Event Recap: 40 Under 40 in Silicon Valley Awards featuring 8 MLT’ers

By: MLT

We are proud to share stories about our MLT alums who were named among the 40 under 40 Top Diverse Talent in Silicon Valley.  Our colleague, Deborah Mintz, attended the Awards Ceremony in the Bay Area.  Below she shares some highlights from this extraordinary evening.

Hundreds of black and Latino/a tech founders and execs gathered for a festive celebration at Airbnb’s spectacular atrium in San Francisco last night as the Bay Area Registry presented its inaugural class of 40 Under 40–Tech Diversity Silicon Valley.   MLT alums (Pablo Fuentes, Ricardo Garcia-Amaya, Ime Archibong, Marlon Nichols, Kendra Desrosiers, Erin Teague, Christina Trampota, and Brian Dixon) comprised an impressive 20% of this talented and accomplished group of Silicon Valley rising stars.

Highlights of the evening included the presentation of the Silicon Icon Award to Roy Clay, a pioneering African American engineer who was an early recruit and ultimately, a top executive at HP.  Clay, who hails from Ferguson, Missouri spoke of moving from “the poorest community in the country to the richest,” facing down racism and rejection (McDonnell Douglas denied him employment, which led to his move to Silicon Valley) and breaking the color barrier not only in industry, but by becoming the first African American to be elected to county office in Santa Clara County. Clay stressed the importance of education to his own success and also spoke of friendship with a group he affectionately dubbed “Old Black Guys” as a source of strength throughout his career. Mr Clay, who received multiple ovations from an awestruck crowd, was introduced by MLT board member, Ron Coleman, a Silicon Valley icon in his own right.

Shellye Archambeau, an African American woman and former top IBM executive who now runs her own venture backed tech company, MetricStream, was awarded the Game Changer prize.  Ms Archambeau spoke movingly of the importance in her own life of taking calculated risks and urged  the awardees to: “take the right risks in your career, your personal life and your community so you can not only achieve personal success but have an impact on your community and the world.”

Amidst the food, music and lively conversation, Brian Dixon, Principal at Kapor Capital and one of last night’s awardees, took a moment to pay tribute to MLT’s role in propelling his career:  “Listen,” he told us, “I always say MLT changed my life. I wouldn’t be here tonight or doing my job at Kapor if it wasn’t for MLT.”