The Valley’s tech community is having a renaissance. Once strictly he province of semiconductor makers and aerospace manufacturers, the region’s technology industry has continued to expand into everything from telecommunications and software to health care, fintech and manufacturing.
Along with that growth has come a huge influx of people helping to move the industry forward. In years past, the Phoenix Business Journal has recognized those making a difference through our Top Tech program. This year is no exception as we highlight 19 individuals who have not just made an impact on their companies, but on the greater technology sector around them.
Click on each of the profiles of this year’s honorees below:
Thiru Thangarathinam, MST Solutions
Simer Mayo, nVision Networking
Kevin Haskew, ON Semiconductor Corp.
Jan Janick, Benchmark Electronics
Dorien Weijts, JDA Software Group
Thiru Thangarathinam
Title: CEO
Company: MST Solutions
Age: 45
Years in industry: 22
Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering
What was the first time you knew tech would be your career? In 1997, I left my first job (specializing in printing technology) to change over to the technology field, and that was when I decided tech would be my career.
What’s your biggest career accomplishment? MST Solutions’ core focus is to create a legacy across what we call 3Cs — customers, colleagues and community. While there is long way to go, we have made significant progress in this goal. Playing a role in MST’s evolution is my biggest career accomplishment.
Who is your tech industry inspiration? Former Intel Corp. CEO Andy Grove. I spent 10 years at Intel and my thinking has been shaped by the core values instilled by Intel.
What’s the best thing about working in a tech-related field? It is an exciting time to work in the tech-related field with technologies such as artificial intelligence and “internet of things” moving into mainstream. In addition, software has become a cornerstone for driving evolution of multiple industries.
What’s the hardest thing about working in a tech-related field? While technology evolution has been exciting, it is easy to get distracted by the next shiny object (shiny object syndrome) and lose focus as an organization or individual.
What’s the biggest challenge in adapting to the pace of technology in your work? Key measurement in realizing return on investment for any technology is the adoption of the technology. When it comes to adoption, it is all about change management and ensuring the adoption happens in smaller increments over a period of time.
This content was originally published by the Phoenix Business Journal. That article can be found here: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2019/09/27/special-report-top-tech-2019honors-valley-industry.html
