Who made the list? Techweek Chicago reveals its Techweek 100
The Techweek Chicago 100 list announced Tuesday includes 142 names, a nod to previous honorees who said recognition should be shared among an organization's top players.
The list previously featured 100 individuals; now it covers 100 organizations.
Techweek chairman Iain Shovlin said the Techweek team combs nominations submitted through its website for winners who have had “some sort of event or momentum in the last year.”
The list features newsmakers such as Braintree CEO Bill Ready, whose company was bought by PayPal for $800 million last fall, and Matt Maloney , the CEO and co-founder of GrubHub, which made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in February.
Newcomers include Aaron Dallek and Dr. Steven Lee, co-founders of Opternative, a startup that’s preparing to offer online eye exams this summer; Larry Baker and Charlie Tribbett, co-founders of bolstr, a platform that connects accredited investors to local businesses; and Brenna Berman, commissioner and CIO for the city of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology.
Those recognized are startup founders, investors, government officials, corporate innovators and members of the media. Andrea Hanis, editor of Blue Sky Innovation, is on the list.
“We recognize at Techweek that an ecosystem comes from multiple facets, and we try and recognize the entire ecosystem,” Shovlin said.
The list includes just 18 women, or 13 percent of the total. Shovlin said improving diversity in tech is an important goal, but nominees are not evaluated based on it.
“The reality is, we look across lines; we don’t look at gender or race or anything, we look at leaders,” Shovlin said. “If there’s not as much diversity on that list, we’re needing to make more progress and make sure there’s diversity in the community.”
Techweek is a for-profit company based in Chicago. The 2014 list, which is presented unranked, also features 21 names from the technology festival’s 36-person executive advisory board. Microsoft is the Chicago conference’s presenting sponsor, and there are dozens of others, including Tribune Media Group. The Chicago Tribune is a media partner.
View the schedule for the fourth annual Techweek Chicago conference, which runs June 26 to June 28, here.
The Techweek 100 full list:
- Mark Achler, Managing Director, Math Venture Partners L.P.
- Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CSO, ContextMedia
- Ethan
- Larry Baker, Co-Founder, bolstr
- Jerry Bednyak, Co-Founder, CTO & CMO, Vivid Seats
- Brenna Berman, Commissioner and CIO, City of Chicago Dept. of Innovation and Technology
- Ben Blair, Co-Founder & CTO, MarkITx
- Don Bora, Co-Founder & Principal in Technology, Eight Bit Studios
- Rona Borre, Founder & CEO, Instant Technology
- George Bousis, Founder & CEO, Raise Greg Buchholz, founder & CEO, SpringCM
- Gabriel Burt, CTO, Civis Analytics
- Jeff Conlon, Co-Founder & CEO, Everspring
- Andrew Cronk, Co-Founder & CEO, TempoDB
- Brandon Cruz, Founder, President & CTO, GoHealth
- Zak Dabbas, Co-Founder CEO, Punchkick Interactive
- Aaron Dallek, Co-Founder & CEO, Opternative
- Linda Darragh, Executive Director,
- Sarah Doherty, Founder & CTO, telehealthnow
- Jim Dugan, Co-Founder, CEO & Managing Partner, OCA Venture Partners
- John Dugan, Co-Founder & General Partner, OCA Venture Partners
- Rahm Emanuel, Mayor, City of Chicago
- Aaron Firestein, Co-Founder & Chief Artist, Bucketfeet
- Brian Fitzpatrick, Engineering Manager,
- Jeffrey (Jeff) T. Foland, Executive Vice President, marketing, technology and strategy, United
- Jason Fried, Co-Founder & CEO, Basecamp
- Gian Fulgoni, Chairman Emeritus and Co-Founder, comScore
- Jim Gagnard, Venture Partner,
- Rich Gallun, CEO, bswift
- Chris Girgenti, Managing Partner, Pritzker Group Venture Capital
- Chris Gladwin, Founder & Vice Chairman, Cleversafe
- Jodi Glickman, Founder & President, Great On The Job
- Sarah Gray, Senior Developer, Trunk Club
- Gabe Greenbaum, VP, Pritzker Group Venture Capital
- Ken Griffin, Founder & CEO, Citadel Inc.
- Brian Hand, Co-Founder, FireStarter Fund
- Andrea Hanis, Editor, Blue Sky Innovation
- David Heinemeier, Hansson, Co-Founder and CTO, Basecamp
- Barney Harford, CEO, Orbitz Worldwide
- Jason Heltzer, General Partner, OCA Ventures
- Troy Henikoff, Executive Director, Techstars
- Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association
- Justyn Howard, Founder & CEO,
- Dave Husain, Co-Founder & CEO, Leapfrog Online
- Peter Ianello, Co-Founder & general partner, OCA Venture Partners
- Amit Jhawar, COO, Braintree
- Sean Johnson, Partner, Digital Intent
- Clint Jones, Co-Founder & CEO, GoHealth
- Steve Kaplan, Professor/Faculty Director,
- Maria Katris, CEO, Built In
- Brad Keywell, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lightbank
- Marc Kiven, Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, BrightTag Inc.
- Jeremy Klein, Co-Founder & CEO, TableSAVVY
- Scott Kluth, President & Founder, CouponCabin.com
- Steve Koch, Deputy Mayor, City of Chicago
- Rana Komar, General Manager Chicago, Weber Shandwick
- Mark Koulogeorge, Managing General Partner, MK Capital
- Seth Kravitz, Co-Founder, Technori
- Logan LaHive, Founder & CEO, Belly
- Amanda Lannert, CEO, Jellyvision Lab
- Stuart Larkins, Partner, Chicago Ventures
- Paul Lee, General Partner, Lightbank
- Dr. Steven Lee, Co-Founder & EVP, Opternative
- Eric Lefkofsky, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lightbank
- Peter Liu, Founder, Chairman, VentureUp
- Maya Lopuch, director of Learning & Analytics, eSpark Learning
- Rob Lowe, CEO, Wellspring
- Katy Lynch, President, SocialKaty
- Jessica Malkin, Executive Director, Chicago Ideas Week
- Matt Maloney, Co-Founder & CEO, GrubHub
- Joe Mansueto, Chairman & CEO,
- Michael Marasco, Clinical Full Professor and Director, Northwestern University - Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Justin Massa, Founder & CEO, Food Genius
- Serge Matta, CEO, comScore
- Bret Maxwell, Managing General Partner, MK Capital
- Matt McCall, Partner, Pritzker Group Venture Capital
- Mike McGee, Co-Founder, The Starter League
- Ben Milne, Founder & CEO, Dwolla
- Matt Moog, Founder & CEO, Viewpoints
- John Morris, President & CEO, Cleversafe
- Jon Morris, CEO, Rise Interactive
- Dirk Mueller-Ingrand, Co-Founder and CEO, tradeMONSTER Group, Inc.
- Frank Muscarello, Co-Founder & CEO, MarkITx
- Raaja Nemani, Co-Founder & CEO, Bucketfeet
- Mark F. O'Connell, President & CEO, SAVO Group
- Jim O'Connor, Jr., Interim CEO, CEC
- Bill (William) Oesterle, CEO and Co-Founder, Angie's List
- Paul Pagel, CEO and Co-Founder, 8th Light
- Deepika Pandey, VP, Online strategy & customer experience, Walgreen
- Andrew Parkinson, Founder, Chairman, President & General Manager, Peapod
- Jack Philbin, Co-Founder, President, & CEO, Vibes Media
- John Pletz, Senior Reporter, Crain's Chicago
- J.B. Pritzker, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, ritzker Group Venture Capital
- Dhiraj Rajaram, Co-Founder & CEO, Mu Sigma
- Aaron Rankin, Co-Founder & CTO, Sprout Social
- Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree
- Harper Reed, CEO, Modest
- Dylan Richard, Founder & CTO, Modest
- Thomas Richards, Chairman & CEO, CDW
- Shawn Riegsecker, Founder & CEO, Centro
- Sam Rosen, Founding Partner, One Design Company
- Kristi Ross, Co-CEO & President, Dough / Tastytrade
- Ellen Rudnick, Executive Director, University of Chicago - Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship
- Doug Ryan, President San Francisco & Chicago,
- Tom Ryan, CEO, Threadless
- Michael Sachs, Co-Founder, bswift
- Sanjib Sahoo, CTO, TradeMonster Group, Inc.
- Neal Sales-Griffin, CEO, The Starter League
- Mike Sands, President & CEO, BrightTag Inc.
- Jon Schepke, CEO, SIM Partners
- J Schwan, Founder & CEO, Solstice Mobile
- Rishi Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, ContextMedia
- Irv Shapiro, CEO & CTO, Ifbyphone
- Eric Sheinkop, Co-Founder, President, & CEO, Music Dealers
- Jai Shekhawat, Co-Founder & CEO, Fieldglass
- Wes Shepherd, CEO, ChannelIQ
- Andrew Sieja, President & CEO, kCura
- Jeff Silver, CEO, Coyote Logistics
- Michael Small, President & CEO, Gogo, Inc.
- Tom Sosnoff, Co-CEO, Dough / Tastytrade
- Brian Spaly, CEO, Trunk Club
- Emerson Spartz, CEO, Spartz Media
- Bobby Stephens, President & COO, Bucketfeet
- Sheila Talton, President, CEO, Grey Matter Analytics
- Chuck Templeton, Chairman of the Board, Impact Engine
- Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Vivaki
- John Tracy, CTO,
- Charlie Tribbett, Co-Founder, bolstr
- Howard Tullman, CEO, 1871
- Guy Turner, Managing Partner, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Craig Ulliott, CTO & VP Product, Belly
- Ryan Unger, Co-Founder & CTO, Punchkick Interactive
- Eric Vassilatos, Co-Founder, Vivid Seats
- David Vinca, Founder & CEO, eSpark Learning
- Dan Wagner, FFounder & CEO, Civis Analytics
- Tony Weisman, CEO, Digitas North America
- Jim Wicks, CVP, Consumer Experience Design, Motorola
- Kevin Willer, Partner, Chicago Ventures
- Craig Wortmann, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and CEO and Founder, University of Chicago - Booth School of Business
- Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Co-founder & CEO, GiveForward
- Sam Yagan, CEO, Match.com
- Michael Yagley, Co-Founder & CTO, TempoDB
