Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

The Greater Nashville Technology Council announced its 2025 award winners on Thursday night before a live sold-out audience of more than 450 tech professionals at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The annual event was presented by Amazon.

Winners were as follows:

1. Chief Data Officer of the Year, Presented by Trinetix: Ashutosh Singhal of Meharry Medical School.
2. Chief Information Officer of the Year, Presented by Kraft: Jamie Engstrom of Caterpillar.
3. Chief Technology Officer of the Year, Presented by Vaco: Rob Mills of Tractor Supply Company.
4. Community Leader of the Year, Presented by HCA Healthcare: Jeremy West of Dollar General;
5. InfoSec Professional of the Year, Presented by TechImpact: Caleb Chitwood of HCA Healthcare.
6. Innovation Initiative of the Year, Presented by Vanderbilt University: Xsolis.
7. Tech for Good Award of the Year, Presented by BGSF: Bugle.
8. Tech Educator of the Year, Presented by Asurion: Stephanie Finley of Rutherford County Schools.
9. Team Catalyst of the Year, Presented by Freightwise: Ethan Schwaber of Tailor-Made Consulting.
10. Senior Tech Sales Executive of the Year, Presented by Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Professional Selling: Cory Edwards of Comcast Business.
11. Emerging Leader of the Year, Presented by Nissan: Christi French of Azra AI>
12. Data Professional of the Year, Presented by Google Cloud: Kurtis Pritchard of HCA Healthcare.
13. Chief Information Security Officer of the Year, Presented by Microsoft: Elliott Franklin of Fortitude Re.
14. Software Engineer of the Year, Presented by Nashville Software School: Kim Eacott of Amazon
15. Tech Company of the Year, Presented by Comcast Business: Xsolis.

Winners were scored and chosen from the top three finalists in each of the 15 categories. More than 250 public nominations were submitted by the Middle Tennessee technology community, and finalists were selected by a panel of peers and tech industry leaders.

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