On November 6, 2013 in San Jose at the Fairmont Hotel, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation held its ninth annual Pioneers & Purpose celebration. Jessica Aguirre of NBC Bay Area News, as master of ceremonies, introduced SVEF CEO Muhammed Chaudry and Board Chair Paul Humphries. SVEF vice chair Ray Bingham presented Flextronics CEO Mike McNamara with the Pioneer Business Award. Julia Leeson was named Teacher of the Year. Vito Chiala was named Principal of the Year.  The school districts recognized for their work were East Side Union, San Jose Unified, Morgan Hill Unified, Palo Alto Unified and Gilroy Unified. STEM Innovation awards were given to Rhia Bakshi, Michael Diamond, Denise Haylor, Hitesh Lath, Chris Roe and Kenneth Washington, Globaloria’s Dr. Idit Harel Aperton, Tech Academy of Silicon Valley’s Deborah Pinson and John Crump, the as well as the organizations Engineering is Elementary and MESA.

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