Despite the challenges we’ve faced, Arizona is still on the rise and can be compared side by side with the most influential and powerful technology hubs across the nation and even the world. There are many technology sectors that will continue to push Arizona’s explosive growth forward in 2021. What follows Steve Zylstra’s emerging technologies expected to impact Arizona’s technology ecosystem in the coming year and beyond.
Poised to apply a broad level of private-sector executive and community leadership experience that includes nearly 23 years at Arizona Public Service, Arizona’s largest public utility, Flinn Foundation President and CEO Tammy McLeod, Ph.D., has accepted the position of Board Advisor of The Utility Customer Research Consortium (UCRC).
The Arizona Technology Council, in partnership with Global Village Ventures LLC, announced the INNOVATE Phoenix book is available for purchase. Backed by online augmented reality video canvases on most features when using the free Global Village app, the tech-enabled coffee-table book features a collection of stories and testimonials from the top technology companies and leaders in the city.
Every quarter, the Arizona Technology Council releases the Arizona Technology Industry Impact Report designed to chart the progress of the state’s tech community. The latest version should give all Arizonans reason to be proud of how the industry has continued to grow despite the tumultuous year that 2020 has been.
Jason Yankovitz is an area operations manager for Salute Mission Critical, a data center services firm with offerings that include day-to-day operations and project-based services. A former soldier, over the past several years Jason has built a successful career in the data center industry. Yankovitz joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from traveling the world to figuring out how to thrive after leaving the military, to pivoting from criminal justice into IT, to finally loving what you do. The full transcript, edited just for clarity, is here, with timestamps to ease navigation through the video.
Chris Ronzio is the founder and CEO of Trainual, a tool for growing businesses to document processes and to simplify onboarding and training. Prior to launching Trainual, Chris ran an operations consulting firm that helped businesses systematize and scale. Chris joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from Arizona’s big skies and amazing weather, to the shared mission of tech entrepreneurs in the state, to hiring and retaining talent.
Wes Hummel is vice president of Site Reliability Engineering at PayPal and a recent addition to the AZ Tech Council board. A longtime Arizonan, he has also held positions at Clarity Communication Systems and Motorola. Wes joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from how software was eating the world well before Marc Andreessen said it, to why everyone should work in the service industry at some point, to what it takes to support 25X growth.
Grant Anderson is President and CEO of Paragon Space Development Corporation, the Tucson-based company he co-founded in 1993. Paragon was formed “to change the future by creating extreme environment life support and thermal control solutions that would allow humans to expand beyond their previously believed limits.” Anderson joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from supporting crewed missions to Mars, to batteries, to the importance of imagination.
Leib Bolel is president and CEO of the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance, where he oversees the growth in bilateral trade between the technology communities of Arizona and Israel, as well as a venture partner at Grayhawk Capital. Bolel joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from the opportunities between Arizona and Israel, to the talent flocking to the state, to the outlook for venture capital investments in local companies.
Calline Sanchez is vice president of IBM Systems Lab Services and IBM Systems Technical Universities, as well as state leader for Arizona and New Mexico. In her role, she leads a team of worldwide technology consultants to deliver IBM Systems solutions. Sanchez joined Molly Castelazo, storyteller-in-chief at Castelazo Content, in a lively conversation that ranged from overcoming shyness to being authentic to managing a team of a thousand engineers and scientists all working remotely.