The Education Champion award is given to an individual who has exemplified our ideals of helping align the education sector to prepare the next generation to continue to grow and improve this industry. The 2022 Education Champion Award was awarded to TJ Ciccone from Stack Infrastructure.

TJ Ciccone led and took part in several initiatives reflecting his commitment to investing in, and positively impacting, the data center community. However, his most significant contribution comes from his involvement with Northern Virginia Community College. In September 2018, the college launched the first-ever two-year degree program designed specifically for data center operators in the state of Virginia. It’s an ideal program for a state now known as “the home of the internet” and is the only fully college-accredited coursework in the data center business.

As part of this initiative, Ciccone located critical program resources for the college, developed the entire curriculum, and served as a liaison between the college and their third-party contractor on building a mini data center lab on the Loudoun campus. Many of his students have gone on to work full-time in data centers.

Congratulations to all our finalists!