ATLANTA (November 14, 2023) – The Technology Executives Roundtable (TER) honored Sparq CEO Monty Hamilton with the 2023 John Imlay Leadership Award. The Award recognizes and celebrates those who have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of the Georgia high-tech community.
The award is named in honor of the late John Imlay, Jr., former chairman of Imlay Investments, who is credited with helping create two of Atlanta’s biggest tech industries — software and internet security. From its inception in a “tin shack” in Arkansas, Hamilton has built Sparq into one of the largest privately held digital engineering companies in the U.S.
“Monty is deserving of this award not only for his business success but also his mission to create jobs and careers where talent is often overlooked and underutilized,” said John Wichmann, TER president. “Like John Imlay, Monty believes that people are key to making better communities — and he’s doing exactly that here in Atlanta, across the U.S. and around the globe.”
Hamilton founded Sparq, formerly known as Rural Sourcing, in 2009. At its inception, the company provided application support and maintenance. Under Hamilton’s leadership, Sparq has grown to a world-class, end-to-end software engineering powerhouse with clients and colleagues across the country. Today the company is focused on product strategy & design, digital engineering and data & analytics.
“When I look back on my career, it is exciting to see what we’ve been able to do for our colleagues and our clients and how we have grown in the product and digital engineering space,” said Monty Hamilton, CEO of Sparq. “Going forward, I am excited to see Sparq continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and deliver products that drive results for our clients. The John Imlay Leadership Award is a great honor that I share with everyone who has mentored me along the way and helped to build Sparq into the digital engineering powerhouse it is today.”
Hamilton is a sought-after speaker on outsourcing and domestic sourcing and has recently been featured on CNBC, BBC, NPR radio, as well as at industry conferences like Gartner. In addition, he is an investor in early-stage technology companies and serves on several boards, including Ventures ATL, an Atlanta-based technology company providing careers for adults on the autism spectrum. Sparq represents Hamilton’s second entrepreneurial startup venture after leaving Accenture in 1995. He holds a MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a BBA from Millsaps College.
Past recipients of the John Imlay Leadership Award are:
- Marc Gorlin, founder and CEO, Roadie;
- Kelly Gay, former SVP & GM of IoT Vertical Markets at Sierra Wireless, former Co-CEO and COO at Numerex, and former CEO and President at Omnilink Systems and KnowledgeStorm;
- John Yates, Partner, Morris Manning Martin;
- Tripp Rackley, CEO of Kenzie Lane Innovation;
- Chris Klaus, founder and former CTO of Internet Security Systems and current CEO of Kaneva;
- Michael R. Cote, president and CEO of SecureWorks;
- David Cummings, co-founder of Pardot and founder of Atlanta Tech Village;
- Bill Nussey, former chairman and CEO of Silverpop;
- Alan Dabbiere, founder of Manhattan Associates and former chairman of AirWatch;
- Charles Moseley, founder of Noro-Moseley Partners;
- Tom Noonan, co-founder of JouleX, Endgame and TechOperators and former chairman and CEO of Internet Security Systems; and
- Sig Mosley, managing partner of Mosley Ventures and former president of Imlay Investments.
Hamilton was presented with the award at a ceremony on November 14 at the Buckhead Club.
About Sparq
Sparq is a leading provider of outsourced digital engineering to design, build and deploy digital applications, products and experiences. Sparq’s unique U.S.-led, blended onshore/nearshore delivery model maximizes cost effectiveness, clear communication and the ability to quickly scale. Scrum-as-a-Service®, Sparq’s unique engagement framework for Agile digital product engineering, provides rapid and flexible deployment of multidisciplinary teams via an elastic consumption model and predictable monthly pricing. The company provides world-class solutions for technology-driven and Fortune 1000 clients across various industries including Logistics and Transportation, Healthcare, Financial Services and Insurance, Manufacturing and High-Tech. For more information, please visit www.teamsparq.com.
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