Check out how these Chicago companies are growing the local technology industry.

Last call for the Write-In Award! Submit your ideas on Twitter using #itawritein or post to the Facebook Fan page. Nominations open for all awards next Monday, February 27.

Effective immediately, Sarah Habansky will take an active leadership role as Vice-President, Programs for the ITA.

Know of any Chicago 8th grade students looking for a technology career and college prep high school with a focus on entrepreneurship? Visit ChiTech website at http://chitech.org/student-life/admissions for more info! Act now - lottery entry is this Thursday, February 23rd!

Great companies need great talent... and not just tech talent. AllStars focuses on finding talent across all professional areas, from recent grads to more experienced professionals. Think of AllStars as your Scouting team, growing the awareness of your company and recruiting great folks at the same time.

Check out how these Chicago companies are growing the local technology industry.

Think of it as a Mobile TechBreeze! TechCrawl is Food & Drinks, Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Chicago, February 29th. The First TechCrawl of 2012 will visit inerTRAIN, MSDSonline and SpringCM.It’s a progressive party, with each host providing their choice of snack/beverages. We will begin the night at apprioximately 5pm at inerTRAIN as the first host. After a drink or two the group will move on to the offices of MSDSonline and SpringCM to continue the festivities and finish the crawl.

Clean Energy Trust invites you to the 2012 Clean Energy Challenge at a special discounted rate. Use CEC2012_PARTNERDISC code and save $100 off your full-priced ticket up until February 29.

Have an idea for an award ITA should add to the 2012 CityLIGHTS lineup? What should we recognize about Chicago’s success? Once determined, nominations open for all awards on February 27th.

This particular article really got our attention. Chicago is a great tech town and this article about a great community, coming together to support the local industry really hit us. Nice article, Tech.Li writer Jonathan Krieger!!

Troops to Tech Careers provides a pathway to a successful career in Information Technology (IT) for America’s veterans.

Join us for in-depth presentations, discussion and review of research on Cloud Computing and how it will change 2012... and beyond. Featuring Chris Kabat, MPS Partners; Brad DeSent, Apex Consulting; and Mike Topalovich, Delivered Innovation.

The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) recently formed a partnership with the Future Founders Foundation, a nonprofit organization that expands entrepreneurship and career exploration programs for underserved middle school and high school students in Chicago.

Think of it as a Mobile TechBreeze! TechCrawl is Food & Drinks, Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Chicago, February 29th. The First TechCrawl of 2012 will visit inerTRAIN, MSDSonline and SpringCM.

From ITA President, Fred Hoch, on a growing industry, association, and how ITA will continue to support your company goals.

Sorry folks, sold out. We will try to schedule another date soon! Join Leslie Vickrey, Founder & CEO of ClearEdge Marketing for dinner and a chat on how to utilize social media to engage customers and extend the awareness of your business. Small group size - will close with 6 people, to ensure a great conversation!

The key to a great company is great talent - and ITA is here to help. The AllStars program is a year-long awareness building and recruiting program for ITA member companies. Because it's more than just about filling an open position or two...

ITA is committed to helping our member companies find the talent they need to grow their businesses. Working with local Alumni groups, the ITA TalentBoard is more than just a listing of jobs... it's a recruiting machine!

Most tech professionals have it pretty good these days as demand for technology specialists remains high. The ITA Fall Challenge takes the opportunities to the campus level to grow the awareness of the local tech industry.

Concentra, a subsidiary of Humana Inc. HUM -1.10% , announced today it intends to implement a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system from Allscripts MDRX -2.47% for more than 310 Concentra Urgent Care locations across the country.

Braintree, an online payments provider, is debuting a set of new tools for mobile app developers that allow merchants to accept payments within a mobile app, rather than through a web browser.

We've seen it over and over again: Policymakers are devising tools to spend tax dollars to “save” existing jobs.

Mike Evans was all in when he started GrubHub.

Trustwave, a leading provider of information security and compliance solutions, today announced that the company has been named a finalist for seven SC Magazine Awards, the IT security industry's leading awards program.

If you think the next generation of start-up founders will hail from Stanford, Harvard, or some other university cranking out MBAs, you might want to expand your thinking.

Research in Motion, the company that introduced wireless email to the world, on Tuesday finally brought email to its tablet computer, the BlackBerry PlayBook.

OptionsCity Software, a provider of end-to-end electronic trading platforms, has now integrated with Lightspeed Trading, LLC (LST), a New York-based introducing broker.

Applied Systems today announced the opening of a new Southeast regional office in Atlanta, adding a facility to serve the growing community of agents and brokers who run their businesses with systems from the insurance software company.

Restaurant.com helps deepen relationships and create lasting memories one dining experience at a time. The company offers savings at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 45,000 daily gift certificate options.

Kumbuya is an interactive social platform to bridge the gap on deal sites between consumers and merchants, creating a "frictionless" relationship while promoting the community. With an innovative social network, you can tell the world what you want, meet people who want the same thing, and connect with businesses who will help you get it.

Keith Bates CMO On Call is the resource for integrating social media and marketing for high-tech companies. Based on years of providing Chief Marketing Officer expertise to dozens of tech industry companies through his ad agency Keith Bates & Associates, Bates is now focusing on strategy and creative thinking for SMBs, startup companies, and members of the ITA who need a CMO coach or consultant.

Kambio Group LLC specializes in brand unification and social media presence with next-generation cloud platforms and frameworks. With sophistication in CRM, content management, e-commerce and custom web development, Kambio Group counters today’s business challenges with innovative and successful solutions--while preventing vendor lock-in.

Process Provides Customers Assurance of Company’s Adherence to Compliance Mandates in Delivering Quality Infrastructure Services and Support

National data center service provider, CoreLink Data Centers, LLC ( http://www.corelink.com/ ) today announced the completion of an SSAE 16 audit at its colocation facilities.

SpringCM(R) today announced the latest release of its cloud content sharing and collaboration service for business, now with a new Open Cloud Connector, an easy to implement and powerful way to put content to work in virtually any web application or portal a business wants.

Tripp Lite, a world-leading manufacturer of power protection and connectivity solutions, announced today that Bob Nahorski has been named one of CRN's 2012 Channel Chiefs.

For the past three years, Marybeth Gillespie has been hard at work looking for a new job.

From the floor of the HIMSS12 Annual Conference and Exhibition, Allscripts and MyCareTeam (MCT) launched their integrated diabetes management system to healthcare providers.

Jenna Compton has no TV. Her fridge contains Oscar Meyer turkey cold cuts, which she eats without bread or condiments.

Today, Health eVillages announced that Donato J. Tramuto, the program's founder and CEO and Vice Chair of Physicians Interactive, will present the human story of how mobile healthcare apps are helping clinicians improve patient care in the most challenging global healthcare environments at the HIMSS12 Annual Conference & Exhibition.

Etherios, a leading cloud computing services company, today announced the appointment of salesforce.com veteran and former leader of that company's nonprofit programs, Tucker MacLean, as its new Nonprofit and Education Practice Director.

PrepMe Inc., an online test-preparation startup, has been sold to Naviance, a division of Cincinnati-based education technology provider Hobsons Inc.

Jellyvision Lab, which builds game show host-inspired online interfaces to help large corporations interact with their customers and employees, named company vet Amanda Lannert its CEO in late January.

Travel fans are being given another chance to win 50 fabulous vacations at destinations around the world with the latest version of Orbitz.com's Facebook sweepstakes Orbitz 50 Faves(1), a fun and free Facebook game.

Please join ACG Chicago for an intensive look at midwestern job growth & what future options exist. Use promo code (ITA-VIP) and get a special member rate.

New Horizons Computer Learning Centers (Chicago) is providing each Fifty for the Future® awardee a $1,000 scholarship and a matching donation to his/her faculty sponsor.

The brilliant mastermind of the Obama digital strategy, Rospars was key to Obama's internet drive that took America by storm in 2008, raising millions of dollars along the way.

Since Kauzu walked away with a $250,000 convertible promissory note courtesy of Gramercy Private Equity at Think Big Partners' Gigabit Challenge Finale, the Chicago-based startup has been developing new plans for 2012 including partnership development, product development, fundraising and hiring.

The Hacker Academy, an information security training firm that focuses on cutting edge information security, announced today that they will participate in Vancouver, BC’s 2012 CanSecWest Security Masters Dojo as an industry expert in Penetration Testing Reporting and Analysis.

Robert Blackwell, CEO and Founder of Electronic Knowledge Interchange (EKI) is the newest addition to ConsumerBase LLC's Board of Advisors.

When you think of the Field Museum, do you think of the 67 million-year-old Sue the T. rex?

Gogo, a leading provider of in-flight connectivity and a pioneer in wireless in-cabin digital entertainment solutions, announced today that it has been selected as one of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

MBX Systems, a leading manufacturer of custom-built OEM server appliances and embedded systems for software vendors and service providers, announced today that it has been selected as a winner in the 2012 Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards.

McKinsey declared the start of “the war for talent” in 1997. It has turned out to be a more or less permanent conflict.

I was having breakfast the other day with Patrick Reedy, executive director of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation's Illinois Chapter (full disclosure: I'm a board member, and it's a great organization for a great cause), and he handed me the sponsorship packet for the annual walk fundraiser.

cleverbridge, the premier global e-commerce provider for software and SaaS companies, takes its SaaS capabilities to a higher level by appointing Doug Caviness as the head of SaaS solutions.

Potluck! (A Smorgasbord of Ideas) brings together several of Chicago’s best and brightest, funniest and handsomest, wittiest and engaging-est for an evening of rapid fire musings on whatever they choose to muse upon. In the vein of Pecha Kucha, Ignite, and TED, each presenter talks about whatever he/she wants, for six-minutes. No actual food involved.