THE AWARDEES WHO SHINED BRIGHT AT THE 2018 TIE BOSTON GALA

Dec 18, 2018·4 min read

An Evening for Friends and Laughter: TiE Boston Board Member Zenobia Moochhala, 2018 Innovation and Achievement in Venture Capital Awardee Darshana Zaveri and TiE Boston President Nilanjana Bhowmik

On December 13, we gathered to celebrate the 2018 TiE Boston Annual Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. This event, while glamorous and known for its awards ceremony, is also an opportunity to highlight the values of TiE Boston. We recognize the importance of community, mentorship, and long-term relationships by connecting tomorrow’s founders with today’s entrepreneurs.

To close the year, we allocate a portion of our gala program to recognize those individuals who have created or shaped a category through a significant contribution in their field of work, deemed “mission-critical” to the innovation economy, and have contributed to the well-being of the community through time, money, mentoring, and guidance.

The 2018 Awardees have made their mark throughout various industries including Digital Health, B2B Solutions, e-Commerce and B2C, Robotics and Automation, Innovation and Achievement in Venture Capital and as done each year — a single Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lifetime Achievement Award Dr. Amar Sawhney

The 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree is Dr. Amar Sawhney, a founder of six companies, including Confluent Surgical (acquired by Covidien), Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ: OCUL), Incept LLC and Augmenix, which was recently acquired by Boston Scientific. Dr. Sawhney has dedicated his life to helping patients with his unique medical device inventions.

Dr. Sawhney has previously been recognized for his contributions in innovation and philanthropy with several awards including being named a “Champion of Change” by the White House and “Outstanding American by Choice” by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, “Five Most Innovative Medical Device CEOs” by MassDevice, MassMedic’s best startup company award, the Frost and Sullivan Product innovation award, MIT Global Indus Technovator Award, the E&Y Regional Entrepreneur of the Year award, Mass High Tech All Star award, New England Choice Awards, The Immigrant Entrepreneur Award, Indian Institute of Delhi’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and the University of Texas’s Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate award.

COO & CFO of PillPack, Yvonne Hao, receives the 2018 Leader Award for her incredible contributions in Digital Health

In a sector that has a major presence in the city of Boston, our honorees saw the opportunity to better improve the overall healthcare landscape by addressing the needs of patients. Yvonne Hao is the COO & CFO of PillPack, a company that coupled health and design to create a convenient and easy system to ensure that patients do not miss taking their medication.Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, the co-founder & CEO of Iora Health, created a patient-centered, relationship-based healthcare model to transform how medical practices approach primary care.

2018 Rising Star in Digital Health Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle

In finding innovators that are able to solve the most pressing challenges hindering business growth, Kris Canekeratne, Chairman & CEO of Virtusa, built a company that provides information technology and consulting to help Fortune Global businesses with their IT services. As our “rising star” in B2B Solutions, Stefania Mallett of ezCater found a way to harness the large number of catering orders filed by businesses every day and make it easier for the company and the caterer.

Charter Member Anil Matta and 2018 B2B Leader Award Raj Rajigopal of Virtusa

For addressing the growing sophistication of consumers, Niraj Shah made home furnishing and delivery into a one-stop online destination through Wayfair.

2018 Awardees Molly Delaney and Jane Carpenter for Wayfair’s Leader in e-Commerce and B2C

Aman Narang Co-Founder & President of Toast understood running restaurants is difficult no matter their size. He and his team have created a cloud-based technology system to help restaurants run their daily operations more efficiently.

TiE Boston President Nilanjana Bhowmik, 2018 Rising Star Aman Narang of Toast, TiE Boston Co-Founder and Past President Desh Deshpande

Thinking of a new business idea is hard enough but finding the funding to get the business launched can seem like a herculean feat. That’s why in recognizing entrepreneurs it’s equally important to highlight the venture capitalists that seek out and provide funding for great companies. As managing partner at Catalyst Health Ventures, Darshana Zaveri invests in companies looking to address and improve unmet healthcare needs while Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner at The Engine seeks out “tough tech” innovators looking to create tomorrow’s companies.

Congratulations to the team at nuTonomy for their recognition as the 2018 Robotics and Automation Leader

In Robotics and Automation, we recognizedKarl Iagnemma, Co-Founder & President of nuTonomy, a company that creates the software platform in autonomous vehicles to make safe driving a reality for the future. Raghav Gupta, COO of Humatics, dedicated his work to introducing Spatial Intelligence Platform, a microlocation system to help the manufacturing industry better track objects, tools, and to improve warehouse safety.

2018 Rising Star Award Raghav Gupta of Humatics

While our honorees’ companies span different sectors and categories, they all have one thing in common — they are creating and shaping their categories and choosing to build and stay in Massachusetts.

Congratulations to all our 2018 TiE Boston Awardees!