GT Computing Community Gathers to Celebrate Its Legends, Visionaries & Rising Stars
A renowned geopolitical expert and a founding professor are the latest inductees into the Georgia Tech College of Computing Hall of Fame.
The GT Computing community recently gathered to celebrate 2025 Hall of Fame inductees Dmitri Alperovitch (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) and Georgia Tech Professor Emeritus Rich LeBlanc.
Alperovitch is the co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator and the bestselling author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.
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LeBlanc was assistant director of Georgia Tech’s School of Information Science before playing a key role in creating the College of Computing in 1990.
The celebration also honored three prior inductees – Neha Narkhede (MS CS 2007), Professor Emeritus Shamkant Navathe, and Phyllis Schneck (PhD CS 1999) – who were unable to attend previous Hall of Fame induction events.
Vivek Sarkar, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech, welcomed guests and the Hall of Fame inductees to the event, held at downtown Atlanta’s Ventanas on Sept. 19.
“We gather here tonight to celebrate the members of our community whose vision, dedication, and extraordinary efforts have shaped our College into the vibrant, innovative, and entrepreneurial powerhouse it is today,” said Sarkar.
“Through the voices of our honorees tonight, you will learn more about the full breadth and depth of our story, about our College and its people who have had an outsized influence on education, research, industry, community, and more.”
Narkhede is a tech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Oscilar. Navathe, who founded GT’s database systems research group, started teaching at the college since its inception.
Schneck (PhD CD 1999) is Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Northrop Grumman. In this role, she oversees the company’s global cybersecurity strategy and policies. In this role, she oversees the company’s global cybersecurity teams, operations, strategy, and policies. She is also a member of the College of Computing’s Advisory Board.
Following the dean’s remarks, Amanda Moore, Computing’s alumni relations director, introduced the 2025 Rising Star Award winners, Stacee Birdsong (CS 2018) and Jennifer Whitlow (CM 2009).
“The College of Computing has a wide range of talented alumni in every age group,” said Moore.
“The Rising Star Award honors the best of our younger alumni, those who have made an outstanding impact in the early parts of their careers.”
Sarkar returned to the podium to introduce and speak briefly about the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees. Alperovitch and LeBlanc each shared their gratitude and remarks from the podium following the dean’s introduction.
Sarkar then introduced and shared remarks about Narkhede, Navathe, and Schneck, members of prior GT Computing Hall of Fame inductee cohorts. Narkhede and Navathe are members of the sixth cohort, inducted in 2024. Schneck was part of the second cohort, inducted in 2020.
Inductee, honoree, and Rising Star biographies are available on the College’s website and linked below.
2025 Hall of Fame Inductees & Honorees
- Dmitri Alperovich (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) – Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator; CrowdStrike, Co-founder and Former Chief Technological Officer
- Richard LeBlanc – Professor Emeritus, Georgia Tech & Seattle University
- Neha Narkhede (MS CS 2007) – Hall of Fame class of 2024, Oscilar, Co-founder and CEO
- Shamkant Navathe – Hall of Fame class of 2024, Professor Emeritus, Georgia Tech
- Phyllis Schneck (PhD CS 1999) – Hall of Fame class of 2020, Northrop Grumman, Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer
2025 Rising Stars
- Stacee Birdsong (CS 2018) – Rainforest, Director of Product & Engineering
- Jennifer Whitlow (CM 2009) – Fusen, Head of Community Partnerships
