A local executive has been named the Tech Exec of the year by the N.C. Technology Association (NCTA), according to an announcement Friday.
 
Brett Martin, CEO and founder of CastleBranch Corp. and its tech incubator tekMountain, was one of five nominees, and the only one from Wilmington, according to a news release from the company. He was nominated by executives of four other technology companies in the state.
 
One of the winning points for Martin, according to the release, was his decision to expand in Wilmington rather than in California. The company’s new 60,000-square-foot headquarters building, opened in May, will enable CastleBranch to add at least 420 new jobs in the area by 2017. Together with its original building, next door to the new headquarters, CastleBranch now occupies more than 100,000 square feet of high-tech office space, the release stated. tekMountain occupies the entire third floor of the new headquarters.
 
In addition to his contributions in the business sector, Martin founded HeartsApart.org in 2010, a nonprofit organization created to keep families connected while our military men and women are serving abroad. In 2012, the White House recognized HeartsApart.org as one of the country’s greatest charities dedicated to serving the military, the release stated.
 
Martin will accept his award during the 2014 NC Tech Awards in Raleigh on Nov. 6, according to the release. Several other Wilmington-based companies are up for awards as well.

Those are DocsInk for Communications Technology Company and Health & Wellness; WaterPlayUSA for Best Consumer Web Company and eCommerce; nCino for Best Place to Work, Fast Growth Large Company and Finance & Banking. Winners in those categories will not be announced before the Nov. 6 event, said NCTA officials who added that they only released winners in a couple of the categories, such as Tech Exec, ahead of then.

As part of the awards, NCTA also named DocsInk, nCino and Next Glass as among the Top Ten Startups to Watch in the state.
 
“I am honored to win the Tech Exec of the Year Award, but this award belongs to the employees of tekMountain, CastleBranch and the entire technology community of Wilmington,” Martin said in the release. “The fact that a Wilmington company was selected for a significant statewide technology award is a testament to our city's newfound commitment to technology and knowledge-based companies. I'm excited to continue to make great strides in developing Wilmington's high-tech community. It is the singular goal of tekMountain to make Wilmington a marked destination on the road to high-tech entrepreneurship and innovation.”
 
On Friday as well, CastleBranch was notified it is on Business North Carolina magazine's list of the 40 fastest-growing mid-market companies in North Carolina, the release stated. CastleBranch spokeswoman Elizabeth Bloch said company rankings will be announced later this month and the full list published online in December.
 
CastleBranch is a national background screening and compliance management company that – according to its website – works with more than 25,000 organizations through its brands, providing background screening, drug testing, employment verification, immunization tracking, certified records review, document management and related services.