Tech Ascension Awards Announces 2026 CEO and Leadership Award Winners
The Tech Ascension Awards is proud to announce the winners of its 2026 CEO and Leadership Awards, recognizing exceptional executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and technology leaders who are driving organizational growth, advancing innovation, building stronger workplace cultures, and shaping the future of their industries.
This year's honorees represent organizations spanning cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, financial technology, enterprise software, digital infrastructure, advertising technology, and IT services. The recipients demonstrate how effective leadership combines strategic vision, technological innovation, operational excellence, and a commitment to developing people and creating lasting business value.
The 2026 CEO and Leadership Awards recognize outstanding achievements across three categories: CEO of the Year, Industry Innovator of the Year, and Woman in Tech Leader of the Year. Honorees were evaluated based on product and service innovation, company accomplishments, leadership initiatives, organizational culture, diversity and inclusion, and demonstrated impact on their industries.
2026 CEO and Leadership Award Winners
CEO of the Year
Keith Hollender, CEO and Co-Founder — Arcova
Keith Hollender, CEO and Co-Founder of Arcova, was honored for building a cybersecurity and technology advisory organization that combines strategic growth, operational resilience, and a strong commitment to employee development.
After helping establish MorganFranklin Cyber as a nationally recognized cybersecurity business, Hollender led a private equity-backed management buyout and guided its transformation into Arcova. The company now serves more than 100 enterprise clients across highly regulated industries, delivering capabilities spanning cybersecurity, data, AI, governance, risk management, and digital resilience.
Under Hollender's leadership, Arcova expanded its capabilities through the acquisition of Lynx Technology Partners while investing in employee benefits, professional development, and organizational culture. His partnership with Seton Hall University created opportunities for eligible employees to pursue a Master of Science in Cybersecurity at no cost, reflecting his focus on building talent alongside long-term business growth.
Scott Sellers, Co-Founder and CEO — Azul
Scott Sellers, Co-Founder and CEO of Azul, was recognized for his leadership in advancing enterprise Java technology and positioning the company to meet the performance, security, and cost challenges of modern enterprise computing.
Sellers has guided Azul's evolution from a Java performance specialist into an enterprise platform provider serving organizations running mission-critical applications and AI workloads. Under his leadership, Azul has continued investing in Java performance optimization, infrastructure efficiency, and enhanced security capabilities.
The company's innovations include Azul Prime, which helps enterprises improve application performance and reduce infrastructure requirements, and the Azul Prime Optimizer Hub, which demonstrated the ability to share performance optimizations across more than 10,000 customer Java Virtual Machines through a single instance. Sellers has also championed more frequent critical security updates, helping organizations address vulnerabilities faster while maintaining operational stability.
His long-term commitment to Java innovation demonstrates the value of focused technical leadership in a rapidly changing enterprise technology market.
Josh Dinneen, CEO — Blue Mantis
Josh Dinneen, CEO of Blue Mantis, was recognized for leading the company's transformation into a security-first, services-led technology organization focused on customer resilience and long-term business outcomes.
Since becoming CEO in 2023, Dinneen has expanded Blue Mantis's capabilities through strategic acquisitions, international delivery operations, and increased investment in managed services. The acquisition of Coreio strengthened the company's ServiceNow expertise and Canadian presence, while new delivery centers in Bangalore and Toronto expanded its global support capabilities.
Under his leadership, recurring services surpassed 60% of the business, and Blue Mantis reported 35.7% two-year growth in 2026. The company also ranked No. 18 on the 2026 MSP 501 and reported a Net Promoter Score of 79.
Dinneen has complemented this expansion with investments in Blue Mantis University and the CodeX initiative, which provides veterans and military families with technology training, mentorship, and career opportunities. His leadership demonstrates how organizational growth can be aligned with customer success and workforce development.
Kevin Tian, Co-Founder and CEO — Doppel
Kevin Tian, Co-Founder and CEO of Doppel, was honored for building a cybersecurity company designed to combat the increasingly sophisticated social engineering and digital deception threats enabled by artificial intelligence.
Drawing on his experience in AI systems engineering at Uber and Lyft, Tian recognized early that generative AI would fundamentally change the scale and effectiveness of impersonation, phishing, and other social engineering attacks. He co-founded Doppel to help organizations identify and disrupt these threats through AI-powered security technology.
Under Tian's leadership, Doppel has grown to more than 300 employees and 300 customers in just over four years, helping establish social engineering defense as an emerging cybersecurity category. His strategy combines technological innovation with rapid organizational expansion, industry partnerships, and a mission to help enterprises protect their brands, employees, and customers against evolving digital threats.
Andrew Rubin, Founder and CEO — Illumio
Andrew Rubin, Founder and CEO of Illumio, was recognized for pioneering a new approach to cybersecurity built around containing attacks and preventing breaches from spreading across enterprise environments.
More than a decade ago, Rubin challenged conventional security strategies that focused primarily on preventing attackers from entering corporate networks. He established Illumio around the principle that organizations must also be prepared to limit the impact of an intrusion through segmentation and breach containment.
His leadership helped bring microsegmentation into the mainstream of enterprise cybersecurity, building awareness and adoption among customers, technology partners, and industry stakeholders. As artificial intelligence accelerates the speed and sophistication of cyberattacks, Rubin has continued evolving Illumio's strategy to help organizations strengthen resilience across increasingly complex digital environments.
Rubin's ability to identify an overlooked security challenge, establish a technology category, and sustain a long-term strategic vision distinguishes his contribution to the cybersecurity industry.
Felipe Ochoa, Founder and CEO — IncQuery
Felipe Ochoa, Founder and CEO of IncQuery, was honored for transforming the way consulting firms, private equity investors, and enterprise decision-makers conduct high-stakes market research.
Founded in 2016, IncQuery was built to address the need for accurate, defensible research delivered within demanding business timelines. Under Ochoa's leadership, the company has expanded to support more than 250 client offices worldwide, helping customers save over 200,000 hours and supporting research associated with approximately $2 trillion in deal value.
In 2026, Ochoa spearheaded a significant strategic transformation, positioning IncQuery as an end-to-end research partner rather than a traditional survey programming provider. His emphasis on research quality, operational efficiency, customer trust, and continuous innovation has helped establish the company as a valuable partner for organizations making consequential investment and business decisions.
Hejuan (Jany) Zhao, Founder — NextFin, Inc.
Hejuan (Jany) Zhao, Founder of NextFin, Inc., was honored for her entrepreneurial leadership in financial technology, AI-powered investment intelligence, and global technology media.
A journalist-turned-entrepreneur, Zhao founded TMTPost Group in 2012 and developed it into a prominent financial and technology media organization in China, including a strategic relationship with Dow Jones and the publication of Barron's China.
She has since expanded her entrepreneurial vision into the United States through NextFin.AI, an AI-native financial intelligence platform designed to make sophisticated market analysis more accessible to individual investors. The platform uses specialized AI agents to monitor portfolios, identify market developments, and surface investment opportunities.
Through NextFin.AI, her JanyTalk interview series, and the NEX-T Summit at Stanford University, Zhao is connecting technological innovation, financial education, and entrepreneurial leadership. Her work reflects a commitment to broadening access to information and empowering investors through emerging technologies.
Hao Zhong, Founder and CEO — ScaleFlux
Hao Zhong, Founder and CEO of ScaleFlux, was recognized for transforming the company into an innovator in enterprise storage infrastructure while advancing technologies that improve data center performance, efficiency, and scalability.
Under his leadership, ScaleFlux developed computational storage technologies that optimize data management directly within storage devices, helping enterprises reduce unnecessary data writes, lower infrastructure costs, and improve energy efficiency. The company's CSD3000 and CSD5000 product families reflect Zhong's commitment to addressing the storage demands of modern enterprise and AI workloads.
Beyond technical innovation, Zhong has guided ScaleFlux through global expansion, strategic partnerships, and challenging market conditions while fostering a collaborative, accountable, and inclusive organizational culture. His combination of engineering expertise, business vision, and people-centered leadership has positioned ScaleFlux for continued innovation in enterprise infrastructure.
Ted Ross, CEO and Co-Founder — SpyCloud
Ted Ross, CEO and Co-Founder of SpyCloud, was recognized for building a global identity threat protection company focused on disrupting cybercrime and helping organizations prevent compromised identities from becoming security incidents.
Over the past decade, Ross has guided SpyCloud's expansion from an emerging cybersecurity startup into a company protecting more than four billion accounts for hundreds of enterprises and government organizations. Under his leadership, SpyCloud's recaptured identity data lake has grown to more than one trillion assets, enabling organizations to identify exposed credentials, stolen session cookies, authentication tokens, and other identity threats.
Ross has also expanded the company's capabilities in automated threat remediation, helping security teams invalidate compromised sessions, revoke exposed tokens, and disrupt attacker access. His leadership has supported a global workforce exceeding 250 employees while establishing a mission-driven culture recognized through multiple workplace and industry awards.
Industry Innovator of the Year
Rahul Madduluri, Co-Founder and CTO — Doppel
Rahul Madduluri, Co-Founder and CTO of Doppel, was honored for advancing AI-powered cybersecurity technology designed to defend organizations against increasingly sophisticated social engineering threats.
Recognizing that AI would enable attackers to coordinate convincing impersonation and deception campaigns across multiple digital channels, Madduluri helped establish Doppel as a unified platform for identifying and disrupting these attacks.
Under his technical leadership, Doppel has developed an approach to social engineering defense that addresses threats across email, workplace collaboration platforms, messaging environments, and social networks. Rather than relying on fragmented security products, the platform brings together capabilities designed to detect and respond to coordinated, cross-channel threats.
Madduluri's work reflects a forward-looking approach to cybersecurity engineering, applying artificial intelligence to address the risks created by increasingly automated and adaptive adversaries. His contribution has helped establish a new category of security technology focused on protecting organizations against digital deception.
Prashant Vikas Patil, Technology Innovator — LTIMindtree
Prashant Vikas Patil of LTIMindtree was recognized for his engineering innovation in modernizing complex enterprise supply chain systems and overcoming the operational constraints of legacy technology.
Patil conceptualized and developed the Dynamic Configuration Driver Engine to address challenges associated with traditional IBM AS400-based warehouse and logistics environments. Historically, changes to fulfillment routing and operational workflows required extensive code modifications, vendor coordination, and lengthy deployment cycles.
His innovation introduced a metadata-driven, code-independent approach to managing complex operational configurations, enabling greater flexibility and reducing dependence on traditional software modification processes.
The technology was designed to improve the responsiveness and reliability of enterprise distribution operations, including high-volume retail environments where rapid configuration changes and operational continuity are critical. Patil's work demonstrates how innovative software architecture can extend the value of established infrastructure while helping enterprises modernize essential business processes.
Woman in Tech Leader of the Year
Siroui Mushegian, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President — Barracuda Networks
Siroui Mushegian, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President at Barracuda Networks, was honored for transforming enterprise IT into a strategic driver of innovation, operational excellence, and organizational growth.
Drawing on leadership experience across organizations including the NBA, Ralph Lauren, Time Inc., WNET New York Public Media, and BlackLine, Mushegian has built a career guiding technology organizations through complex business transformations.
At Barracuda, she has helped move the technology function beyond traditional operational support toward a broader role in enterprise strategy and innovation.
One of her defining initiatives was establishing Barracuda's AI Council, creating a governance framework that supports responsible artificial intelligence adoption while balancing innovation, security, accountability, and risk management.
Her leadership has helped position the company to embrace AI-driven transformation with stronger organizational coordination and governance. Mushegian exemplifies the expanding role of technology executives in shaping enterprise strategy and creating cultures that support sustainable innovation.
Stephanie Wheeler, Senior Vice President of Transformation — Candescent
Stephanie Wheeler, Senior Vice President of Transformation at Candescent, was recognized for leading enterprise-wide initiatives that improve customer experience, accelerate innovation, and strengthen organizational performance.
Candescent serves more than 1,300 banks and credit unions representing over 30 million registered users, placing Wheeler's transformation initiatives at the center of a large financial technology ecosystem.
Working across executive leadership, product development, and customer-facing teams, Wheeler has helped translate complex strategic priorities into coordinated initiatives that improve customer journeys and business outcomes. Her work has contributed to protecting revenue, accelerating product launches, reducing costs, and strengthening cross-functional execution.
Wheeler's leadership demonstrates the importance of aligning technology innovation with organizational culture, operational discipline, and customer needs. Her ability to bring teams together around shared objectives has supported Candescent's continued transformation in a rapidly evolving financial services market.
Nerissa Valdellon, Senior Vice President of Media Solutions — Channel Factory
Nerissa Valdellon, Senior Vice President of Media Solutions at Channel Factory, was honored for helping transform the company's advertising technology business while championing innovation, inclusion, and collaborative leadership.
With more than 25 years of experience in advertising technology, Valdellon recognized the growing need for integrated advertising strategies across social media, search, performance marketing, and connected television.
She helped lead Channel Factory's expansion beyond its traditional YouTube-focused business, developing cross-platform go-to-market strategies, product positioning, and commercial resources. During this transformation, the company's off-YouTube sales increased by more than 1,000% year over year.
Valdellon has also advocated for responsible advertising practices that incorporate brand safety, inclusion, sustainability, and emerging AI-powered optimization technologies.
Beyond commercial performance, she is recognized for her commitment to mentorship and employee development, including supporting women through She Runs It and creating opportunities for colleagues to gain leadership experience. Her work demonstrates how business innovation and inclusive leadership can reinforce one another.
Naureen Hassan, CEO — DriveWealth
Naureen Hassan, CEO of DriveWealth, was recognized for accelerating financial technology innovation and expanding global access to investment markets through next-generation trading infrastructure.
Appointed CEO in August 2025, Hassan brought extensive experience from senior leadership positions at UBS Americas, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, and Charles Schwab.
Under her leadership, DriveWealth has advanced its position in fractional investing, overnight trading, and emerging tokenized securities infrastructure. The platform processes an average of more than six million trades and 50 million API requests daily, supporting approximately 24.5 million investors through more than 100 financial institutions and fintech partners across over 30 countries.
Hassan has also advanced partnerships and initiatives involving stablecoin funding, tokenized securities, and expanded access to U.S. equity markets. DriveWealth reported 76% revenue growth in 2025, reaching $223.5 million.
Her approach combines financial market innovation with institutional operating experience, leadership development, and a commitment to making investing more accessible to individuals around the world.
Ramute Varnelyte, CEO and Chief Commercial Officer — IPXO
Ramute Varnelyte, a senior executive at IPXO, was honored for driving commercial expansion, operational transformation, and customer-focused growth in the global IP address leasing industry.
Bringing 16 years of experience across IT and eCommerce, Varnelyte has helped translate strategic objectives into measurable business results. Under her leadership, IPXO closed 2025 with £23.02 million in revenue, exceeding its target, while expanding its IP leasing platform to 9.2 million addresses, representing 70% year-over-year growth.
The company's leasing customer base increased by 40% to approximately 1,600 customers. Varnelyte also helped lead expansion into Asia, which accounted for 50% of new customer acquisitions across 32 countries during the period described in her nomination.
Her leadership has emphasized customer experience, organizational accountability, and coordinated execution, including a company-wide Customer Obsession initiative. Varnelyte's accomplishments illustrate how strategic clarity and a people-focused leadership philosophy can translate into substantial international growth.
Beth Weeks, Executive Vice President of Development — Planview
Beth Weeks, Executive Vice President of Development at Planview, was recognized for her leadership in modernizing enterprise software development and advancing the adoption of agentic AI across global engineering organizations.
With more than two decades of technology leadership experience, Weeks has guided organizations through significant platform transformations, including the transition from complex on-premise systems to scalable SaaS and AI-enabled applications.
At Planview, she leads global development teams across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, helping align product innovation with engineering execution and organizational performance.
Weeks is playing a central role in bringing agentic AI into the software development lifecycle, encouraging teams to rethink how enterprise technology is designed, built, and delivered. Her leadership combines technical architecture, measurable business objectives, and workforce development, establishing a model for responsible, results-oriented AI transformation.
Kristin Kanders, Head of Marketing, Engagement & Program Management — Plynk
Kristin Kanders, Head of Marketing, Engagement & Program Management at Plynk, was recognized for advancing accessible financial technology and helping individuals develop the confidence and skills needed to begin investing.
Kanders has played a central role in shaping Plynk's customer-first approach, emphasizing education, long-term financial habits, and ease of use rather than speculative trading or short-term market trends.
Under her leadership, Plynk introduced initiatives including Simulated Trading, allowing customers to practice with $100,000 in virtual funds, and Steady Start, which helps users establish recurring investing habits through small, incremental contributions.
She also led a major rebrand and customer experience transformation, introducing simplified navigation, guest profiles, new investing features, and expanded retirement account capabilities.
Her commitment to accessibility extends to Plynk Serve: Military, an experience designed to support veterans and active-duty service members with tailored financial guidance and investing resources.
With Plynk serving more than one million users, Kanders has helped build a technology experience that lowers barriers to entry while encouraging long-term financial confidence and responsible investing.
Recognizing Excellence in Technology Leadership
As the technology industry navigates rapid advances in artificial intelligence, increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats, evolving financial markets, and growing infrastructure demands, effective leadership remains essential to translating innovation into sustainable business value.
The 2026 Tech Ascension CEO and Leadership Award recipients exemplify the qualities required to lead through this transformation. Their accomplishments demonstrate how strategic vision, technological expertise, customer focus, organizational culture, and a commitment to developing talent can create meaningful impact across industries.
From founders building new technology categories to executives modernizing established enterprises, this year's honorees are helping define the next generation of technology leadership.
Learn more about the Tech Ascension Awards and its recognition programs here.
