PreTel, Unified Track, and Blank Beauty secure top spots at the 2025 ‘PYA Ballard Innovation Award’
The PYA Ballard Innovation Award is the largest regional gift of cash and in-kind services available to East Tennessee entrepreneurs. It is named after Tom Ballard, a long-time supporter of the state's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
After a night full of pitches, presentations, questions, and innovative ideas – three East Tennessee entrepreneurs walked away with prizes from PYA.
The judging panel for the 2025 PYA Ballard Innovation Award pitch competition had a hard task at hand. They evaluated six companies from six drastically different industries on their ability to scale, bring in revenue, and disrupt the marketplace with their innovation.
The judging included Patricia Bible, the Owner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KaTom Restaurant Supply, Inc., Billy Carroll, the President and CEO of SmartBank, Shannon Harper, the President and Dealer Principal of Harper Auto Square, Pierce LaMacchia the Co-founder and Owner of K Brew, and Cynthia Gibson, the General Counsel for Bush Brothers & Company.
Six founders faced off with five minutes to impress the judges and field five minutes of questions.
The top three winners:
- Marc Finch, PreTel
- Dustin Bainbridge, Unified Track
- Charles Brandon, Blank Beauty
We will share more in-depth coverage of the event in Friday’s teknovation.biz edition.
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