Tampa Bay Technology Forum Awards Gala | Al La Carte Photography

The Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF), Central Florida’s largest and most influential technology association, announced the winners of its 8th Annual Industry Achievement Awards at a black-tie awards gala Friday evening. The awards celebrate the best and brightest in Tampa Bay’s technology community. Winners were selected by a distinguished panel of judges and were honored in front of more than 400 industry professionals and decision-makers.

The 2011 Industry Achievement Award winners are:

Emerging Technology Company of the Year:
Savtira Corporation - Based in Tampa, Florida, Savtira is in the business of digital distribution with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eCommerce platform that is a turnkey system for the distribution, marketing, merchandising, and selling of both digital media and physical goods in a single store and a single, unified shopping cart. Savtira-powered stores are designed to meet the specific needs of retail partners so no two eStores are alike.


Technology Company of the Year:
eMASON - Based in Clearwater, Florida, eMASON is among the nation’s 500 fastest-growing private companies, according to Inc. magazine. eMASON, Inc. is the developer of Clarifire®, a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution available on a secure, private cloud. Unlike other applications, Clarifire allows clients to tailor their automated business processes to evolving business rules and ever-changing regulatory requirements -- at any time.


Excellence in Service Award:
myMatrixx - Since 2001 myMatrixx has focused on making the processes associated with workers' compensation claims easy and simple. They provide self-insured employers, third party administrators, managed care companies, and workers' compensation and auto insurance companies with the appropriate information to make solid business decisions. Their ultimate goal: turning pharmacy and ancillary benefit management into a paperless industry.


Community Supporter of the Year:
Museum of Science and Industry - MOSI is a not-for-profit, community-based institution and educational resource dedicated to advancing public interest, knowledge, and understanding of science, industry, and technology. With a total size of over 400,000 square feet, MOSI is the largest science center in the southeastern United States, and home to the only IMAX® Dome Theatre in the state of Florida. MOSI is the proud winner of the 2009 National Medal for Museums by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the nation’s highest honor for museums.


Rising Star Award:
Jennifer Bakunas, Bridgeline Digital – Bakunas joined Bridgeline Digital last month as senior vice president and general manager for the Florida region when Bridgeline acquired Magnetic Corp. where Bakunas was CEO. Under Bakunas’ leadership, Magnetic had annual sales of over $2 million and was profitable in 2010. Bakunas was recently selected as a Business Woman of the Year Finalist by the Tampa Bay Business Journal.


Outstanding Leadership Award:
Kevin Hourigan, Bayshore Solutions - Kevin Hourigan has led his web design and web development firm through the brink of the dot-com meltdown in early 2000's to today's high-energy, high-performance digital marketing agency.By continually applying lessons and successes in Website Design, Web Development, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and Interactive Marketing to the business dynamics and opportunities of today, Kevin has piloted Bayshore Solutions to earn an impressive roster of victorious clients whose own companies have grown significantly through their online initiatives.

The awards were handed out at the Havana Nights themed gala at the A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa. The night, emceed by Veronica Cintron, news anchor/reporter at Bay News 9, included a cocktail reception, dinner and the awards presentation, and a festive Latin-style dessert reception with live music, cigars, and casino games..

Gala sponsors included CIBER as the title sponsor, along with CDW, Bay Area Business Magazine, AVI-SPL, Bright House Network Business Solutions, Chetu, Genesis Direct, IT Authorities and Veredus.

Founded in 2000, the Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF) is a non-profit membership association committed to connecting and growing the technology community in Tampa Bay. TBTF’s 300+ member companies represent technology entrepreneurs, business and community leaders, investors, government representatives, researchers and educators. For more information, visit www.tbtf.org.