ITFlorida Announces 2009 Awards Finalists

" As an industry, we are proud to announce this slate of remarkable finalists, who represent the forefront of Florida's knowledge economy. For every year of the program, we have set a new record for number of nominations received, which in 2009 was 243. I'm certain that our Gala event at Disney next month will break new ground and continue our shared mission of making Florida a leader in high tech advancement. "

October 26, 2009 - The ITFlorida Board of Directors announced the 2009 finalists for the annual Awards Program, which will culminate with the announcement of awards winners at the highly anticipated 7th Annual Awards Gala and Tech Forum, November 10-11, at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.

Participants in the Gala will include Florida House Speaker Designate Dean Cannon; State CIO David Taylor; Dr. Ken Ford, Chair of the NASA Advisory Council and Director of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition; State Representative Marlene O'Toole; Earnie Franklin, Chair of ITFlorida and President of Incepture; Roger Berry, CIO for Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide; and representatives of numerous small businesses and IT-enabled corporations throughout Florida.

"As an industry, we are proud to announce this slate of remarkable finalists, who represent the forefront of Florida's knowledge economy," said Earnie Franklin, Chair of ITFlorida. "For every year of the program, we have set a new record for number of nominations received, which in 2009 was 243. I'm certain that our Gala event at Disney next month will break new ground and continue our shared mission of making Florida a leader in high tech advancement."

For more information about the Gala and Tech Forum, visit www.itflorida.com.

The finalists for 2009 are as follows, by category:

Excellence in IT Leadership-Northwest

AppRiver - Gulf Breeze
Bookit.com - Panama City Beach
Epoch Software - Gulf Breeze
iSirona, David Dyell - Panama City

Excellence in IT Leadership-Northeast

Baptist Health - Jacksonville
Edward Waters College, Bernard Chapple - Jacksonville
JEA, Wanyonyi J. Kendrick - Jacksonville
Legal Art Works - Jacksonville

Excellence in IT Leadership-Central

DiCom Software - Orlando
Radixx Solutions International - Orlando
SkillStorm - Orlando
Wave Software - Orlando

Excellence in IT Leadership-Tampa Bay

Gevity, Vito Melfi - Bradenton
Infinity Business System, Terry Hedden - Tampa
ITS Florida, Sandra Beck - Saint Petersburg
Mark Abbott, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Technology Alignment, Raymond James - Saint Petersburg

Excellence in IT Leadership-Southwest

ASG Software Solutions - Naples
Dan Miller, Neighborhood America / Startup Florida - Sarasota
Medical Education Technologies Inc., Michael Bernstein - Sarasota
Surround Technologies, Paul Hoffman - Estero

Excellence in IT Leadership-Southeast

InternetCoast - Boca Raton
Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe: OK Connect - Miami
PHYSICIANS4U, Inc - Miami
South County Mental Health Center, Inc., Stephen Hogan - West Palm Beach

Excellence in Bridging the Digital Divide

Angels Helping Hands Foundation - Orlando
Florida A&M University - Tallahassee
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation - Miami
The Institute for School Innovation: Project CHILD - Tallahassee

Excellence in Business Recruitment and Retention

Collier County: Project Innovation - Naples
Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission - Orlando
Technological Research Development Authority - Melbourne
The Small Business Development Center at UNF - Jacksonville

Excellence in Sustainability through Information Technology

AirIT - Orlando
Florida Public Health Institute - Lake Worth
University of Miami College of Engineering - Coral Gables
Water Optimizer - Tampa

Excellence in Web 2.0

3Cinteractive - Boca Raton
Find and Convert - Palm Harbor
Medisyn Systems, Inc., Dr. Evan Earl Dussia - Tallahassee
Neighborhood America - Naples

Government Technology Leadership-Private

A Child is Missing Alert - Fort Lauderdale
ePrescribe Florida
Interstate Transport, Barbara Ell - Saint Petersburg
Persystent Software, Mary Maloney - Tampa

Government Technology Leadership-Public

Florida Agency for Health Care Administration - Tallahassee
Florida Department of Transportation - Tallahassee
Florida House of Representatives - Tallahassee
Miami-Dade County Government Information Center - Miami

High Growth Company of the Year

eMason - Clearwater
Launch Pad Online - Odessa
Motion Point - Coconut Creek
SGIS - Fort Lauderdale

Innovation and Entrepreneurialism Award

Audigence Inc. - Melbourne
Cables Media - Fort Lauderdale
WiPower Inc. - Gainesville
XSell - Jacksonville

Small Business of the Year

Accelogic - Weston
Asevotech - Tampa
Blue Dasher Technologies - Miami
CareCloud - Miami

IT Leader of the Year

Tony DiBenedetto, President and CEO, Tribridge - Tampa
Garry Jones, President, Full Sail - Winter Park
Scott Riley, CEO, Financial Information Technologies (Fintech) - Tampa