The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC Names Finalists for Entrepreneur Navigator Awards

Grotech Venture's Don Rainey and Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area to Receive Lifetime and Organization Navigator Awards

HERNDON, Va., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, a resource for technology-focused startups and entrepreneurs, announced today the Entrepreneur Navigator Awards finalists and the Organization and Lifetime Navigator Awards winners for 2011. Now in its second year, the program honors individuals and organizations that have mentored and advised entrepreneurs and startups in the Greater Washington region. The award recipients will be honored at a reception on January 27 from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. at The Tower Club in Tysons Corner, Va.

The Navigator Award is presented to an individual that has raised the bar for mentoring/advising or otherwise helping improve the quality of the entrepreneur community. This year's award winner will be announced at the January 27 reception. Finalists include:

Navigator Award

• Frank Blackstone, Blackstone Counsel
• Steve Meltzer, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
• Jim Wolfe, J Street Consulting and George Mason University

In addition, the Entrepreneur Center will present the Organization Navigator Award to Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area and the Lifetime Navigator Award to Don Rainey of Grotech Ventures in recognition of their leadership in the local entrepreneur community.

Junior Achievement is committed to educating the region's youth to fully understand the principles of free enterprise and to compete in the global economy. Each year, JA recognizes and invests in local high school students demonstrating entrepreneurial skills with its Youth Entrepreneur of the Year award, Essay Competition, and other programs. In October 2010 JA opened Greater Washington's first major financial literacy center for youth – Junior Achievement Finance Park.

As a general partner at Grotech Ventures, Rainey serves on the boards of Grotech portfolio companies SnappCloud, Clarabridge, LivingSocial and Zenoss. He is also an organizing board member of the prestigious MindShare forum, where he helps CEOs from the Greater Washington Metropolitan region's most promising startups build long-term, sustainable companies. Rainey is also a former chair and current member of the NVTC Capital Formation Committee. In fall 2008, he was appointed through the DeVenCi Program to a second term as an emerging technology consultant to the chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, volunteering his time to research and nominate young companies to solve the DoD's unmet technology needs.

"We applaud the efforts of this year's finalists who have made a positive impact on the region's entrepreneurs, ensuring they have mentors and advisors they can turn to for advice and support," said Kristin D'Amore, director, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC. "We are also thrilled to honor Don Rainey for his volunteerism and dedication to helping others achieve their entrepreneurial goals and Junior Achievement for its investment in the entrepreneurial education of the region's high school students. Without the time and dedication of individuals and organizations like these, the road to entrepreneurial success in our region would be much more difficult to navigate."  

To register for this event visit: http://www.nvtc.org/events/geteventinfo.php?event=ECNAVAWDS2.

About The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC

Created by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC is a resource hub for technology-focused startups and entrepreneurs at every stage of their lifecycle. The Entrepreneur Center fosters entrepreneurship in students, mentors the first-time entrepreneur, advises and supports the experienced entrepreneur and facilitates strategic business relationships in the technology community. Visit http://www.nvtc.org/tec/index.php.

About The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia and is the largest technology council in the nation. NVTC has about 1,000 member companies representing more than 200,000 employees. Its membership includes companies from all sectors of the technology industry and the service providers that support these companies, as well as universities, foreign embassies, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. NVTC is recognized as the nation's leader in providing its technology community with networking and educational events; specialized services and benefits; public policy advocacy; branding of its region as a major global technology center; initiatives in targeted business sectors and in the international, entrepreneurship, workforce and education arenas; the Equal Footing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that serves local area youth; and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC which mentors new technology entrepreneurs. Visit NVTC at www.nvtc.org.

SOURCE Northern Virginia Technology Council