Ned Blackburn is the Director of Sales and Business Development at Centennial Technologies Inc. In his role, he focuses on exceeding clients’ expectations through delivering innovative solutions, advising customers, and working with solution partners. Ned brings 25 years of experience in strategic account management, program management, and business development in the federal and commercial sectors to Centennial.
Before Centennial, Ned was a Director at Grant Thornton, providing subject matter expertise on IT modernization, financial management, and business transformation initiatives. He focused on building resilient and agile teams to support various federal agencies. Prior to Grant Thornton, Ned held several leadership positions in small and large businesses where he led business development, capture management, and vendor partnerships. He built and managed large teams specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Business Intelligence, and Data Warehousing solutions.
Ned earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University, is a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and ITIL4 certified. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia, with his wife and three children. He enjoys coaching little league baseball, playing golf, and cheering for Cleveland sports teams.
Antonio “Tony” Hylton is Chief Strategy Officer for federal and state sectors at Centennial Technologies Inc. In this role, he develops service offerings, establishes strategic partnerships, and supports acquisitions. Tony brings over 30 years of public and private sector experience with business transformation, organizational change management, and innovative solutions to Centennial.
Before Centennial, Tony held various leadership positions at Verizon and managed over $100 million per quarter in sales. He guided the relationships with the National Association of State CIOs, National Association of State Technology Directors, US Conference of Mayors, and numerous state, local, and public safety agencies. Before Verizon, Tony served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Cook County, IL, where he led budget planning and execution, process optimizations, and technology innovation. Before Cook County, Tony held a variety of leadership positions with the Center for Digital Government (CDG), Dell-EMC, AT&T, and MCI.
Tony earned his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, is an accomplished Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and Certified Scrum Master. He loves golf and watersport activities. He is a home chef with a specialty in Asian-Fusion and Japanese Cuisines.
Mani Allu is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Centennial Technologies Inc. With over 25 years of experience providing financial and technical solutions, Mani provides overall direction to the corporate growth strategies, differentiated capabilities, and company culture. He works directly with customers, employees, and partners daily and fosters the work environment to develop and deliver highly innovative solutions.
Before founding Centennial, Mani held leadership positions at Verizon, where he led operations and delivery of enterprise services for public and commercial sectors, supporting $240M in revenue. He focused on solutions that drove efficiency and effectiveness, including financial transformation, organizational development, business intelligence, data analytics, application and system modernization, cloud enablement, and cybersecurity. Before Verizon, Mani served as the Vice President at ADS Inc. and supported the telecommunications, financial, retail, and media sectors. He orchestrated the creation and management of service offerings, supervised partnerships, and supported mergers and acquisitions.
He earned his Master’s degree from West Virginia University and lives in Ashburn, Virginia, with his wife and kids. He enjoys tennis and supporting his home sports teams.