About Us
The Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) is a federation of more than 60 highly collaborative technology councils and trade associations in the United States and Canada.
TECNA combines the expertise and influence of its member councils and associations – and the 22,000 technology companies they serve – to achieve outcomes that individual organizations cannot achieve alone. TECNA uses that expertise and influence to promote innovation and help grow the North American economy.
TECNA delivers valuable programs for member organizations by fostering collaboration, innovation, and aligning the combined effort of member and TECNA staff. TECNA currently focuses that effort on two main programs – Peer Learning and Government Relations.
TECNA also leverages the collective buying power of our members to deliver higher quality, lower cost services to small and medium sized tech companies.
History & Evolution of TECNA
- In 1992, several leaders of regional IT associations created the Council of Regional Information Technology Associations (CRITA), the predecessor to TECNA, to facilitate networking on a regular basis. Peter R. Generaux, co-founder of CRITA, was the initial CEO/Chair.
- In 2000, CRITA was incorporated to leverage the power of its amassed 45 member IT regional associations/councils representing a constituency of around 25,000 IT businesses in North America. As a nonprofit, 501(c)6 corporation, CRITA’s mission was to facilitate information, visibility, networking, and services for information technology-focused, not-for-profit business organizations in the United States and Canada.
- In 2008, the organization changed its identity to the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) to reflect a broader mission and the increasing presence of a wide variety of technology companies and organizations within its membership.
- Today, TECNA strives to empower regional technology associations, councils and hubs, and to serve as their collective voice in growing the North American technology economy primarily via peer learning and government relations.