Meet the Judges
2026 Judges
Ashu Jain
Virginia
Ashu presently manages the Digital Health/Home business for Welch Allyn, a subsidiary of Baxter, a global multinational medical device company. His experience spans several industries including medical devices and diagnostics, medical equipment, water, renewable energy, consumer products, and agriculture. He has an MBA from Syracuse University Martin J. Whitman School of Management, in Finance and Marketing with an Innovation Management specialization.
Ashvath Sharma
California
Mr. Sharma is a Lead Product Design Engineer in the consumer electronics area, with over 7 years of experience in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design. He has recently worked for Meta, guiding hard-ware products past early stage to mass production. Ashvath has served as a judge for CES Awards, Global Tech Awards, and Global Trailblazer.
Donna Davis
Texas
Ms. Davis was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame and is a Fellow and Distinguished Member of the Society of Plastics Engineers. Most of her career was with ExxonMobil Chemical Company where she led developments in Product and Process Technology, Market Development, Sustainability, and New Opportunity Identification.
Lance Heard, Ph.D.
North Carolina
Dr. Heard is a former college professor with a background in computer programming and chemistry. Lance has over 40 peer-reviewed publications in computational science.
Pravin Sankhwar
Maryland
Pravin Sankhwar, P.E., is a licensed Professional Engineer at the forefront of sustainable electrical engineering and clean energy innovation. With an impressive portfolio of high-stakes global projects for Fortune 500 leaders like WSP USA and Hindustan Petroleum, Pravin has built a reputation for technical excellence. His expertise in designing high-efficiency systems and managing large-scale electrification within the AEC industry has earned him prestigious honors, including awards for Excellence in Leadership and outstanding performance.
Richard Govada Joshua
Utah
Richard Govada Joshua is a project manager, author, researcher, and technology leader with over 11 years of experience leading enterprise transformation and operational technology initiatives. He holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and currently serves at Copper Mine in Utah, where he leads operational intelligence programs that support large-scale industrial operations. Joshua has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and served as a judge and reviewer for global awards, innovation programs, and academic initiatives. He is committed to advancing innovation and technology-driven solutions that create measurable real-world impact.
Santosh Durgam
Illinois
Mr. Durgam is an Engineering Manager at Morningstar Investments with over 20 years of experience across financial services, life sciences, and
insurance. Santosh has led AI and analytics innovation initiatives, delivering improvements in data quality, reporting efficiency, and decision intelligence. He has an MBA, an MS in Computer Applications, and is an AWS Certified Solutions Architect.