New Tech901 advances technology careers

A new Memphis nonprofit organization has launched with the goal of increasing technology jobs in the city over the next 10 years.
 
Tech901 is a technology job training and job development organization that over the next 10 years looks to expand technology-related jobs from the current 6,000 to some 10,000 in the Memphis area.
 
Co-founders Robert Montague, Executive Director, and Steve Denegri, Chief Operating Officer, formed the organization with the goal of training the Memphis workforce while working to recruit new technology jobs to the city.
 
Tech901 will facilitate new job training and company job growth and support code-based K-12 teacher training.
 
“An assumption in reaching our goals is we will recruit new employers as well as grow current ones in the city,” Montague said. “We’re working with local firms to look at initiatives and also reach out to the tech community and recruit employers.”
 
Montague said one big advantage Memphis has going for it in recruiting new tech companies is a low cost of living, particularly as tech centers on the West Coast become more cost prohibitive to recruit talent.
 
Tech901 will provide a number of technology career training options ranging from system installation and technical support to software development and quality assurance.
 
Montague and Denegri worked together as technology investment analyst partners for the then Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co. Montague also was the founding Executive Director of the Binghampton Development Corp., and Denegri served as a strategic consultant to local corporations and other high-tech startup companies.
 
Tech901’s leadership touts the technology industry’s worker supply constraints, diversity challenges and employment cost pressures as opportunities for Memphis to leverage its progress in education reform and a diverse population base.
 
In addition to Montague and Denegri, the Tech901 team includes Hayley Moore, an experienced urban educator, and Briahna Chambers, the lead instructor, degreed computer scientist and experienced software programmer.