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As the nation marks 250 years, MeriTalk is spotlighting the government and industry leaders driving meaningful progress in two categories for our Powering Progress Awards:

  • 5th Annual Cyber Defenders: Individuals who are strengthening federal cybersecurity technology, policy, or processes
  • 3rd Annual AI Innovators: Individuals who are advancing AI innovation and mission impact for the federal government

We are pleased to present the America 250 Powering Progress Award winners. Below is the full list of winners who are driving meaningful progress.

Winners will be recognized at Tech Tonic on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at Morton’s The Steakhouse.

 

The nomination period is now closed.

AI Innovators – Government

General Services Administration
Department of Commerce
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department of Labor
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Social Security Administration
Customs and Border Protection Office of Information Technology
Smithsonian and Library of Congress

AI Innovators – Industry

Planet Technologies
MANTECH
Maximus
Amazon Web Services
IntelliDyne, LLC
C3 AI
World Wide Technology
Scale AI
Everpure

Cyber Defenders – Government

Citizenship and Immigration Services
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
Office of the National Cyber Director, The White House
Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Information Technology, Enterprise Command Operations
Small Business Administration
General Services Administration

Cyber Defenders – Industry

Core4ce
Knox Systems
Illumio
Fortinet Federal, Inc.
SpyCloud, Inc.
REI Systems
MFGS, Inc.
Cloudflare
NinjaOne
CGI Federal
REI Systems
Elastic
Optiv + ClearShark
Armis

 

Nominations
Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Award Ceremony
Thursday, May 21, 2026 | 5 p.m. EDT

Morton’s The Steakhouse
1050 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Press Release

Criteria
The awards recognize winners in the following categories:
Cyber Defenders
AI Innovators
Award nominees must work in the Federal IT industry and exhibit strong leadership in Cybersecurity or AI innovation in the field.
Questions
Contact Emily Wood
(703) 883-9000 ext. 127