duke University (NCNGN Steering Committee Chair)
    • Gail Roper – Chief Information Officer, City of Raleigh (NCNGN Steering Committee Vice – Chair)
    • Johannes Boehme – Associate Vice-President, Academic and Administrative Systems, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
    • John Bjurman – Chief Information Officer, Town of Chapel Hill
    • Scott Clark – Senior Manager, Technology Services, Town of Cary
    • Marc Hoit – Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO, NCSU
    • Dennis Newman – Chief Information Officer, City of Winston-Salem
    • Chris Kielt – Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO, UNC – Chapel Hill
    • Wanda Page – Deputy City Manager, City of Durham
    • Andy Vogel – Information and Technology Manager, Town of Carrboro
    • Bill Stice, the original representative from the Town of Cary, who recently retired
    • Elise Kohn, Senior Advisor & NCNGN Program Director

Startup award winners:

  • Engineer: Daniel Jebaraj, vice president, Syncfusion
  • Express: WedPics, CEO Justin Miller
  • Tycoon: HQ Raleigh’s founding team
  • Freight: American Underground, led by Adam Klein
  • Subway: nCino, Wilmington
  • Conductor: Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Carbon 3D

Enterprise award winners:

  • Engineer: Jim Davis, SAS
  • Express: Lenovo
  • Tycoon: Susan Casey, Square 1 Bank
  • Freight: Live Oak Bank, Wilmington
  • Subway: Bronto Software; Reverb Nation (runner-up)
  • Conductor: Venessa Harrison, AT&T North Carolina; Tom Pike, Quintiles (runner-up)