The 35-year-old entrepreneur and visionary has served as president and CEO of TechPoint since December 2012, following the acquisition of his personal finance and banking software startup.

In a surprise announcement during the 18th annual TechPoint Mira Awards on Saturday, Governor Eric Holcomb honored TechPoint President and CEO Mike Langellier with the Sagamore of the Wabash award — the state’s highest civilian honor.

Governor Holcomb attended the event to thank the tech community for its efforts aiding the passage of signature legislation during the recent session of the General Assembly. Specifically, the Next Level Indiana Trust Fund makes it possible to invest an existing $250 million fund in venture capital firms, which will yield a higher return for the state and grow the next generation of Indiana tech companies.

“This fund is going to take Indiana from laggard to leader when it comes to venture capital investment and it’s going to be one of the most powerful economic development tools in the history of our state,” the governor said. “So while tonight we celebrate the best of tech in Indiana, we can also start to celebrate the future tech successes that are going to come from this type of legislation.”

Governor Holcomb said that since he was speaking at the TechPoint Mira Awards he wanted to take a bit of a governor’s privilege and start the evening by bestowing his own award — the Sagamore of the Wabash.

“It’s given to someone of deep wisdom who thinks both tactically and strategically, who counsels the governor, who contributes his or her talents to the betterment of our state. Often they are known as being trailblazers,” Holcomb said. “So Michael Langellier, for your constant and consistent leadership in transforming Indiana into a tech powerhouse, it’s my honor to award you tonight, the Sagamore of the Wabash!”

Langellier led a monumental effort in cooperation with the Indiana Chamber and tech leaders supporting the Governor’s agenda, which included the successful passage of the Next Level Indiana Trust Fund and incentivising more direct flights between Indianapolis and other tech hubs.

Notable contributors to successful legislative session were mentioned by name during the ceremony on Saturday including: Indiana Budget Director Micah Vincent; Don Acquilano, managing director, Allos Ventures; Christopher Day, CEO, DemandJump; Scott Dorsey, managing partner, High Alpha; Tim Kopp, venture investor, Hyde Park Venture Partners; and John McDonald, CEO, ClearObject and chair of the Indiana Chamber Tech Council Policy Committee.

Since officially assuming the role of president and CEO of TechPoint, Langellier has aggressively pursued an agenda of serving Indiana’s tech sector and strengthening the entire ecosystem that supports the people, products and companies that make up our community. He set out to solve the most pressing challenges including attracting talent, raising capital and promoting the many success stories that don’t usually make it outside of Indiana’s borders.

Langellier has built a dedicated team at TechPoint to address these challenges, growing to 11 employees, and the newly energized nonprofit’s initiatives are already having a measurable impact during his four years as CEO:

  • TechPointX is a suite of programs (Xtern Bootcamp, Xtern, Indy Tech Fellowship and Sales Bootcamp) launched to attract and retain high-calibre tech-skilled and business-skilled talent for Indiana tech companies
  • TechPoint’s Tailwind Program helps select scale-up technology companies access critical resources needed to become tomorrow’s successes, such as access to capital, connections to new customers and more.
  • TechPoint.org was launched as a robust media platform and subscriber base with resources such as a job board, community events page, and Indiana tech companies directory that provides original and curated content about the community.

Prior to becoming president and CEO of TechPoint, Langellier co-founded MyJibe, a personal finance and banking software company. He sold the company in November 2011 and served as vice president of strategic partnerships with acquirer MX (formerly MoneyDesktop). Prior to starting MyJibe, Langellier was director of account management for Experian (formerly Baker Hill), where he managed multi-million dollar client relationships and alliance partnerships.

Langellier is a DePauw University graduate and a past fellow in the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship program, for which he now serves as a member of the board of directors. He is a 2014 recipient of the Indianapolis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award and he serves on the boards of STAR Financial Bank, United Way of Central Indiana, IU School of Informatics and Computing, and WGU Indiana. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Carrie (Strong) Langellier – who was also an Orr Fellow – and their three sons.