From quantum to biotech, meet this year’s Maryland Tech Council ICON nominees

The spotlight will shine on executives and companies from Maryland’s main tech sectors — especially those concerning life sciences and government services — when they convene Thursday in North Bethesda for the latest version of a special industry celebration.

The Maryland Tech Council’s (MTC) annual ICON Awards recognize innovation, achievement and leadership within various parts of the regional industry. Following the trade group’s main priorities, the 36th edition of the awards, like prior years, highlights a handful of the state’s dominant tech ecosystems: among them, biotechnology, cybersecurity and pharmaceuticals.

The ICON Awards also recognize accomplishments in other emerging or noteworthy subsets of Maryland’s tech industry, like quantum computing, government-related SaaS product development, and youth STEM development.

Geographically, the 41 nominees cover a footprint that largely stretches around the state’s main population centers of Baltimore, Columbia, the DC suburbs (including DNA Alley near Gaithersburg) and the MTC’s hometown of Frederick.

This year also features a new category: The Pava LaPere Award, which an announcement said “will recognize outstanding contributions to innovation and excellence within Maryland’s technology and life sciences communities.” This award follows two recently signed state bills, the renaming of Johns Hopkins University’s student entrepreneurship center and the PLACE Builders Fellowship in honoring the late CEO of Baltimore-based EcoMap Technologies.

“Each year the ICON Awards recognize the companies and leaders that are taking excellence to a new level,” said Kelly Schulz, the MTC’s CEO and a former Maryland Secretary of Commerce and Labor. “This year’s awards ceremony will have added significance as we remember and honor the memory of Pava LaPere, who embodied the very best that Maryland’s technology community has to offer.”

The ceremony comes after an active year for the MTC, including inducting new members like Blackbird Laboratories and Google; organizing the 5th Annual Technology Transformation Conference; partnering on a new biotech tuition benefit program with Georgetown University; and a similar initiative with St. Mary’s University.

Here are this year’s ICON Award nominees:

Technology Company of the Year

• IonQ
• Xometry
• Floreo
• Curbio

Life Sciences Company of the Year

• AstraZeneca
• Regenxbio
• Arcellx
• BIOQUAL
• Kerecis

Government Contracting Company of the Year

• Red Alpha
• Strativia, LLC
• N4 Solutions, LLC
• MetaPhase Consulting, LLC
• RealmOne

Emerging Technology Company of the Year

• NanoBioFAB
• Clym Environmental Services, LLC
• Trinity Cyber
• Dwellwell Analytics

Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year

• DELFI Diagnostics, Inc.
• Glyscend Therapeutics
• Luminoah, Inc.
• Cellphire Therapeutics, Inc.
• RoosterBio

C-Suite of the Year

• Tom Shelly, Chief Operating Officer, Red Alpha
• Chuck Mosser, Chief Financial Officer, IntelliGenesis, LLC
• Robert Charles, Chief Financial Officer, Digital Harbor Foundation
• Jesse Damsker, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer, ReveraGen BioPharma

CEO, Technology

• Xiaonao Liu, NanoBioFAB
• Andrew Coy, Digital Harbor Foundation
• Dr. Elizabeth P. Clayborne, NasaClip

CEO Life Sciences

• Elaine Haynes, KaloCyte
• Neal Piper, Luminoah, Inc.
• Hafiz Ahmed, GlycoMantra
• Benjamin Holmes, Nanochon

CEO Government Contracting

• Anil Sharma, 22nd Century Technologies, Inc.
• Delali Dzirasa, Fearless
• Frank LeQuang, N4 Solutions, LLC
• Neal Frick, CyberCore Technologies, LLC

Deal of the Year

• RealmOne
• IMB/eIntelligent Partners
• JMI

Buy tickets for the 2024 ICON Awards

---

This article mentions Fearless, a Technical.ly client. That relationship had no impact on this report.