Here are the 7 winners of NVTC’s second annual Virginia Data Center Awards

For a second year, the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is recognizing data centers for their growth and contributions to the region.

More than 150 industry leaders, government officials and economic development professionals attended the Virginia Data Center Awards virtual event on Aug. 26. Some individuals and projects were honored for their work focused on sustainability, construction, advocacy and community engagement and support.

Northern Virginia has one of the largest data center markets in the nation — coined “data center alley” — in Ashburn; Virginia is one of 31 states that offers incentives to specifically attract data centers. The region is home to data centers from Facebook, Google, Vantage Data Centers and more. In a recent report, the council estimated that Virginia’s data center industry in 2018 accounted for 45,290 full-time-equivalent jobs, $3.5 billion in associated pay and benefits, $600.1 million in state and local tax revenue and $10.1 billion in economic output.

“When NVTC first launched our Data Center and Cloud Committee in 2011, our intention was to help support, grow and advocate on behalf of our data center sector,” said NVTC acting president and CEO Brad Schwartz in a statement. “We are proud to be part of an industry that continues to generate high-paying jobs, drive impressive tax revenue and serve as strong community stewards for the Commonwealth.”

NVTC live tweeted the virtual award ceremony. Here are the winners, determined by an independent panel of business leaders:

• Data Center Community Champion — Amazon Web Services Girls’ Tech Day and TJ Ciccone of Stack Infrastructure
• Data Center Construction Project — Aligned Energy
• Data Center Industry Icon — Lee Kestler of Vantage Data Centers
• Data Center Supplier Champion — Verity Commercial
• Data Center Sustainable Champion — Erich Sanchack of Digital Realty
• Data Center Veterans Champion — Dan Fulcoly of QTS Data Centers

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 NVTC Virginia Data Center awards! Winners will be announced in this thread! pic.twitter.com/TuZIu4LlRz

— NVTC (@NoVaTechCouncil) August 26, 2020

This year’s event was sponsored by the likes of Vantage Data Centers, Google, Loudoun County Economic Development, Amazon Web Services and Facebook.

Just last week, NVTC announced that Consumer Technology Association’s VP of industry affairs, Jennifer Taylor, would succeed Schwartz, who was appointing as acting president and CEO in July following Bobbie Kilberg’s retirement. Taylor begins in her role on Sept. 10.