Since 2008, Cox Business has lauded the incredible information technology innovators in the San Diego. The Top Tech Awards pay homage to the wealth of talent in our local community who have vision, take risks, and implement new cutting-edge technologies, all in the name of making their organizations more connected, more productive, and more successful.

Below are the winners for every year since 2008.

2008

Marco Thompson, Biocom – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Gary Wang, Spawar Systems Center

Glenn Umetsu, Leap Wireless International

John Cloyd, Vistage International

John Mukusick, Geary Interactive

David Delacalzada, North County Credit Union

Eileen Heveron, National University

Steve Romeo, Breg Inc

Tom Fisher, DriveCam Inc

Denny Morgan, Remec Defense

Chris Baker, San Diego Gas & Electric

Bruce Carothers, AMN Healthcare

Stephen Coggeshall, ID Analytics

2009

Elliott Allen, SAIC – Cox Business Exemplary Award

Edward Babakanian, UC San Diego Medical Center 

Rich Coppa, The Arc of San Diego 

Dana Di Ferdinando, Arena Pharmaceuticals 

Gerald Ellison, ESET 

Norm Fjeldheim, Qualcomm Inc. – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

David Gray, OnlineGURU Inc. 

Jim Haskin, Websense Inc. 

John Merritt, YMCA of San Diego County 

Erik Quade, Technology Integration Group 

Paul Redfield, Bay City Television 

Celeste Schwartz, Superior Court of California, County of San Diego 

Christopher Wessells, University of San Diego 

2010

Heather Moshier, San Diego County Credit Union 

Robert Gravina, Poway Unified School District 

Captain Mark Kohlheim, SSC Pacific 

George Beha, San Ysidro Health Center 

Jeremy Crawford, Sandicor, Inc. 

Richard Sears, American Internet Services 

Kevin Harris, ICW Group Insurance Companies 

Mark Zecca, Ph.D., Mitchell 1 

Debra Jensen, Jack in the Box Inc. 

Ronald Broersma, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Angela Miller, North County Transit District – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2011

Dave Baker, Websense, Inc. 

Steve Beal, Covario 

James Cooper, Thomas Jefferson School of Law 

Gary Devan, Mission Federal Credit Union 

Kelly Gunning, BAE Systems 

Darryl LaGace, San Diego Unified School District 

Eric Logie, Alvarado Hospital 

John Merritt, YMCA of San Diego County 

Tad Reynales, UCSD, Calit2 

William Spooner, Sharp HealthCare – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

W. Harold Tuck, MBA MPH, County of San Diego 

2012

Richard Coppa, The Arc of San Diego 

Emily Deere, University of California, San Diego 

Samer Tominna, Commander, Navy Region Southwest 

Heather Moshier, San Diego County Credit Union 

Gregory Magaril, Ceatus Media Group 

Ram Patrachari, Viejas Enterprises 

Christopher Staszak, Semantic Research, Inc. 

Chuck Phillips, Digitaria 

Mark Zecca, Nuvasive 

Brian K. Baker, Qualcomm – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Jessie Daly, Isis Pharmaceuticals – Cox Business Exemplary Award

Scott Gnau, Teradata Corporation

Charlotte Klock, University of California, San Diego 

2013

Marty Larkin, San Diego Humane Society 

Paul Peabody, Palomar Health 

Steve Clemons, San Diego County Office of Education 

Tom Kennedy, Olivenhain Water District 

Art Kahn, American Specialty Health 

Casey Cotton, Asset Marketing Systems 

Kurt Cumming, Global Village Concerns 

Steve Phillpott, Amylin Pharmaceuticals 

Gary Holden, Vical 

Guillermo Perez, U-T San Diego – Cox Business Exemplary Award

Anwar Abbas, North County Health Services – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

2014

Nimer Saikaly, Episcopal Community Services

Robert Burgett, The Elizabeth Hospice

Robert Jensen, San Diego Christian College

Noel “Chuck” Stevens, United States Marine Corps – Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego

Christopher Petersen, Assay Depot, Inc.

Jason Janofsky, Superior Mobile Medics, Inc.

Andrew Blocksidge, Jazzercise

Abe Esguerra, DUDEK

John Ruiz, Karl Strauss Brewing Company

Doug Cyphers, Welk Resorts

Terry Dembitz, Amylin Pharmaceuticals

2015

Joe Gursky, USS Midway Museum 

Sal Saldivar, La Maestra Community Health Centers 

Nathan Seaman, Navy Medical Center 

Frank Paredes, San Ysidro School District 

Robert Swisher, Business.com 

Tal Almog, MaintenanceNet, Inc. 

Brian Kelley, Tarr Inc. 

Terry Orletsky, The Ken Blanchard Companies 

Abe Lietz, Jenny Craig and Curves International 

David Henderson, Sequenom, Inc. 

Jeanette Sanchez, AMN Healthcare 

Mike Zill, Global Shared Services Becton Dickinson – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Prudence August, Palomar Health – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2016

Mark Caldwell, Apmetrix Inc. 

Marc Romano, Seismic Software Inc. 

Peter Hissong, Teamwork Athletic Apparel 

Brian Alexander, ARS National Services Inc. 

Brian Andrews, Stone Brewing Company 

Kenneth Lanewood, Pfenex, Inc. 

Philippe Marchand, Gemoptix (Now with Samumed, LLC) 

Gary Nimtz, San Diego Futures Foundation 

Andres Gutierrez, Family Health Centers of San Diego 

David Delacalzada, Encinitas School District 

Brian Croom, Padre Dam Municipal Water District 

Steve Hart, ViaSat Inc. – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Linda Scott, Guild Mortgage Company – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2017

Christopher Longhurst, UC San Diego

Matthew Brown, San Diego County Water Authority

Peter Battistel, 2-1-1 San Diego

John Hall, Gemological Institute of America, Inc. 

David Gray, DMV.org

Brian Casazza, Vistage International 

Bob Millington, CUSO Financial Services, LP

Tim Bochard, Glacier Water (A division of Primo Water Corp.) 

Bill Zondler, Millennium Health

Joseph Talarek, Turtle Beach

Julie Hubbard, AMN Healthcare

Douglas Palmer, KnuEdge, Inc. – Lifetime Achievement Honoree 

Laura Spencer, Lakeside Union School District – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2018

Terry Loftus, Oceanside Unified School District

Jonathan Behnke, City of San Diego

Angela Moran, California Coast Credit Union

Alicia Rodriguez, San Ysidro Health

Ryan Rusnak, Airspace Technologies Inc.

Ryan Fay, ACI Specialty Benefits

Jerome Fodor, AbacusNext

Brad Williams, Petco Animal Supplies Inc.

Michael Hawman, General Atomics

Hudson Airom, Mitek Systems Inc

Troy Seelye, Teradata Corporation

Johnson Lai, Nuvasive Inc. – Cox Business Exemplary Award

Casey Cotton, Madison Avenue Securities LLC – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

2019

Travis Fawcett, AristaMD

Keith Fernandez, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

Nathan Short, Encinitas Union School District

Mark Sulzen, SmartDraw, Inc.

Alexandra Gerritsen, Cali Bamboo

Brian Nordmann, Dudek

Geoff Howard, National Funding

Matthew Mower, Point Loma Credit Union

Narayanadas Vakamudi, Family Health Centers of San Diego

Mark Kohlheim, CACI

Frederick F. del Rosario, Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mark Zecca, Ph. D, San Diego County Office of Education – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Christopher Petersen, Scientist.com – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2020

Stephanie Casperson, San Marcos Unified School District

Scott Daeschner, City of San Diego

Rich Coppa, The Arc of San Diego – Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Jeffrey Hamilton, Mental Health Systems

Ram Patrachari, Viejas Hotel and Casino

Michael Singer, Veyo

Brook Benson, Balboa United

Anthony Zoblescin, Pacific Debt

Jerrry Creekbaum, Expedition Communications

Amy Deford, WD-40 Company

Feliks Dushatsky, Dushatsky ImprimisRx

Larry Heminger, MemComputing, Inc.

Jake Fields, Platform Science

2021

David Graham, City of Carlsbad

Albert Oriol, Rady Children’s Hospital

Ardy Arianpour, SEQSTER

Nicole May, UC San Diego Health Information Services

Eric Haller, Experian North America

Chad Sweet, ModalAI – Future of Tech Award

David Dambman, Biosero, Inc. 

Ben Nathan, Cortica

Dave Henderson, Millennium Health – Top Tech Exec of the Year

Jerome Fodor, TOOTRiS – Top Tech Disruption Award

Zeb Evans, Click Up – Cox Business Exemplary Award

2022

Joe McNertney, The Arc of San Diego

Joel Abitan, Verse Inc. 

Ray Chan, San Diego Padres – Cox Business Exemplary Award

Sanjiv Prabhakaran, Bytes Inc. – Future of Tech Award

Ken Wall, Poway Unified School District

Matt Putman, H.G. Fenton Company

Nathan Chavez, Alarms Unlimited Professional Security Solutions

William Moses, ResMed – Top Tech Exec of the Year

Julie Westcott, NuVasive Inc.

Sara Diaz, City of El Cajon

Larry Coval, Cox Business – Founders Award

2023

Prerna Mayor, NuVasive

Maria Callander, City of Carlsbad

Ryan Kari, MagCanica – Future of Tech

David Penalva, HelioVolta

Lance Onken, Measurabl

DeWayne Cossey, Vista Unified School District

Colton Barlow, Viejas Casino

Rob Honma, Santa Fe Christian Schools

Rob Kaufman, Scientist.com Healthcare

John Rolando, Spectral Labs Incorporated

Nimer Saikaly, Ciprus Consulting – Top Tech of the Year Award

Shawn Granen, USS MIDWAY – Cox Business Exemplary Award