2009 Silicon Alley Awards

Mark has quickly become an integral part of the New York tech scene, and he's not showing any signs of slowing down. He currently works as an Associate at the Venture Capital firm DFJ Gotham Ventures, investing in early-stage digital media, e-commerce, and additional IT-related firms. He also maintains an extremely informative and entertaining blog known as "Get Venture: Venture Made Transparent," which is an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs, investors, and basically anyone looking to become more acquainted with the startup and VC realm. I've personally witnessed changes in the ways students and faculty on Columbia's campus promote and pursue entrepreneurial endeavors as a result of Mark's commitment to changing the startup culture, from judging business demo events to providing students with unbelievable internship opportunities and career advice.

You can expect to see Mark on the Board of Directors of some truly innovative, high-profile tech companies in the near future, but his sharp intelligence, analytical instincts, and down-to-earth personality will be his defining factors in the years to come.

Sure, he's not likely to surpass Stephen Colbert on this list, but Mike Lazerow is The Man. Entrepreneur, social butterfly, and family man - Laz is the coolest CEO on the planet. He's been the Man for a long time...starting and selling 3 other companies and exploding out of the social media gates with his latest venture: Buddy Media..Oh, he's also my boss, making him The Man in more ways than one.

David is the Founder/CEO of Clickable, an online solution that makes search advertising Simple, Instant and Profitable. Clickable’s immediate activation and intuitive user experience make it easy for marketers to manage performance across all major ad networks, including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Kristin mixes the world of PR and social media into the work she does with her clients. From the very first blog post she wrote for Bite Communications bitemarks blog, she realized that there was a way to connect the media to her clients by having a conversation with them, rather than the traditional PR pitch. This interest lead to her current role at Carrot Creative where she works on the front end social media consulting side with Carrot's clients in addition to communications strategy for Carrot.

She was a key player on the social media team within Bite Communications developing new business pitches focused around social media and Web 2.0 and developed campaigns integrating popular platforms such as Twitter and BlogTalkRadio. She has been positioned in multiple new business pitches as a member focused on social media, providing insight and creative ideas for the company and prospect.

Through her work so far, Kristin has also focused on technology PR working with current and past clients including Sun Microsystems, Diageo, Intermedia, Virgin Life Care, Visa and Saber Seven.

Her goals are to continue the integration of the PR and social media world by not only encouraging clients to "play the game" but help them become part of the conversation in a creative manner.

Her interest in the mix of online communities into real world settings has also sparked her to Co-Organize and create Digital DUMBO, a monthly gathering of digital media and technology focused professionals in DUMBO Brooklyn to network in a casual setting.

Charlie is the founder and CEO of Path 101, a prolific blogger at ThisIsGoingToBeBig.com, and the founder of NextNY Digital, a group of over 2000 digital entrepreneurs in the New York City metropolitan area. He is a tireless advocate for New York City small businesses and startups and a mentor to many students at Fordham University's business school.

John Borthwick is the CEO of Betaworks. Previously, he worked with Blogger, Fotolog, Return Path, Daylife, Social Science, MyWebOS, among others.

Best-selling author Steven Berlin Johnson is co-founder of neighborhood news site outside.in (2006), and founder of webzine Feed (in 1995) and Webby-award winning news discussion site Plastic (in 2001). He recently spoke at the SXSW conference about the future of news.

Colbert is the man simple

Seth is the CEO of Conductor, an emerging leader in natural search solutions, helping organizations manage information for greater search engine visibility, developing industry leading SEO solutions, and providing thought leadership for the natural search industry.

There is not enough estrogen on this list. Yuli Ziv, is a serial entrepreneur who does it all looking stylish. Her namesake blog is a compelling read, offering advice and lessons learned to both startups and the media community at large. Fashion 2.0, a monthly fashion & tech meetup is also organized by Yuli. The fire for providing the missing link between consumers and brands and keen sense of trend forecasting are what gives her companies, MyItThings.com and her newest venture, the Style Coalition, staying power.