Hospitality Technology Announces 2019 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Award Winners

CHICAGO, March 8, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Hospitality Technology (HT) magazine is pleased to announce the winners of its 2019 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards. The 2019 awards program is sponsored by 7shifts, an employee scheduling and workforce management platform designed specifically for restaurants and QSRs.

Dorothy Creamer, editor of HT, says there is much to celebrate with this year's Top Women in Restaurant Technology program.
"We've seen exponential growth in the number of nominations we receive for this program since its first installment in 2017," she notes. "We are in a period where many industries are in desperate need of tech talent. While a challenge, it also presents an exciting opportunity for more women than ever before to emerge as leaders in a space traditionally dominated by men. We are honored to be able to recognize this year's innovators, from the up-and-comers to the trailblazers, who have always known that women in IT have always been powering the possible."

Now in its third year, the Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards seeks to honor outstanding women from both restaurants and technology suppliers for reimagining restaurant processes and operations while demonstrating excellence in leadership, inventiveness and skill.

"On behalf of the entire team at 7shifts, congratulations to all the inspiring winners and nominees of this year's Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards. We are proud to sponsor these awards and highlight all the women from across the restaurant industry who are innovating and leading by example," said Jordan Boesch, CEO of 7shifts.

Winners were recognized in the following categories:

Rising Star:
Presented to women from any level of an organization with less than five years' experience in the industry, who have demonstrated leadership and are already making a mark in foodservice technology at an early stage in their careers.

Innovator:
Presented to women who are forward thinkers and who have executed on tools and strategy to transform the foodservice technology space in a positive manner by creating or deploying emerging technologies that reimagine how things are done while paving the way for future technologies.

Lifetime Achievement:
This award is presented in recognition of a lifetime (no less than 15 years) of service and accomplishments in the foodservice technology industry. We seek to honor women who have had an impact on the foodservice technology industry as well as their colleagues and industry peers through enthusiasm, mentorship and commitment, while also showing how technologies can provide new ways of doing things.

The winners of the 2019 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards are:
Rising Stars

• Cacy Merrifield, Sonic Drive-In Director, Program Management (Oklahoma City, Okla.)    
• Carissa De Santis, Director, IT Restaurant Solutions, TGI Friday's (Carrollton, Texas)
• Laura Kirkwood, Head of Innovation & Customer Experience, Merivale (Sydney, Australia)
• Sif Rai, Chief Marketing Officer, QikServe (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Innovators

• Kesha Williams, Software Engineering Manager, Chick-fil-A (Atlanta)
• Allison Page, Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer, SevenRooms (New York)
• Nora Naranjo, Mechanical Engineer, eatsa (San Francisco)
• Kathy Hartman, Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer, HubKonnect (New York and Chicago)

Lifetime Achievement

• Kristi Turner, Chief Marketing Officer, Compeat (Austin, Texas, and Atlanta)
• Laura Rea Dickey, Chief Executive Officer, Dickey's Barbecue Pit (Dallas)

Winners are profiled in the April 2019 issue of Hospitality Technology magazine (https://hospitalitytech.com/hts-2019-top-women-restaurant-technology). The awards will be presented on March 12 at the 24th annual MURTEC (Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference), being held March 11-13, at The Paris in Las Vegas.

About Hospitality Technology
Hospitality Technology (HT) is the only publication dedicated to covering the role of information technology in improving business performance for both hotel and restaurant operators. The Hospitality Technology editorial portfolio includes: a print publication that publishes nine times annually and reaches more than 16,000 hospitality industry executives, three networking and educational events (MURTEC, HT-NEXT and MURTEC Executive Summit), a comprehensive website, e-newsletters, web seminars, and several exclusive annual reports and studies. Visit Hospitality Technology online at http://www.hospitalitytech.com. Hospitality Technology is published by EnsembleIQ, headquartered in Chicago.

About 7SHIFTS
7shifts is an employee scheduling and workforce management platform designed specifically for restaurants and QSRs. We help managers, operators, and chains automate staff scheduling and team communication to standardize & streamline operations, dramatically reduce labor costs and provide the actionable business insights that helps hospitality professionals thrive. https://www.7shifts.com.

About EnsembleIQ
EnsembleIQ is a premier business intelligence resource that exists to help people and their organizations succeed. It is structured to serve the business-to-business needs of retailers, consumer goods manufacturers, technology vendors, marketing agencies and retail service providers by using its integrated network of media and information resources designed to inform, connect and provide actionable marketplace intelligence. Learn more about EnsembleIQ at http://www.ensembleiq.com. EnsembleIQ is a portfolio company of RFE Investment Partners, a private equity investor with more than 30 years of experience investing in growth companies in partnership with strong management teams. Information on RFE can be found at http://rfeip.com/.

SOURCE Hospitality Technology