Washington Tech Titan Reception

Washingtonian magazine held a very nice reception last night at the Freer Gallery.  They invited everyone from their list of the 100 DC tech leaders.   I’m still not sure how I made it on the list but I most definately wanted to be at the reception to socialize with some old and new friends.

One of the first folks I chatted with was Garrett Graff, author of the Tech Titan’s piece.  Garrett is as polished as his writings– a real gentleman.   Click here for a list of his articles. President and Publisher Cathy Merrill Williams and Editor John Limpert were also on hand and interesting to talk with.

Some of the other folks I chatted with at the event included:

• Bob Kahn - Very modest.  He is one of the three real fathers of the Internet (most of us techies credit Kahn, Vint Cerf, Steve Crocker).  But Bob introduces himself as head of a small consultancy in Virginia.  See: http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/bios/kahn.html
• John Crupi - CTO, JackBe.  A friend I have long admired for his strong technical acumen and visionary pursuit of “Mash-ups”  See http://jackbe.com for more
• Ted Leonsis, Steve Case, Michael Saylor- It was interesting to watch these guys cut up.
• Marissa Levin- f I think we need more of what she does in the federal space.  Check out her website at: http://www.informationexperts.com/
• Pete Snyder- founder and CEO, New Media Strategies. See: http://newmediastrategies.net/
• Ed Black- president and CEO, Computer & Communications Industry Association. I found Ed to be very in tune with the ongoing dialog regarding cyber security and privacy.  My sense is that Ed and I disagree on some key issues.  But my sense is also that he would be a terrific guy to continue a conversation with.  He is intelligent and knows his subject matter very well.  See: http://www.ccianet.org/ for more info.
• Carol Thompson Cole- president and CEO, Venture Philanthropy Partners. This lady is changing the world in ways we should all watch.  For more see: http://venturephilanthropypartners.org/
• Frank Hecker- Mozilla Foundation. Very influential in open-source.  See: http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/about.html
• Stephen Winings- Of Korn/Ferry.  Seems like a great guy to stay in touch with.  See: http://www.kornferry.com/bios/StephenWinings
• Peter Corbett- founder, TwinTech.  I’ve known Peter for over a year but most of that was just digial via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Good to chat in person.  See more at http://www.istrategylabs.com/
• Shireen Mitchell- Strategically aligning technology and action to bridge gaps and serve the community.  See: http://www.digital-sistas.org/

There were lots of other interesting folks in the room, including In-Q-Tel’s Donald Tighe.  Don has done more for the nation than most folks will ever realize.  For more on what he is in to see: http://www.iqt.org/

Thanks Washingtonian, for hosting this event and thanks much for letting me join the reception. I enjoyed it and frankly it expanded my mind.  Being able to chat with these and other great tech heroes was a real honor I will not forget.