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   Brooks Raiford, President and CEO, NCTA

Brooks Raiford has served as President & CEO of NCTA since 2008. NCTA is the statewide industry association for the tech sector, representing over 700 member companies and organizations that employ over 100,000 North Carolinians.

In the early 1990s, he served as a policy aide in the North Carolina Governor’s Office, where a key focus area was information technology and its impact on a variety of public policy areas. Subsequently, Brooks served as Director of the Independent College Fund of North Carolina, and then President of Leadership North Carolina. Most recently, he was Business Development Director with Balfour Beatty Construction.

Brooks’ current leadership activities include serving on the North Carolina eLearning Commission; the Board of Advisors of North Carolina New Schools; the Board of Directors of the Technology Councils of North America; the North Carolina Advisory Committee of the US Global Leadership Coalition; and President of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at NC State University, where he is a former Student Body President and University Trustee.

Recently, the organization that represents the technology associations across North America named Brooks the 2014 “TechVoice Champion,” the first time an association CEO has received this award for advocacy on behalf of the tech sector.

Brooks’ wife Stephanie is a Principal in the Wake County Public School System, and they have two children, Lauren and Will.

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   Michelle Calton, VP, Membership Development, NCTA

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   Marc Montoro, Sr. Director, Programs & Communications, NCTA

Marc Montoro is the Sr. Director of Programs & Communications for the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA).  NCTA is the statewide trade association that represents the tech sector through public affairs and workforce development initiatives, along with events.  Marc is responsible for the development and execution of NCTA’s events portfolio, including content creation, speaker coordination and sponsorship sales.  He also leads NCTA’s communications strategy, including web and social media presence, digital marketing and media relations.

Marc has over 14 years of marketing and communications experience, mostly in technology.  The first five years were as a recruiter.  He started in IT staffing and solutions for TEKsystems, then working for Lucas Group, placing finance/accounting professionals.  He moved to North Carolina in 2004, where he started with NCTA, serving as the Programs Manager for two and a half years.  Then, he held marketing roles with WRAL Tech Wire and Restaurant.com, before returning to NCTA, where he has been in his current role for over four years.

Marc has a BA in Industrial Relations from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where he played football for the Tarheels.  He lives in Hillsborough with his wife (Natalie) and two daughters (Molly and Daphne).

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   Craig Scates, Partner, Resolvit

Craig Scates created, and leads, Resolvit’s Southern Region, which currently includes branch offices in Raleigh/Durham, NC, San Jose, Calif., and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Craig has Profit & Loss management experience in both small and large company environments, serving the information technology, telecommunications, homeland security, law enforcement, defense, and intelligence industries.

Craig’s background features 15 years with GTE Data Services and GTE Government Systems in an array of disciplines including sales, business development, systems development and integration, strategic planning, and financial management. Prior to joining Resolvit, Craig served for 4 years as President and General Manager with Digital Audio Corporation, a Triangle-based company that creates specialized technology for global forensic and intelligence communities.

Outside of Resolvit, Craig is an avid golfer and cook captain of a local competition BBQ team, The Kings of Q. He and his wife, Susan, have lived in the Triangle area since 2000 with their 15-year-old triplet boys.

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   Steve Chase, Senior VP of Global Sales, Alphanumeric Systems, Inc.

As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Steve Chase ensures that Alphanumeric delivers solutions to its customers that enable better, faster, and more efficient business operations. By building future opportunities for Alphanumeric, Steve identifies new and leading technologies to satisfy the current and future needs of customers.

With 26 years experience in the technology industry, including 22 years at Alphanumeric, Steve offers his unique combination of broad technical expertise and wealth of business knowledge to ensure the company provides each client with a good customer experience at a good value. With a long-standing career in the technology arena beginning in the early ‘80s days of PCs, Steve has consistently lowered costs, increased revenue, and mitigated risk for Alphanumeric’s customers. His diverse background also includes business development success in Alphanumeric’s document imaging and staffing services. As a testament to his knowledge and expertise in the technology field, Steve is a sought-after speaker for information technology trends and how technology will impact the workplace.

Steve currently serves as an active member of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors and the North Carolina Technology Association. He also serves as a founding member of the Rex Patriots, a key component of the Rex Healthcare Foundation.

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