2016 Tech Gurus Announced
We're delighted to congratulate the Tech Gurus selected for 2016 and sponsor this important award! One big trend we're seeing is that the definition of "tech guru" has expanded to include association professionals who aren't from traditional information technology backgrounds. Why is this important? It shows that we are moving even moreso into the creative economy where technology is seen as an enabler to business success and not a solution in and of itself. This evolution is playing out in the association industry before our very eyes!
Just take a look at some of the areas the award winners are focused in and why we view them as a Tech Guru and someone to watch for 2016:
- Donna Reichle, Associated Builders & Contractors--spearheading a national project to better automate communications and reduce operational overhead of email
- Robert Wagner, American Payroll Association--spearheading a digital marketing transformation by adding inbound marketing to the organization
- Amanda Scott, Baccalaureate Social Work Directors--single-handedly running an association using her association management system to the fullest
- Kristen Garman, National Association of College Admission Counseling--in constant pursuit of how to effectively utilize data to improve digital communications
- Andrew Burch, National Federation of Independent Businesses--innovator in employing email automation to increase operational efficiency and increase the ability to measure and predict user interaction
- Melissa Garcia, Society for Neuroscience--facilitating continuous, integrated communication between business units to outfit programs with the technology that will take the organization to the next level
These are just a few of the outstanding tech gurus that we nominated that deserve the recognition for being disrupters and always pushing forward. Speaking of disrupters, we would be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to Reggie Henry of ASAE, Prabash Shrestha newly of AGA , and Ed Beck of NRA all visionaries who lead with the philosophy of "why not try it" and focus on what's to gain through change versus the fear of change.
Congratulations to all the award recipients and we look forward to hosting the award reception on May 18th in Crystal City, Virginia!