INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

North Carolina gained a foothold in this industry with the development of Research Triangle Park in the 1960s. Growth has accelerated in the last decade as AvidXchange, Bandwidth, Epic Games, Pendo and other newcomers complement established enterprises such as IBM, Microsoft and SAS Institute.

PETER BOURNE

CEO | Bright Wolf, a Cognizant company

Durham

Bourne has been CEO since 2016 of the systems integrator that was acquired by Fortune 500 technology business Cognizant in 2020. The graduate of the University of California. Santa Barbara has advised various Triangle tech companies.

JUD BOWMAN

founder, CEO | Sift Media

Durham

Sift is the third company founded by Bowman, who is 40. Sift collects data from app users that is used in the delivery of more than 100 million digital ads per day. The Greenville native started Motricity while attending the N.C. School of Science and Math. He chairs the Research Triangle Foundation and is a trustee of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.

Proud family accomplishment: My two girls, Edith and Graylyn.

Favorite hobby: Playing golf.

Where to entertain a visitor: M Sushi in downtown Durham.

ROBERT BRUCCEWORTH

president, CEO | Qorvo

Greensboro

The graduate of Wilkes University in Pennsylvania joined RF Micro Devices in 1999 and was CEO when it merged with TriQuint Semiconductor to form Qorvo in 2014. The business, which makes parts for mobile phones and other communications products, had $4 billion in revenue last year.

MICHAEL CAPPS

co-founder, CEO | Diveplane

Raleigh

A former Epic Games executive who helped create Fortnite, Capps started his artificial intelligence company in 2018. His expertise leads to frequent appearances on Discovery. Military, and Science channel programs. He has degrees from UNC Chapel Hill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

ANIL CHAWLA

executive chair, board of directors | Optimere

Durham

The Georgia Tech University graduate. 39. shepherded the company he founded in 2011, ArchiveSocial, through I several big steps in 2021. ArchiveSocial acquired NextRequest and then merged with Monsido to form Optimere. It provides digital compliance and records management solutions, mainly for government agencies.

CHRIS DOWNIE

CEO | Flexentiai

Charlotte

Downie took his post following the merger of Charlotte's Peak 10 and ViaWest in 2017. The company operates 40 U.S. data centers. Downie. who grew up in Paris and Barcelona, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has an MBA from New York University.

Pre-workday motivation: A good workout clears the head and gets the heart fired up. The last two years have been crazy.

New ways of working, collaborating, being productive and new ways to define success. While respecting all that was lost during the pandemic, we have been defining these new ways since 2017. We are a young company with much to learn and a ton more to accomplish. That is what gets me out of bed.

Best advice: The first CEO | worked with said there are three types of generals: Ones that say Take that hill; and others that say'Let's go take that hill; and ones that say 'Follow me.' I aspire to the 'follow me' leadership principle.

Proud family accomplishment: Our resilience. We have moved many times and built a strong home base on each occasion.

JOY PARR DRACH

president, CEO | Advanced Animal Diagnostics

Morrisville

The company Drach founded in 2009 to develop rapid tests for bovine disease landed nearly $8 million last year for research on tests related to human beings. The cow-tech business remains strong, but the human testing line, spurred by COVID-19, may create future growth.

DAVID EVANS

CEO | Passport

Charlotte

The former Cardlytics executive succeeded Bob Youakim as CEO at Passport in January 2021. The company, which has raised more than $200 million, provides transportation software, mainly to cities. A Georgia native. Evans worked in investment banking at Wells Fargo and has degrees from Auburn and Emory universities.

Pre-workday motivation: The industries, employees and people we serve.

Key to industry success: Being passionate about our mission to partner with cities to create more equitable, accessible and livable communities. The broader industry around mobility is a sector that is due for acceleration around data-driven software and technology that will and should present an amazing opportunity to partner with...