Women in Technology (WIT) announced the winners of its annual Women of the Year in Technology Awards, presented by T-Mobile, at its WIT Awards Gala held last night, Thursday, November 14th, at the Georgia Aquarium.

WIT’s Women of the Year Awards gathers top members of Georgia’s STEAM community to recognize and announce the Women of the Year for their accomplishments as leaders in business, visionaries of technology, ground-breakers in business, and remarkable leaders who make a difference in our community.

WIT introduced for the first time this year, a Build Her Up award which is awarded to a male ambassador of WIT that has demonstrated time and time again, his support for women in their careers and being a constant advocate and voice for women. The winner is a mentor and a coach, and a voice to help us continue to push for all diversity in the workforce.

The WIT Girl of the Year award was created in 2012 as part of WIT’s commitment to support the entire lifecycle of a woman’s career in technology, and is presented annually as part of the Women of the Year in Technology Awards. The WIT Girl of the Year is always a middle or high school girl who is recognized as the Girl of the Year for her participation in the WIT Girls program.

One winner from each category, representing Non-Profit Organization, Non-Profit Educational Institution, Small/Emerging Organization, Medium/Mid-Size Organization and Large/Enterprise Organization was selected.

Non-Profit Organization Category Winner:
Connie Haynes - Chief Executive Officer
Georgia First Robotics

Non-Profit Education Institution Category Winner:
Lynn Fountain – Principal Research Scientist
Georgia Tech Research Institute

Small/Emerging Organization Category Winner:
Karen Houghton – VP and Venture Partner
Atlanta Tech Village and Atlanta Ventures

Medium/Mid-Size Organization & Private Educational Institution Category Winner:
Dorren Schmitt – Director of Information Technology
The Weather Channel

Large/Enterprise Organization Category Winner:
Noni Gonzalez – VP, Commercial Applications
InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG)

Also presented at the event…

“Build Her Up” Special Award Winner:
DeWayne Griffin – Enterprise Technology Executive – Data
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies®

Volunteer of the Year Award Winner:
Rachel Bagnell – Director of Transformation at ADP
CEO of Innovative Events

Girl Of The Year Award Winner:
Sri Vaishnavi Ghantasala – High School Senior
Chattahoochee High School

WIT Girl of the Year Award which is sponsored by Scintel and State Farm. Sri will be receiving a $2,500 scholarship from Scintel and a $5,000 scholarship from State Farm.

For the third consecutive year, each Girl of the Year runner up was presented with a $1,000 scholarship from ACS Group, an AT&T smartphone and a laptop from Dell.