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.
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