Herndon, VA -- October 31, 2006 -- Jill Stelfox, founder and CEO of a Herndon, Va. education software company called Defywire, was named the Heroine in Technology winner in the Corporate category at the sixth annual Heroines in Technology Awards ceremony. The honor was bestowed by The March of Dimes and Women in Technology (WIT), the premier organization contributing to the success of professional women in the Washington technology community.

The award is designed to honor both specific businesses and the women who run them for balancing the demanding, fast-paced technology sector with significant philanthropic commitments in the Greater Washington community. Since 2001, Heroines in Technology has raised more than $500,000 to help fight premature births and improve babies' health.

"It's an honor to receive this award from two such highly respected organizations," said Ms. Stelfox. "It reinforces our resolve to make students safer through the development of innovative technology."

Ms. Stelfox and Defywire were honored at a ceremony on Friday, October 27, at the McLean Hilton in Tysons Corner, Va. It was hosted by I.J. Hudson of NBC4, one of Washington's most respected journalists and a longstanding champion of the local technology industry.

As the guiding force behind Defywire, Ms. Stelfox has committed her company to making schools and children safer through technology. Defywire's Mobile Guardian Safety Suite allows schools to monitor children's activities from the moment they get on the school bus in the morning until they jump off into their parents' waiting arms in the afternoon.

Mobile Guardian also helps school officials track students who are engaging in risky behaviors such as truancy and fights on school premises .Intervening with such students at an early stage may help prevent full-scale escalation into violence. The technology also enables schools to monitor visitors to the school building, and ferret out intruders.

Defywire has shown that its technology is an idea whose time has come. Ms. Stelfox's steadfast leadership and aggressive vision has enabled the company to keep some 250,000 children safe so far. She and the company are on a focused mission to enhance the safety of all children at all schools.

In addition to her work at Defywire, Ms. Stelfox is an active member of her community, contributing both time and financial resources to nonprofit organizations such as the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which encourages entrepreneurship among the youth of Herndon, Va., and the Hampton Roads Youth Foundation. Ms. Stelfox recently announced a companywide initiative at Defywire to encourage staff participation with NFTE, enabling Defywire staff to volunteer for the organization during company hours. Defywire has also awarded academic scholarships to deserving participants at the Hampton Roads Youth Foundation's Peninsula All-Star Summer Camp, and helped send ten deserving underprivileged youth to the HRYF Peninsula All-Star Football Camp.

Ms. Stelfox serves on many community boards, including the Inova Health System Foundation, the Women's Advisory Board for the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital and the Center for Innovation and Technology GAP Investment fund. She also serves on the George Mason University School of Management Advisory Board.

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