Balloting is tight in WRAL TechWire Awards – so vote!

Don’t miss your chance to vote for your choice in the WRAL TechWire Awards. The balloting is very tight across most of the 12 categories as we count down to the deadline of 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Plus, register for free tickets. They are going fast, and the number is limited.

The final candidates represent a diverse mix of the best technology talent across the Triangle region, from entrepreneurs to the executive suite.

Plus, the corporate and startup/emerging company nominees represent the best of the best.

Here’s a sneak peek at three of the closer races for individual honors, in case you need more encouragement to vote:

Most Noteworthy Startup Founder or Investor

Chris Heivly, The Startup Factory
David Gardner, Cofounders Capital
Mark Easley, Goldhat Advisors

Startup Executive Leader

Kevin Barry, Founder and COO, FilterEasy
Tatiana Birgisson, Founder and CEO, MATI Energy
Nate Frechette, Co-Founder and CTO, Dropsource

Enterprise Executive Leader

Jesse Lipson, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Services BU at Citrix
Tara Fitzgerald, President, Clinical Development Services at INC Research
Will Aycock, General Manager at Greenlight Community Broadband

Balloting is close across the company entires as well, and the other individual award races could tighten with your participation.

So vote.

OUR KEYNOTE

Don’t forget, Cindy Whitehead. the CEO who sold Sprout Pharmaceuticals for some $1 billion in 2015, will be the keynote presenter .

Plus, we have more news to announce very shortly. You don’t want to miss this party, the biggest and best we’ve thrown to date.

Whitehead will be talking about entrepreneurship and opportunities for women.

This is the first time our TechWire awards event has featured a keynote speaker – and we’re honored than Whitehead will be on hand to discuss her experiences as an entrepreneur as well as an investor.

She and her team recently unveiled the Pinkubator, a startup incubator in Raleigh’s North Hills. Whitehead also is now an active investor and mentor for startups, having launched investment firm The Pink Ceiling.

Our awards party is set for April 25 at Google Fiber’s new headquarters in Raleigh from 6-9 p.m.

More than 100 individuals and companies were nominated by WRAL TechWire readers. The finalists were selected after a review by a WTW awards committee based on nominations received.

Here are all the finalists:

STARTUP AWARDS

Fastest Growing Startup (most potential)

Eco-Site
Republic Wireless
Textivia

Most Steady Startup (delivering success consistently)

Adwerx
Republic Wireless
ArchiveSocial

Best Emerging Startup (fast-growing startup emerging from stealth mode)

Eco-Site
RewardStock
Roundtable Analytics

Top Startup Director (CEO/Chairman)

Scott Moody, Co-Founder and CEO, K4Connect
Todd Olson, CEO, Pendo.io
Chris Chuang, Co-Founder and CEO, Republic Wireless

Startup Executive Leader (top leader/executive, not necessarily CEO but a COO, CFO, CIO)

Kevin Barry, Founder and COO, FilterEasy
Tatiana Birgisson, Founder and CEO, MATI Energy
Nate Frechette, Co-Founder and CTO, Dropsource

Most Noteworthy Startup Founder or Investor

Chris Heivly, The Startup Factory
David Gardner, Cofounders Capital
Mark Easley, Goldhat Advisors

ENTERPRISE

Highest Achieving Enterprise (established companies)

Bandwidth
IBM Watson
Sageworks

Most Steady Enterprise (delivering success consistently)

MetLife Global Technology Operations
Red Hat
Bandwidth

Best Emerging Enterprise (perhaps with IPO or exit potential)

Pendo.io
Validic
Bandwidth

Top Enterprise Director (CEO/Chairman)

Allen West, President and CEO, Railinic
David Morken, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Bandwidth
Jean Davis, President and CEO, MCNC

Enterprise Executive Leader (top leader/executive, not necessarily CEO but a COO, CFO, CIO)

Jesse Lipson, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Services BU at Citrix
Tara Fitzgerald, President, Clinical Development Services at INC Research
Will Aycock, General Manager at Greenlight Community Broadband

Most Noteworthy Enterprise Founders or Investors