Learn more about BraveIT in New York City on 9/19/19 on the event website.

 

Learn more about the nominees:

We applaud all of the candidates who were nominated by their peers for the 2019 BraveIT Award. Each of the seven nominees is truly a credit to the IT profession, their organization, and the community. The winner will be recognized at the September 19 BraveIT conference in New York City, with a commemorative plaque and $10,000 donation to the non-profit organization of his/her choosing.  We invite you to review their nominations and submit your vote below. The voting deadline is August 9

In addition to casting your vote, we invite all voters to take advantage of a reduced BraveIT ticket available on the vote submission confirmation page.

And the nominees are...

Uriel Ash

Hatzalah & Kupat Ezra 

Uriel is at the heart of every charity organization (Hatzalah) in Monsey NY. He spends countless hours assisting free medical services and soup kitchens (Kupat Ezra) with IT networking set up and infrastructure. He has set up countless helpline networks and is on call 24/7 to troubleshoot issues. Recently, Uriel assisted a person who had his limbs amputated to raise funds for prosthetic limbs. Uriel raised a large portion of what was needed for this person in need. Uriel is an EMT and always ready to lend a helping hand to charity events, people in need, war vets and chooses others over himself.

Eric David Benari

Techie Youth

Eric founded the nonprofit charity Techie Youth, where his team gives hundreds of NYC foster kids and at-risk youth the gift of self-sufficiency through computer and technology education, training, individualized guidance and job placement assistance. He launched the initiative with a mission to help children in foster care who do not have parents or family to guide them, and will need to become financially independent before their age of emancipation to avoid becoming homeless on their birthday (18 or 21 in most states.)

Techie Youth focuses on teens in foster care who have come from severely abusive and neglectful backgrounds, and also serves hundreds of at-risk youth from the most challenging life-situations including kids living in shelters, battered-women's clinics and group-homes, formerly-incarcerated minors and juvenile convicts, pregnant/parenting teens and many other heartbreaking situations. By leading the Techie Youth team, Eric is on a mission to end new cases of youth homelessness in New York, and eventually nationwide, by using a sustainable model of teaching youth how they can help themselves and guiding them to begin a career as an IT-professional.

Abdoul Diallo

Guinnovation

Abdoul Diallo is on the Board of Directors of a new non-profit organization called Guinnovation which works to provide help with Healthcare and Education needs in the remote regions of the West African country of Guinea. (his home country). Abdoul was invited to join the Board once he presented the project he was working on at the time, which was the installation of a Solar Electricity system in the hospital of the remote region of Yembering, Guinea (his home town).

Abdoul coordinated all related efforts starting with fundraising and the logistics to successfully carryout the installation of the solar system. THE OUTCOME: The hospital now has light 24/7, and all the rooms, most importantly for surgery have light. Solar batteries run a computer, charge laptops, and provide the pharmacy with a cooling unit to preserve medicines and surgery has air-conditioning. With the hospital's utility upgraded, other NGOs provided additional aid to the hospital in the form of medical supplies and equipment.

Paul Fisher

Mater Dei Prep High School 

Paul Fisher is an IT professional who helped to keep a school open that almost had to close four years ago. A group of alumni got together to raise the funds to reopen the school independently and an entire community went to work to make the school survive. Paul lent his expertise in technology and helped build things from the ground up. He took on contract negotiations, managed the schools network capabilities, and he while built and supported a new school website. But it was because of people like Paul who lent their time, talent and expertise that saved the school survived.

Ignacio Jayo

CentennialX

Ignacio founded CentennialX a revolutionary program that helps kids get exposed to innovation at a young age. More than that he did this on his one time and through his own initiative has grown this to include other districts in the area. Whenever necessary, he goes above and beyond to help students that would otherwise never get exposed to the innovation economy see what the 21st-century workforce looks like. Whether its calling leaders up until the wee hours of the morning to get them involved or chaperoning trips up and down the East Coast Ignacio always goes above and beyond for his students, all while being a full-time HS teacher!

Kevin Rains

Easterseals Arkansas

Kevin is the only IT employee for the Easterseals Arkansas.

Easterseals Arkansas (ESA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping physically and mentally disabled children and adults live, work, grow and play more independently in their community. ESA has a total of eight buildings and three apartment complexes. Only four of the eight are located on the main campus. The other remaining buildings are located in other areas of Arkansas. Two of the main campus buildings are long-term care facilities that are operational 24/7, 52 weeks of the year. ESA has over 600 employees. Out of the eight buildings and 600 plus employees ESA only Kevin for IT support, and he is responsible for keeping the computer and telephone systems up and running. He makes himself available after normal working hours to accommodate the 24 hour facility and he travels to the various locations. He keeps himself educated on the latest IT trends and utilizes that information to come up with ways to streamline ESA's business operations. He also single-handedly improved the organization's protocols for HIPAA compliance.

Ryan Weber

KC Tech Council

Ryan Weber is the current President of the KC Tech Council. One of Ryan's main accomplishments in his role has been advocating for more workers and children to learn technology and computer skills. He and his team worked with leaders across the state to successfully pass legislation to reform computer science education. This fall, every child in the state of Missouri will have the opportunity to take computer science as a credit towards high school graduation. Also, during this legislation session, he was able to influence the inclusion of STEM career awareness funding into the Missouri state budget.

As a founding member of the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition, Ryan has worked alongside a number of local companies and leaders to complete a feasibility study, and most recently worked with the Speaker of the House to form a Blue Ribbon Panel, consisting of business and civic leaders from across the state, to evaluate the next steps for Missouri’s Hyperloop project.”


NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING. Void where prohibited. Open to U.S. residents. Nominators and nominated individuals must be age 18+ and age of majority in their state. Nominate between 7/18/19-8/09/19 by completing the vote form on the BraveIT voting page. Winner will be recognized at the BraveIT conference on 9/19/19 and receive a commemorative plaque (approx. retail value: $100) and the right to select a non-profit to receive a $10,000 donation from the Sponsor. Odds depend on no. of entries. A copy of the official rules available here. Sponsor: TierPoint, 12444 Powerscourt Drive, Suite 450, St. Louis, MO 63131.