This year’s ceremony honored nine trailblazers who broke barriers to innovation.

The CT Hall of Fame honors the leaders whose contributions helped grow and enhance the $503 billion consumer technology industry. Each year, we celebrate our vibrant history at this awards dinner. Created in 2000, the CT Hall of Fame will induct nine new honorees in 2022.

The list reads as a “who’s who” in consumer technology: a pioneer in voice-recognition engineering, retailers who surmounted daunting market obstacles, an agri-business visionary and, from the world of entertainment, streaming music pacesetters and a hip-hop artist and activist whose work, collectively, empowered and inspired millions.

We recognized CTA Class of 2022 Hall of Fame inductees in November, and recounted their extraordinary contributions to consumer technology. Their innovations revolutionized their industry sectors and made lives better, on a global scale. Each succeeded in redefining what’s possible against obstacles many others would deem insurmountable.

This year’s honorees included: Dave Heller, William Kincaid and Jeffrey Robbin, Apple Inc; Tim Baxter, formerly Samsung; Mike May, GoodMaps and founder of Sendero Group; Wanda Gass, Texas Instruments; Joseph and Mayer Akhtarzad, Video and Audio Center; and Hank Shocklee, Shocklee Entertainment.

This prestigious group joins inventors, promoters, entrepreneurs, journalists and industry advocates whose work has impacted consumers in virtually every demographic. They have created, promoted, merchandised and advanced the products, services and technologies that benefit and uplift global technology consumers.

Annual Recognition

CTA’s Hall of Fame program serves as a bridge from the past to the present, enabling a new generation of entrepreneurs to build on the foundation laid by those who preceded them. Thanks to these visionary leaders, technology continues to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

The Consumer Technology Hall of Fame honors the leaders whose contributions helped grow and enhance the $503 billion consumer technology industry. Each year, we celebrate a vibrant history that dates to 2000 at the Consumer Technology Hall of Fame Dinner in New York.

The judging process

The 2022 class was selected by separate panels of judges, including media and industry professionals, who evaluated nominations submitted by manufacturers, retailers and journalists. We thank the following judges for volunteering their time for both the CT Hall of Fame as well as Innovation Entrepreneur Award programs: 

Melissa Andresko
Lutron – EB

Ed Baig
Writer, AARP

Tom Campbell
Video and Audio Center: HOF  

Rob Calem
Writer  

Roger Cheng
CNET 

Bob Fields
Hibersense   

Denise Gibson
Ice Mobility: BIL  

Suzanne Kantra
Techlicious  

Nancy Klosek
Dealerscope: HOF  

Sally Lange
Slang  

Steve Smith
Formerly TWICE: HOF  

Mike Snider
USA Today  

Jonathan Takiff
TechHive  

Greg Tarr
HD Guru.com  

John Taylor
LG Electronics: CC  

Class of 2022

Jeff Robbin
Developer, Apple iTunes  

Bill Kincaid
Developer, Apple iTunes 

Dave Heller
Developer, Apple iTunes  

Joseph Akhtarzad
Founder, Video and Audio Center (VAC), Los Angeles’s Premier A/C Retailer  

Mayer Akhtarzad
Founder, Video and Audio Center (VAC), Los Angeles’s Premier A/C Retailer  

Tim Baxter
LED Samsung NOrth American To Global Prominence  

Wanda Gass
Digital Signal Processor Pioneer  

Mike May
GPS Navigation Pioneer

Hank Shocklee
CES Ambassador, Policy Advocate, Hip Hop Pioneer