NC TECH's 2025 NEXT TECH Award Winners
NC TECH and partners, Business North Carolina and MetLife, are thrilled to announce the class of 2025 winners of the NEXT TEXT Awards. These awards aims to recognize North Carolina's tech rising stars. The 2025 winners were selected from nominations submitted from across the state recognizing individuals who exceed expectations, build products, grow revenue, support operations, and manage projects that propel businesses forward.
Congratulations to the class of 2025 winners:
Shyam Adivi - Director of Product Solutions, Trust Your Supplier (TYS)
Chris Airey - Senior Principal Engineer, Mindgrub
Wesley Ange - Client Solutions Executive, Clarkston Consulting
Lindsay Freeman Avagliano - COO, CivicReach
E.B. Batten - EVP of Growth, BairesDev
Meredith Biechele - Product Development Manager, Kempower, Inc
Shankar Chebrolu - Director of Security Architecture, Red Hat
Andrew Clark - Salesforce Manager, Project Kitty Hawk
Brett Cramer - Development Support Manager, Engineering Team, Jackrabbit Technologies
Jesse Crow - Senior Director of Core Technology, WorkSmart
Marlene Dunkin - Director of Finance and Administration, M2 Optics, Inc.
Fred Eaker - Program Manager, NC Health Information Exchange Authority
David Ellison - Chief Data Scientist & Director of AI Engineering, Lenovo
Cody Elsen - Esports Program Director, North Carolina State University
Lauren Y. Holt - Chief Business Operations Officer / CFO / CAO, Silver Tree Consulting & Services
Ivana Jones - Senior Developer, Business Intelligence, Compass Group Nort America
Rajdeep Karmakar - Vice President, Cloud and Innovation Engineering, Deutsche Bank
Kate Kremer - Technical Team Lead, Stern Security
Angela Mccray - Deputy Human Resources Director, NCDIT
Stephanie McKee - Chief Technology Thought Partner, Apparo
Anjali Munasinghe - Software Consultant & Developer, Atomic Object
Nathan Myers - Vice President, Integration & Client Care, Abrigo
Barrett Pack - Vice President, Client Partner, Dualboot Partners
Allyson Russell - Intelligent Optimization & Automation Leader, UNC Health
Sanjay Sharma - Sr Director Data Science, LexisNexis
Ashley Smith - Director of Operations, E2D
Holly Sowinski - Enterprise Data Senior Manager, Truist Financial Corporation
Trey Thompson - Director of Information Security, Atlantic Packaging
Benissa Uwamwiza - Data Scientist I, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Megan Wofford - Director of Products, BlueLena
Winners are featured in the June issue of the Business North Carolina Magazine. Congratulations again to these rising stars!
Learn more about the NEXT TECH Awards and the winners here.
Interested in submitting a piece for the NC TECH blog?
NC TECH is always seeking fresh content and we love to feature our members and leaders as well as showcase your expertise and information. Visit our Marketing Toolkit page to submit Member Spotlights, Take 5 Executive Spotlights, Women Leading in Tech Profiles, and Guest Blogs.
For more information about sharing your news, contact Mikayla Smith.
