Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah, athenahealth, and Toast Take Top Honors at 20th Annual Mass Technology Leadership Awards

BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Massachusetts' largest technology trade association announced the winners of the region's most prestigious technology awards at their 20^th annual Mass Technology Leadership Awards Gala at Boston's Seaport World Trade Center. Hundreds gathered to celebrate the people and companies shaping the Massachusetts technology economy in 14 categories—including Company of the Year, athenahealth; Emerging Company of the Year, Toast; and CEO of the Year, Wayfair's Niraj Shah.

MassTLC highlighted the stories to three special leaders who've made significant contributions to the technology community. The inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, received the Council's highest honor, the Commonwealth Award. The MIT App Inventor team accepted the Council's Distinguished Leadership Award for working to make application development universally accessible. And, Tech Connection and Black Tech Boston Founder Melissa James was honored with the Mosaic Award for her commitment to promote diversity and inclusion within the state's tech sector.

"The Mass Technology Leadership Awards celebrate the extraordinary leaders and innovators whose work is at the heart of our innovation economy," said Tom Hopcroft, CEO, MassTLC. "Each year, I am honored to recognize the hardworking visionaries that are leading the state – and the world – towards a better future."

Selected from hundreds of nominations, and evaluated by panels comprising dozens of executives, investors, analysts, and thought leaders, the 2017 Mass Technology Leadership Award winners are:

CEO of the Year - Niraj Shah, Wayfair

CTO of the Year - Wayne Whitcomb, Salesforce

Emerging Executive of the Year - Katie Burke, HubSpot

Company of the Year - athenahealth

Emerging Company of the Year - Toast

Building a Better Workforce - EF Education First

Innovative Tech of the Year: Consumer - Franklin Robotics

Innovative Tech of the Year: Financial - Elsen Inc.

Innovative Tech of the Year: IoT - Elemental Machines

Innovative Tech of the Year: Robotics - Soft Robotics Inc.

Innovative Tech of the Year: Security - Veridium

Innovative Tech of the Year: Sales & Marketing - Yottaa

Cutting Edge Technology of the Year - Desktop Metal

Technology for a Better Tomorrow - Sterilis

The full list of finalists for the Mass Technology Leadership Awards can be found here.

The Mass Technology Leadership Award sponsors include Platinum Sponsors: Cisco, Forgerock, Marsh & McLennan Agency, Microsoft and PwC. And Gold Sponsors: The Boston Foundation and Raytheon.

About The Mass Technology Leadership Council, Inc.
With member companies that employ more than half of the people who work in tech in Massachusetts, the Mass Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) is the region's leading technology association and the premier network for tech executives, entrepreneurs, investors and policy leaders. MassTLC's purpose is to accelerate innovation by connecting people from across the technology landscape, providing access to industry-leading content and ideas and offering a platform for visibility for member companies and their interests. More at www.masstlc.org

For more information, contact:
Mackenzie Flynn
MassTLC Sr. Manager, Programs & Events
(781) 993-9000 ext. 217
mackenzie@masstlc.org