UVa alum lauds tech boom as Jeffersonian at conference

Date:  Wed, 2000-04-19

By: Reed Williams Daily Progress Staff Writer April 19, 2000 Halsey Minor, founder of a San Francisco-based news-media company, CNET, once spent $1,200 in toll calls to close a business deal — on his honeymoon. It’s no coincidence that a man with Minor’s remarkable dedication to entrepreneurial pursuits was selected by the Virginia Piedmont Technology Council as its Tech Awards 2000 keynote speaker. Speaking to more than 280 tech enthusiasts in the ballroom of the Boar’s Head Inn & Sports Club, the Charlottesville native and University of Virginia graduate stressed that Thomas Jefferson would have been a ferverent supporter of technology and distance education in the 21st century. “I think he would have actually, in this day and age, cared far less about the physical qualities of the university and would have cared a lot more about the connectedness of the university to the global community,” he said of the founder and architect of UVa. “And I think [Jefferson] would have been obsessive over students being able to participate in classrooms with students all around the world,” Minor, also CNET’s chairman and chief executive officer, told scores of beaming spectators. The second annual awards dinner honored individuals and organizations that the VPTC felt have profoundly affected Central Virginia’s technology community. The Spotlight Award for the company shedding the most positive attention on the region was given to M·CAM Inc., which is developing methods to value intellectual property. The award was sponsored by Virginia Gateway. Broadslate Networks Inc., a start-up company that provides high-speed Internet access through digital subscriber lines, won the Rocket Award. This award was sponsored by Working Weekly and given to Broadslate for its having moved quickly from business concept to commercialization. Adenosine Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that spun out of UVa, won the Breakthrough Award for achieving a noteworthy advance. Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology presented this award. The Red Apple Award was presented to the K-12 science or technology teacher who most efficiently uses technological resources to excite and prepare students. Dave Matt, technology coordinator for Orange County’s public schools, received this award from UVa’s Office of the Vice President for Research. Delegate Paul C. Harris, R – Albemarle, clinched the Navigator Award, which was given by Woods, Rogers & Hazelgrove, for the politician most responsible for promoting technology start-ups. Adelphia Business Solutions sponsored the Community Award, which was won by City Councilor Meredith Richards for founding the Computers 4 Kids initiative. With City Council elections just around the corner, the Democratic incumbent, who blew a kiss to the audience and then planted one on the cheek of David Kalergis, executive director of Virginia Gateway, on her way to the podium, took the opportunity to laud the VPTC and local initiatives that have bridged the yawning “digital-divide. “I think we’re all investing in the future of our children,” she said.