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NVTC Releases Reports on Employers’ Demand for Tech Talent

Cybersecurity and Software Development Certifications, Skills and Competencies Outlined

HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) December 17, 2018

Unanet Honored as an NVTC Tech 100 Company and Unanet’s CEO,…

The Northern Virginia Tech Council (NVTC), the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia, has announced the companies and executives selected for their inaugural NVTC Tech 100 awards. Unanet was selected as a 2018 Tech 100 Company and Unanet Chair and CEO, Fran Craig, was selected as a 2018 Tech 100 Executive.

NVTC Announces the 2018 NVTC Tech 100

Leading companies and individuals to be recognized at Dec. 3 event

HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) November 15, 2018

NVTC Announces the 2018 NVTC Tech 100

Leading companies and individuals to be recognized at Dec. 3 event

HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) November 15, 2018

An endorsement from the Northern Virginia Technology Council seems to be especially sought after this week in races for Virginia’s most powerful seats.

The council’s TechPAC announced today that it is endorsing Mark Herring, state senator from Leesburg and the Democratic attorney general nominee, over his opponent Republican Mark Obenshain.

The council’s decision to back Herring comes less than two days after Republican and Democrat leaders statewide tussled over which gubernatorial candidate should get the NVTC’s backing. Late last week, the council announced that it was throwing its support behind Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor. News of the endorsement was met with a public backlash from state Democratic leaders, including those with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s campaign.

Democrats’ response was enough to convince NVTC to announce Monday that it would not endorse a candidate in the governor’s race. The council stated, “Given the deeply divided opinions of the NVTC membership concerning this race, NVTC is making no endorsement in the gubernatorial election.”

he Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political action committee confirmed Monday that it had voted to endorse Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) to be Virginia’s next governor, taking him at his word that he would not pursue the far-right social agenda that has been the hallmark of his political career. But many of the 25 technology company executives that gave the anti-LGBT activist Cuccinelli a majority vote represent companies that have deliberately marketed themselves as inclusive corporations — including Facebook, Microsoft, and Nothrop Grumman.

TechPAC, the political arm of the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia, says that it “supports the interests of the technology industry in Richmond and the future viability of our businesses.” In its announcement of the endorsement, the committee’s chairman said that it decided Cuccinelli’s “experience in Virginia government, command of the issues, and knowledge of key technology priorities” would help him “ensure the Commonwealth remains a competitive and innovative global technology center.”

The statement claimed that while the PAC believes a “divisive social agenda” would “seriously hurt the appeal of Virginia as a place to locate and grow businesses,” the board endorsed Cuccinelli anyway because he “assured TechPAC Trustees during the interview process that his administration will focus on jobs and the economy,” and not on right-wing social policies.

Nothing in Cuccinelli’s record would suggest that he would put his anti-LGBT policy agenda on the back burner. Over his seven-and-a-half years as a state senator and his four year as attorney general, Cuccinelli earned a reputation asVirginia’s Todd Akin — opposing even the most basic legal protections for LGBT people. He actively pushed for state and federal constitutional amendments to prevent any legal recognition of what he terms, “what they’d like to refer to as ‘homosexual families,’” authoring a resolution calling for a federal amendment to invalidate any same-sex marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, or “other relationship analogous to marriage.” He has opined that “giving public sanction to homosexual marriage ends up redefining marriage and it’s certain to harm children.” He even opposed a state bill that allowed private companies to voluntarily provide health insurance benefits to employees’ domestic partners, warning it might “encourage this type of behavior.” His advisory opinion that Virginia’s public colleges and universities should rescind their nondiscrimination policies was called “reprehensible” by a former Republican state legislator. His reasoning, he once explained: “When you look at the homosexual agenda, I cannot support something that I believe brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul.” Because he believes“homosexual acts are wrong,” he helped defeat a bill to bring Virginia’s sodomy law into compliance with a Supreme Court ruling, believing “in a natural law based country it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that.”

he Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political arm decided to give its coveted endorsement in the Virginia governor’s race to Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli II but delayed Friday’s scheduled announcement after supporters of his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, raised objections, according to former and current members of the council.

The bipartisan board of NVTC’s TechPAC interviewed both candidates Thursday and voted immediately afterward by secret ballot to give the nod to Cuccinelli, the state’s attorney general, according to council members who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the issue remains unresolved.

That night, TechPAC’s chair, Dendy Young, called both candidates to advise them of the decision.

The NVTC’s endorsement announcement was set for 1 p.m. Friday but was put off without explanation.

Members of the council started buzzing when no announcement was made.

“What I got later in the afternoon from a board member was, ‘I have no idea what’s going on but I have registered my extreme anger that we made an endorsement yesterday and now someone is trying to overrule it,’ ” a former council member said Saturday.

Members of the NVTC executive committee have scheduled a special meeting Sunday night to review the process, the council members said.

Barbara Greene “Bobbie” Kilberg, the NVTC’s chief executive, confirmed Saturday that TechPAC’s announcement had been delayed but declined to comment further.