Pictured left to right: Patrick Hurley, VP Marketing for Skytide & 2.Oakland Co-Chair; Lisa Kavanaugh, Chief Technology Officer of Ask.Com, Nan Guo, Director of Engineering of Ask.Com; Deborah Acosta, president of iDotConnect & 2.Oakland Co-Chair; Ted Girdner, VP of Business Services, Comcast California.
Ask.com, Grow California, Integral Group and Solar Mosaic take home awards
for innovation and job creation.
OAKLAND, CA, October 22, 2012 — 2.Oakland, an organization dedicated to cultivating a healthy technology ecosystem for Oakland and the East Bay, hosted its annual Tech Innovator Awards event on Thursday, October 18th, crowning four new winners as chosen by the public.
Nearly 300 attendees packed the Kaiser Building Roof Garden in the heart of Oakland’s Uptown District to enjoy the festivities and cheer on the winners, which included:
- Integral Group, a green engineering and building design organization, which won in the Clean Tech category: http://www.integralgroup.com/
- Online question and answer site, Ask.com, which won in the Digital Technology category: http://www.ask.com/about?o=0&l=dir
- Grow California, which hosts economic development conferences and links investors and entrepreneurs, which won in the Investment category: http://www.grow-california.com/
- Solar Mosaic, an online marketplace that connects investors to high-quality solarprojects, which won in the Open Data / Community category: https://solarmosaic.com/
“The tech community in Oakland is not only alive and well, it’s thriving,” said 2.Oak Co-Chair, Patrick Hurley. “The 2.Oak Tech Innovator Awards certainly paid testament to that fact tonight and served as a great way to strengthen the ties within the community even further.”
A highlight of the evening was a pre-awards CEO Reception,attended by more than 70 East Bay senior technology executives, including leaders from Oakland-headquartered businesses such as LiveScribe, Pandora, Sungevity, Xantrion and Skytide as well as many startups and business incubators such as Tech Liminal and Hub Oakland.
“The outpouring of support from the attendees, award nominees and local underwriters really exemplifies how the Oakland technology community is banding together to create a stronger whole,” said 2.Oak Co-Chair, Deborah Acosta. “We plan to amplify this good news and help create an environment where technology companies can grow and prosper locally.”
The event was underwritten by local businesses that support the Oakland tech and business community, including:
- Title sponsor: Comcast Business Services.
- Presenting sponsors: Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP, and the Lake Merritt/Uptown & Downtown Oakland District Associations.
- Community sponsors: Bear River, The Swig Company, Xantrion, Cushman & Wakefield, One Pacific Coast Bank, Pandora, Sungevity, Oakland Venue Management and the City of Oakland.
About 2.Oakland
2.Oakland is an organization comprised of companies and individuals working and living in Oakland, California who are dedicated to creating a thriving tech ecosystem for Oakland and the East Bay. Through programs and events, 2.Oakland supports existing tech companies as well as those organizations seeking to locate here. Founding member companies and organizations include Pandora, Skytide, Oakland Local, Xantrion, Tech Liminal, North Social, the Downtown & Lake Merritt Community Benefit District, IDotConnect, and Wendel Rosen Black & Dean. To learn more, please visit https://www.facebook.com/TwoPointOak.
About the Lake Merritt Uptown/Downtown Oakland District Associations
The Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association were formed in February 2009. Property owners in both Downtown Oakland and the Lake Merritt/Uptown Districts voted by a margin of almost 8 to 1 to support a voluntary property tax to fund services that would improve the quality of life in their respective communities. The associations meet and function jointly. Services funded by these Districts include maintaining cleanliness and order in the public rights of way, improving district identity and advocating on behalf of the area’s property owners, business owners and residents.
Photo by Hasain Rasheed
