John McConnell Named 2026 Recipient of The Mark Dean Award of Advancement
The Mark Dean Award of Advancement recognizes this person’s exceptional dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment to making our world better through technology, innovation, and advocacy for diversity and inclusion.
This award is a prestigious honor, given only to someone who has excelled in technology, creativity, and perseverance. Dr. Mark Dean was a visionary and innovator who broke barriers in technology at IBM, co-creating the first Personal Computer. This award honors Dr. Dean’s legacy and highlights this person’s innate ability to innovate.
Joey Windfelder, Founder and Head of Operations shared;
“I’m pleased to present John McConnell with the 2026 Mark Dean Award of Advancement.
John has been with DN Connect for under a year and has grown professionally and personally during his time with us. John started in December 2025 in the Operations department. He came to DN Connect with no prior knowledge of telecommunications software and hardware, other than playing video games on his PC. He quickly showed interest in learning more about the industry; he attended InfoComm in Las Vegas with us, engaged in Leadership Training from Harvard, and is currently pursuing his first certification with Extron.
John was recently promoted to manage the operations department and engage closely with clients. John now holds responsibilities in project management, on-site support, on-call operations, inventory management, and much more. I know that when John is working on a project or troubleshooting an issue, he’s going to do it well and exceed our standards every time. He’s become a key player in our recent growth, and I truly believe that without John, we would not be where we are today.
I could go on for hours about Johnny’s skill set and drive. He’s an instrumental part of our leadership team and has grown so much since December. Thank you, John, for your unwavering commitment to making the world a better place through innovation in technology. Congratulations”
