Staffing Firm Founder Rona Borre Named Finalist for 2012 Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS

April 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Instant Technology Founder, President and CEO Rona Borre has been named a finalist in the 2012 Illinois Technology Association (ITA) CityLIGHTS awards in the Prominent Woman in Tech category.

As a female leader in the IT industry, Borre not only dedicates her time to furthering Chicago’s tech community, she actively promotes the advancement and empowerment of women in the technology and entrepreneurship fields.  Through her strong belief in cultivating relationships and mentorship, Borre utilizes her unique status and resources to champion programs that advocate and educate women in IT roles.  In addition to contributing to publications such as Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business, Borre has spoken on panels to encourage women in the technology and business arena including TechWeek SPARK Women and Entrepreneurs Unpluggd – The Founding Team Edition, alongside GrubHub Co-Founder Mike Evans and OCA Ventures Partner Joe Dwyer.  Her commitment to mentoring is reflected in her firm’s partnership with Chicago Career Tech, the mayor’s biggest initiative for job retooling and placement, and her collaboration with Excelerate Labs as the only staffing agency to work with the incubator to advise Chicago start-ups in identifying the right talent for their businesses.

The ITA received a record-setting number of nominations this year, with the ITA’s panel of judges selecting the top entries in each of nine award categories.

“I’m honored to be selected as a finalist for the Prominent Women in Tech category,” said Borre.  “Illinois has a great community of people who are passionate about, motivated by and changing the face of how we think and interact with science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  It’s an amazing experience to be a part of this growing ecosystem and I’m so appreciative of the opportunities I’ve had to work with and encourage other women in these fields.  I’m humbled to be recognized for my efforts.”

“It was no easy feat for the judges to determine the finalists for each award,” said ITA CEO Fred Hoch.  “The past 12 months have been a time of unprecedented growth, accomplishments and innovation in Illinois and this energy is reflected in the quantity and quality of CityLIGHTS awards nominees.”

Public voting is online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CLVOTING through April 25.  Winners are determined by a blended score based equally on public voting and the judges’ panel in all categories except the CityLIGHTS award, which is selected by the ITA Board of Directors.  Winners will be announced at the CityLIGHTS Awards Gala Thursday, May 10, 2012, in the Great Hall at Union Station in Chicago.  The gala, which sold out last year, attracts more than 700 people from 400 organizations including business owners, investors, legislators and policymakers.  

The panel of judges consists of 68 esteemed technology leaders including Dan Lyne, World Business Chicago; Patricia Anderson, Apartments.com; Howard Tullman, Tribeca Media FlashPoint Academy; Ed Domain, Tech.li; Mark Achler, Redbox; Jai Shekhawat, Fieldglass; Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone; Lance Pressel, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce; Roger Liew, Orbitz Worldwide; Ross Kimbarovsky, Crowdspring; and Troy Henikoff, Excelerate Labs.

There are nine award categories: The CityLIGHTS award; CEO of the Year; Technologist of the Year; the Newcomer award; the Rising Star; the Lighthouse award; the New Concept award; the Best Strategic Use of Technology award; and the Prominent Woman in Tech award, the 2012 write-in award category.

# # #

Founded in 2001 as a Woman-owned Business Enterprise, Instant Technology is a leading full-service talent management firm helping companies identify strategic solutions around finding the best IT talent to grow their organization.