Who is your choice for a Full Steam Ahead Award?

by Rick Smith — May 21, 2012

The Skinny blog is written by Rick Smith, editor and co-founder of WRAL Tech Wire and business editor of WRAL.com.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – More than 150 tech entrepreneurs, executives, investors, advisors and leaders are in the running for the first “Full Steam Ahead Awards” from WRAL Tech Wire. The finalists will be announced later today.

However, you have a chance to cast your vote for the People’s Choice honor.

Which high-tech or life science entrepreneur, executive or investor deserves to win this award?

Send your vote (one only, please) to me (rsmith@wral.com).

Deadline to vote is 7 a.m. Thursday.

We’ll announce three finalists then, and the winner will be disclosed at Thursday night’s event.

We’re playing off a railroad theme as we celebrate North Carolina’s tech and life science industries as well as groups and organizations that support tech or utilize the latest in IT to transform their businesses.

Our panel of judges (entrepreneurs, executives, investors – i.e. people who really know the business) have already nominated candidates in the following categories:

Mogul – Top investor/owner
Conductor – Board chairman
Engineer – CEO
Fireman – COO (operations)
Brakeman – CFO (spending)
Signalman – CIO/CTO (technology/information)
Rookie – Top entrepreneur
Steward – Mentor/advisor to startups
Yardmaster – Developer/visionary driving regional development and/or a type of technology
Inventor – Creator/mastermind

The nominees:

I. THE MOGUL

Jason Caplain, David Jones at Southern Capitol Ventures
Steve Vanderwoude
Marc Noel
Jim Goodmon, Capitol Broadcasting
Bruce Boehm
Steve Wiehe, SciQuest
Dennis Gillings, Quintiles
NC Idea Fund Partners/David Rizzo and team
Buck Goldstein
Joe Velk
Christy Shaffer, Hatteras Ventures,
Intersouth Partners/Dennis Dougherty and Mitch Mumma
David Murdock, Dole Food & North Carolina Research Campus
Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor
Bob Young, Lulu

II. THE CONDUCTOR

Henry Shelton, Red Hat
Henry Kaestner, Bandwidth.com
Chuck Swoboda, Cree
Jim Goodnight, SAS
Dennis Gillings, Quintiles
Ping Fu, Geomagic
Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo
David Jones, Peak 10
Aaron Houghton, iContact and BoostSuite
Richard Holcomb, StrikeIron

III. THE ENGINEER

IV. THE FIREMAN

Alan Hughes, BCBSNC
Tony Cockerham, Duke Net Communications
David Spitz, ChannelAdvisor
Chaz Felix, Bronto Software
Tobi Walter, Shoeboxed
Bob Pickens, Secure Enterprise Computing
Tom Kurke, Geomagic
Tom Jacobson, MCNC
John Murdock, Bandwidth.com
Vince Beese, Amadesa
Scott Frederick, Automated Insights
Marco Fregenal, EvoApp
Earl Philmon, NDSL

V.THE BRAKEMAN

Bruce Bocher, Liquidia
Ricky Ayers, Work Smart
Dana Guzzo, Martin Marietta
Tom Staab, Biocryst
Richard Eisinstadt, Tranzyme
Charlie Peters, Red Hat
John Kuntzweil, Cree
Pat Moody, MCNC
Toby Walter, Shoeboxed
Tim Grist, Charles & Covard

VI. THE SIGNALMAN

Rob Simora, Railinc
Jim Baxley, Square 1 Bank
Lee Congdon, Red Hat
Jeff Stovall, City of Charlotte
Gail Roper, City of Raleigh
Ralph Kasuba, iContact
Delisa Alexander, Red Hat
Tim Sweeny, Epic
Keith Collins, SAS
Joe Davy, EvoApp
Adam Covati, Argyle Social
Nathaniel Talbot, Speedly
Robert Hubbard, Reverb Nation

VII. THE ROOKIE/TOP ENTREPRENEUR

Dara Keatts and Jess Shorland, Pengo Loans
Andrew Fu, Goodfit
Jud Bowman, Appia
Peter Bourne,
James Avery, Adzerk
Josh Whiton, Transloc
Eric Boggs, Argyle Social
Keith Shephard, Imangi Studios
Matt Williamson, Windsor Circle
Aaron Houghton, iContact and BoostSuite
Jesse Lipton, ShareFile
Ryan Allis, iContact
Robbie Allen, Automated Insight

VIII. THE STEWARD/MENTOR

Chris Heavly and Dave Neal, Triangle Startup Factory
Tom Miller, N.C. State
Council for Entrepreneurial Development team
Dhruv Patel, CED
Charles Buenzli, CED Venture Mentoring Service
Lee Buck
Brian Handly, StepLeader
Ken Romley, Zift Solutions
Charles Buenzli, BlackBook Solutions Group
Sean O’Leary, StrikeIron
Steve Nelson, Wakefield Group
Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor
John Austin, Joystick Labs
Bill Warner, Cary Innovation Center
Andy Schwab, First Flight Venture Center

IX. THE YARDMASTER

Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat
Pam Lewis, Venture AVL, Asheville
Michael Goodmon, Capitol Broadcasting
Keith Collins, SAS
John Covan, 6Fusion
Rick West, Advanced Liquid Logic
Chris Heavly, Triangle Startup Factory
Justin Gehtland, Relevance Software
Merrette Moore
Jason Caplain, Southern Capitol Ventures
Adam Klein, Durham Chamber of Commerce
Joe Procopio, Automated Insight and The Exit Event
Robbie Allen. Automated Insight
Joan Myers
Jame Smith Patterson, formerly eNC
Monica Doss, formerly CED
Joe Freddoso, MCNC
Charles Hamner, The Hamner Institutes
Josh Whiton, Transloc

X. THE INVENTOR

Joe DeSimone, UNC and NCSU, multiple ventures
Tom Dempsey, Sylvan Sport
Ric Boucher
Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games
Miles Palmer, 8 Rivers Capital
Charles Hamner, The Hamner Institutes
Matt Williamson
Robbie Allen, Automated Insights
Aaron Houghton, iContact and BoostSuite
Jud Bowman, Appia

For the five corporate award nominees, read here.

So who will win?

Join us Thursday, May 24, at the Fullsteam Brewery in Durham and find out.

You need to register today. There’s no charge – but space is limited.

Finally, we also will have a “people’s choice” winner – someone nominated and selected by Tech Wire readers.

Reserve your space today.