Stevie Awards Announce Winners of 2014 Best of the IBA Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Aug 26, 2014 @ 09:21 AM

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2014 (11th Annual) International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition.

Stevie logoNominees in the 2014 IBAs were not able to apply for the Best of the IBA Awards directly. Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the IBAs. This year's Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on August 13.

The winners of the Best of the IBA Awards will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies at The 11th Annual International Business Awards banquet at The Westin Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France on October 10. 

Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the IBAs, with a  Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5.  The winners are:

Organization of the Year: Quality, Systems, Inc. Irvine, California, USA. With 68.5 total points, Quality Systems, Inc. is the most honored organization in the 2014 IBAs.

Public Relations Agency of the Year: MWW. MWW offices around the world won a total of 42.5 points.

Marketing Agency of the Year: Weber Shandwick. Weber Shandwick offices worldwide won a total of 39.5 points.

Interactive Services Agency of the Year: Plasenta Conversation Agency, Istanbul, Turkey (31.5 points)

Top 10: After the winners of the above prizes, the following entrants earned the most award points in the 2014 IBAs:

1. MSLGROUP, worldwide (35.5)
2. CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, California, USA (32.5)
3. Akbank TAS, Istanbul, Turkey (31.5)
4. Maras Group, Adelaide, Australia (31)
5. LLORENTE Y CUENCA, Madrid, Spain (27.5)
6. Odea Bank A.S., Istanbul, Turkey (26.5)
7. Ooredoo Group, Doha, Qatar (25.5)
8. Accenture, worldwide (24.5)
9. Oxford City Football Club, Lake Worth, Florida, USA (23)
10. ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (22)

The International Business Awards feature a wide variety of categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management awards, new product awards, marketing awards, PR awards, customer service awards, website awards, and more.

For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2014 IBAs, visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

Topics: customer service awards, website awards, marketing awards, International business awards, PR awards, management awards, public relations awards

Winners Announced in People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Tue, Aug 19, 2014 @ 12:07 PM

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on September 12 in San Francisco

CD2 Learning is the top winner in the 2014 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards, the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, which are now in their 12th year.

PCSAFNPThe nationwide public vote was conducted this summer, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 42 product categories. More than 57,000 votes were cast.

CD2 Learning, the Overland Park, KS –based developer of a cloud-based learning architecture, is the winner of People’s Choice Stevie Awards in four categories.  NetScout Systems, Inc., the Westford, MA –based provider of integrated computer network performance management products, won People’s Choice Stevie Awards in three categories.  Winners of two People’s Choice Stevie Awards include CardioVet, Dell Software, MicroStrategy, Inc., Other World Computing, and Telerik.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The American Business Awards’ new product and tech awards banquet on Friday, September 12 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Tickets for the event are now on sale. There, the winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be announced and presented their awards. More than 250 nominees and their guests are expected to attend.

All new products and services recognized as Finalists in the new product awards categories of this year’s American Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

The winners of the 2014 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are:

Business-to-Business Product: NCR Small Business’s NCR Silver Small Business Platform
Business-to-Business Service: Dealer.com Unified Advertising Exchange
Consumer Electronics: Other World Computing's DIY Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for PlayStation 4
Consumer Product: LIMU's BLU FROG 2
Consumer Services: The Hybrid Shop
Financial Services: Engility's Secure Payment System for the U.S. Treasury
Hardware - Networking: NetScout Systems’ nGenius 3900 series packet flow switch
Hardware - Other: NetScout Systems’ nGenius InfiniStream 4500 series appliance
Hardware - Semiconductor: Marvell 88EM8187 LED Controller
Hardware - Storage: Other World Computing's Envoy Pro EX USB 3.0 Portable SSD Storage Solution
Health & Pharmaceutical Product: CardioVet
Health & Pharmaceutical Service: CardioVet
Industrial Product or Service: Graco Inc.'s InvisiPac® Tank-Free' Hot Melt Delivery System
Media & Entertainment: Signiant SkyDrop
Software - Asset Management: Raritan Asset Management DCIM Software
Software - Big Data: MicroStrategy Analytics Desktop
Software - Business Intelligence: MicroStrategy Analytics Desktop
Software - Cloud Application/Service: Rackspace DevOps Automation Service
Software - Cloud Infrastructure: OrionVM Wholesale Cloud Platform
Software - Cloud Platform: SDL Customer Experience Cloud (CXC)
Software - Cloud Storage: Bitcasa
Software - Collaboration/Social: CD2 Learning Collaboration Cloud
Software - Content Management: CD2 Learning’s Innovator Interaction Engine
Software - Financial Management: Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Pocket Assistant
Software - Governance/Risk: Dell Software's Change Auditor Compliance Solution
Software - Human Capital Management: CD2 Learning Toolkit
Software - Lead Generation: TIAA-CREF Annuity Cost Savings Tool
Software - Learning/Workforce Development: CD2 Learning’s Leadership - Blanchard Essentials Edition
Software - Marketing/PR: Acxiom Audience Operating System
Software - Mobile On-Demand: Brainshark's SlideShark 3.0
Software - Mobile Operations Management: Aternity for Mobile App Developers
Software - Other: Telerik Kendo UI
Software - Project Management: Upland Software’s Tenrox Cloud Project Management Solution
Software - Relationship Management: Experian Marketing Services' Cross Marketing Platform
Software - Security: Unisys Stealth
Software - Software Development: Telerik DevCraft
Software - Supply Chain Management: SYSPRO 7 Enterprise Resource Planning Software
Software - Systems Management: Dell Software's Recovery Manager for Active Directory Forest Edition
Software - Web Services: ion interactive's Marketing Apps Platform
Telecommunications Product: NetScout Systems’ nGeniusONE Unified Performance Management platform
Telecommunications Service: AT&T Mobile Security
Transportation: VeriFone's Way2ride

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Topics: business awards, American business awards, stevie awards, product of the year, new product awards, best new products

First Annual German Stevie® Awards Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Aug 18, 2014 @ 11:14 AM

Newest Stevie Awards Program to Recognize the Best in Business in Germany; No Entry Fees Through 30 September

The organizer of the world’s leading business awards programs announced today that Germany will be the setting of its newest program, the German Stevie Awards, which is now welcoming nominations from all organizations operating in Germany at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition over the past 12 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Stevie Awards programs attract more than 8,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations.

GSA logotypeThe German Stevie Awards will be only the second national Stevie Awards program, after the 12-year-old American Business Awards.  “Germany is a huge, vibrant economy with many outstanding companies in a wide variety of industries,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “It has been our goal to establish another national Stevies program in a major economy, and Germany is the ideal choice, as it’s the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest by GDP in the world.”

The Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, are among the world's most coveted prizes.

The German Stevie Awards welcome nominations from all organizations operating in Germany – large and small, for-profit and non-profit, publicly-held and privately-held - with a wide range of categories to choose from, including

To celebrate the inauguration of the awards, no entry fees will be charged for nominations submitted through the early-bird entry deadline of 30 September.  From October 1, the entry fee will be just €99 for entries submitted through the second deadline, November 5.  Entries submitted after November 5, through the final deadline of December 10, will be assessed the standard entry fees, which can be as much as €400 per entry.

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds.  The first round will determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category.  Those winners will be announced on February 23.  All of the Gold Stevie Award winners will then compete in the second round of judging for the right to be named the Grand Stevie Award winner in their category groups.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in Germany in late March.

Judging committees for the German Stevie Awards are now being formed.  Those interested in participating in the judging process may also apply at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives as judges.

Many German companies have been recognized in Stevie Awards programs over the years, including adidas Group, Bertelsmann AG, DP DHL, Lufthansa, and Siemens AG, among others.  “With the German Stevie Awards, we’ll be able to recognize the achievements of many more German companies and executives,” Gallagher said.

Uwe Krummenoehler, CEO of AVL Emission Test Systems GmbH of Neuss, Germany, winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in The 2013 International Business Awards, said, “Winning a Stevie Award demonstrated that we are doing a lot of things right.  Our performance was validated by many leading executives in the judging, and that is very important to our management team and our employees.”

Gallagher said there are many reasons why companies participate in Stevie Awards programs.  Chief among them, he said, are the brand-building benefits of winning a major national or international award; the goodwill generated with employees when they are nominated for awards; and the opportunity to network with other business leaders at the annual awards galas.

To learn more about the German Stevie Awards, visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/gsa/about/514_2923_24742.cfm.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

Topics: business awards, stevie awards, germany, german

11th International Business Awards Announce Stevie Award Winners

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Aug 13, 2014 @ 10:10 AM

      Business Awards Program to Celebrate Excellence Worldwide at Paris Event

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been announced as Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 11th Annual International 2014Business Awards, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

Nicknamed the Stevies from the Greek word "crowned," the awards will be presented at a gala event on Friday, 10 October at the Westin Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France. Tickets for the event are on sale now at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,500 nominations received from organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations. All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards, and can submit entries in a wide range of categories, including management awards, company of the year awards, marketing awards, public relations awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, new product awards, IT awards, web site awards, and more.  

More than 250 executives worldwide participated in the judging process this year.

The top Gold Stevies winners this year are Weber Shandwick, worldwide, with eight, and Quality Systems, Inc. (USA) with seven. Accenture (USA), Akbank (Turkey), LLORENTE Y CUENCA (Spain), MSLGROUP worldwide, MWW Group (USA), and Plasenta Conversation Agency (Turkey) are winners of five Golds each. Winners of four Gold Stevies are AT&T (USA), CallidusCloud (USA), Jack Morton Worldwide, Maras Group (Australia), and Oxford City Football Club (USA). 

Among the winners of three Gold Stevie Awards are Advanced Bionics (USA), AECOM (USA), ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller (United Arab Emirates), DHL Express worldwide, Globe Telecom (Philippines), Kanyon (Turkey), Odea Bank (Turkey), PS Communication (Denmark), and StarHub Ltd (Singapore).

A complete list of all 2014 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

 “The entries we received this year were some of the most noteworthy we have ever seen,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “We congratulate all of the winners, and we look forward to recognizing them for their achievements at our gala event in Paris on 10 October.”

Next week the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes, will be announced.

For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or International Business Awards logo, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/press/172_701_3120.cfm. Other information and resources for press are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/press/172_701_3121.cfm

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The sixth program, the new German Stevie Awards, will open for entries on 18 August.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Topics: business awards, International business awards, stevie awards, IBAs, stevie winners, stevie award winners, winners

Thanks to 2014 International Business Awards Preliminary Judges

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Aug 13, 2014 @ 08:43 AM

The following professionals participated in preliminary judging of The 2014 International Business Awards, the worlds top business awards program, in May-July.  Their average scores determined the entries that were eligible to be included in final judging.  We thank them for their time, insights and support.

Dr. Mamdooh Abdelmottlep, Founding President, International Police Sciences Association, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2014Nicole Y. Adams, Translator & Consultant, NYA Communications, Brisbane, Australia
Hazem Adawie Senior Manager-Corporate Performance Management Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Bora Aksoylu, Event Manager, NIKE Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Shadi Al Hroub, Creative Director, Freelance, Amman, Jordan
Ahmad Alhai, Drilling Services Automation Project Manager & RTOC Project Member, ADCO, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Mahmoud Alhayek, Quality Expert, Abu Dhabi Police, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Dr. Mohammed A. Alkhozai, Director, Bahrain Management Society, Manama, Bahrain
Amal Al-Najjar, HR Manager, Fluor Kuwait, Kuwait
Col. Mohammed Alreeh, Ministry of the Interior, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ani Atanasova, CEOPixelhunters, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dr. Christina Augustine, Global Strategic HR, Virtusa Corporation, Chennai, India
Heather Barton, Head of Human Resources, American Institute for Foreign Study (UK) Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Israel Bonequi, Creative Director, Birds Nest Foundation, Montreal, QC, Canada
Ted Bridgwater, President, Foresight Corporate Communications, Toronto, ON, Canada
Oana Bulexa, Managing Director, The Practice, Bucharest, Romania
Connie Bullock, Director, Marketing, NuCompass Mobility, Manassas, VA , USA
Mark Burton, CEO, International Armoring Corp., Centerville, UT, USA
Peter Bush, Doctor, Response Ambulance Services, Port Talbot, United Kingdom
Jorge Cachinero, Director Corporativo de Reputación e Innovación, Llorente y Cuenca, Madrid, Spain
Venkata Rajesh, Cheerla    Group Senior Manager - HR Strategy, Policies & Compliance, Etisalat Group, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Tore Claesson, Director, Tio Agency, New York, USA
Sally Clubley, Senior Consultant, IHRDC, Stourton, United Kingdom
Dorothy Crenshaw, CEO, Crenshaw Communications, New York, NY, USA
Kate Darcy Hohenthal, Founder, The Birthday Club, Manchester, CT , USA
Karla Davis, General Manager, Plantation Resort, Surfside Beach, SC, USA
Saraida De Marchena Kaluche, President and CEO, Markatel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Lelanie de Wet, Web Content & Social Media Manager, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa
Teresa DeFelice, Account Executive, RCI, Orlando, FL, USA
Danielle Di-Masi, Managing Director, The Interactions Lab, Coogee, Australia
Richard Dixon, Owner/Administrator, Home Helpers and Direct Link of North Texas, Keller, TX, USA
Sheryl Dobson, Director of Customer Contact, J2 Global, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Michal Dunin, Managing Director, WebTalk, Warsaw, Poland
Stacey Edmonds, Founder and MD Lively, Lively Coogee, NSW, Australia
Rochelle Ekanayake, Managing Director UK/SRI LANKA, MrPierce Studios International Asia (PVT) Ltd, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kristina Garcia, Managing Director, German State of Hessen U.S. Office for Economic Development, New York, NY, USA
Sergio García, Creative Director, Doctor Jekyll, Barcelona, Spain
Manoj Gautam, Om shiva, shakti herbal company pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu, Nepal
Constantinos Grivas, CEO and Founder, Swiss Nutraceuticals MIKE, Athens, Greece
Naresh Gupta, Associate Partner, IBM Global Business Services, Gurgaon, India
Danita Harn, VP of Operations, Harn & Associates Bookkeeping Firm, Woodstock, GA, USA
Robin Harris, Principal/Creative Director, Harris Design Inc., McLean, VA, USA
Aida Hernandez, New Business Development, Marco de Comunicación, Madrid, Spain
Jesse Hertstein, Senior CSR Specialist, Amway, Ada, MI, USA
Jamie K. Holt, MBA, President/CEO, JMK Notary And Services, Miami, FL, USA
Giles House, VP Marketing, CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, CA, USA
Yvonne Howie, CEO, NSW, The CEO Institute, Neutral Bay, NSW, Australia
Richard    Hu, Senior Editor, China Advertising, Beijing, China
Elif Ildeniz, Employer Branding Project Leader, TOFAS-FIAT, Istanbul, Turkey
Echo Ilott, Director, Boost Marketing, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Leo Indarwahono, Public Health & Educational Executive, The Indonesian Business Coalition on AIDS (IBCA), Jakarta, Indonesia
Petr Jares, Member of the Board, Etnetera, Prague, Czech Republic
Parag Jaripatke, Senior Systems Administrator, AOL Inc., Dulles, VA, USA
Monika Jaslowska, Senior Head of Brand Public Relations Department, Polpharma Biuro Handlowe Sp. z o. o., Warsaw, Poland
Beverly Jensen, President/CEO, WomensMedicineBowl.com, Greeley, CO, USA
Özgür Karaçak, Managing Partner / Founder/ Creative Director, SesliHarfler Digital Advertising Agency, Istanbul, Turkey
Hakan Karamanli, IT Manager, GARANTI TEKNOLOJI, Istanbul, Turkey
Samitha Karunarathne, CEO, Aryans Engineering (Pvt) Ltd., Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka
Mazin Khoury, CEO, Middle East, AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c), Manama, Bahrain
Elzbieta Krawczynska, Quality Specialist & Trainer, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A, Poznan, Poland
A.J.Lawrence, CEO, the JAR group, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Andreea Leonte, Senior PR Consultant, MCCANN PR, Bucharest, Romania
Chris Litherland, International Snr Director HR, Intermec by Honeywell Heinsberg, Germany
Ke Je Tony Liu, Greater China Partner, Creative Chairman, MC Saatchi aeiou, Shanghai,  China
Denis Looney, Vice President, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Cork, Ireland
Anil Machado, Managing Director, Tnell, Sieradz, Poland
Morag Malloy, Managing Director, Fission Creative, Paisley, United Kingdom
Kristin Marcell, Vice President Public Relations, SmartMark Communications, Newtown, PA   USA
Wessam Massoud, Programme Delivery Manager, Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Center (ADSIC), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Chris McConnell, Senior Manager, Accenture, Chicago, IL, USA
Colin McKillop, Chief Executive Officer, Butcher Enterprises, Windsor, ON, Canada
Jennifer, McQueen, Managing Partner, Ausnindo-Asia/Pacific, Croydon, VIC, Australia
Jeremy McWilliams, Managing Director, Bang TV, London, United Kingdom
Ronald Meske, President, Training Systems Design, Camarillo, CA, USA
Eric Mosely, CEO, Globoforce, Dublin, Ireland
Rajesh Kumar Mudiakal, SAP Project Manager, CMC Limited, Mumbai, India
Motomasa Murayama, Professor, Tokiwa University, Mito City, Japan
Rajiv Noronha, AVP, Location HR Leader & Head -Org., Effectiveness, Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore, India
Charles Olsson, Managing Director, Stockfeed Purchasing Pty Ltd, Crestmead, Australia
Pierluigi Orati    Head of Country Analysis, SENEL SPA, Rome, Italy
Diego Otero Rodríguez, Creative Director, Suigeneris Communications SL (A Save Your Numbers Holding), Barcelona, Spain
Alper Afsin Özdemir, President, Krombera Digital Marketing Agency, Istanbul, Turkey
Cem Cabbar Özdemir, Creative Director, Project House, Istanbul, Turkey
Parveen Panwar, CEO, PMI 5, Media LLC, Los Altos, CA, USA
Anne Patterson, VP Client Delivery, FreeFlow, Kerry Ireland
Katarzyna Pawlikowska, Managing Partner, Garden of Words, Warsaw, Poland
Guy Perry, President, CEO & Founder, Salt Lake Running Company, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Donald Pillai, International Marketing Executive, Bumbo (Pty) Ltd, Rosslyn, South Africa
Churchill Dass Prince, Founder & CEO, Sales Intellect Company, Chennai, India
Rammesh Rajagopal, Senior Manager IT, Cisco Systems Inc., Morrisville, NC, USA
Fanjarivo Rakotonirina, President, Tropical Items Madagascar, LLC, Boulder, CO, USA
V.S. Ramachandran, Senior VP, Emarat, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mohamed A. R. Rashed, Director of Strategic Planning, Ahlia University, Manama, Bahrain
Dennis Reno, Vice President, Customer Experience, New Relic, San Francisco, CA, USA
Pamela Robinson, CEO, Financial Voyages LLC, Atlanta, GA, USA
Linanne Sackett, Principal Investigator, Verizon Next Step Program, Albany, NY, USA
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amr Sadik, VP - Curriculum Development, INTEX, Cairo, Egypt
Sasan Saeidi, Managing Director, FP7, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Göktug Sahin, Lecturer, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
Hande Sarantopoulos, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Director, Kale Group, Istanbul, Turkey
Gauri Sharma, Head of Business, Modest Inc, Chicago, IL, USA
Keira Shein, Partner, WilkinsonShein Communications, Stevenson, MD, USA
Pelle Sjöqvist, Creative Director, Dahlheim & Sjöqvist, Stockholm, Sweden
Asuncion Soriano, Vice President, INFORPRESS, Madrid, Spain
Leslie Stretch, President & CEO, CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, CA, USA
Julian Stubbs, Senior Lecturer, Marketing (retired), The University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
Begum Susar, Digital Marketing and Design Assistant, Vice President, ING Bank Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Andrzej Szczepaniak, Deputy Director, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A, Srem, Poland
Pinar Tuba, Temizkan, HR Senior Consultant and Co-Active Coach, Elemental-Value (official provider of The Coaches Training Institute-CTI), Istanbul   
Meera Tenguria, Founder & Director, Aarrohan Communications, Mumbai, India
Wailaya    Tiningsih Bravyanto, Corporate Relations, PT Unilever Indonesia, Tbk, Jakarta, Indonesia
Han Tjan, VP Corporate Communications, Daimler, New York, NY, USA
Aigerim Tulepbergenova, Business Analyst, Morgan Stanley, Eugene, OR, USA
Noel Unciano, Research Specialist, Industrial Technology Development Institute, Taguig City, Philippines
Aykut Ustun, Group Manager - HR and Management System, Opet Petrolculuk, Istanbul, Turkey
Rob Vandenberg, President & CEO Lingotek, Draper, UT, USA
Kirti Vashee, Vice President, Enterprise Translation, Asia Online, Santa Monica, CA , USA
Nicole Vaughn, Account Supervisor, Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., St. Louis, MO, USA
Vincent Verdi, Art Director, CUNY-TV, Staten Island, NY, USA
Robyn  Vogels, Founder, Managing Director, Personnel Relocations, Cheltenham, SA, Australia
Mike Voznick, National Business Consultant, Harn and Associates, Smyrna, GA, USA
Clara H.Y. Wang, Account Director, KAI Communications (China&UK), Beijing, China
Floor Wijburg, CEO, W & I Consultants, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Silvana Xhaferi, General Secretary, Albanian-British Chamber of Commerce and industry, Tirana, Albania
Mimi Young, Principal, Behavior Design, New York, NY, USA
David Zapata, President, Zapwater Communications, Chicago, USA                            
Joseph Zitzelberger, Director of Manufacturing Development, PACCAR Inc., Chillicothe, OH, USA                                                                                                                          

Topics: judging, business awards, International business awards, stevie awards, IBAs, judges

Why It’s Important to Listen, from a Sales Awards Sponsor

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Aug 12, 2014 @ 11:26 AM

ValueSelling Associates, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA, is a sponsor of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s top sales awards and customer service awards. Find out how to enter the 2015 competition here.

The following article by Julie Thomas, CEO of ValueSelling, was first featured on the ValueSelling Associates Blog in Jul. (You can also read about this year’s successful salespeople in the Sales Individual Awards categories on the Stevie Awards Sales & Customer Service website.)

ThomasIt’s a commonly accepted notion that buyers often don’t like salespeople. It’s your job to overcome that initial barrier by recognizing that a successful sales relationship hinges on your personal relationship with the customer.

Trust and rapport are essential in encouraging potential buyers to share their challenges and allow you to explore different solutions. People buy from people, so a sales relationship becomes more difficult if two people can’t communicate effectively.

The greater the trust and rapport, the easier it is to get the client to share their perspective, including their personal motivations, and to listen to how your products can create value for them.

Selling Is a Multilevel Communication Process

We trust people who appear to have the same model of the world as we do. We trust people who understand our problems. Whether you are building trust and rapport, persuading, or negotiating, selling is a multilevel communication process.

But active listening is a difficult skill to practice. We are often more comfortable talking and tend to believe that the best way to sell is to make a perfect presentation. Even when we aren’t talking, we are thinking about what we’re going to say next. Every moment spent thinking is one spent not listening. We run the risk of missing buying clues or critical information. We are in danger of missing lost opportunities.

Active listeners always ask themselves these questions:

  • Did I hear what they said?
  • Do I understand what they said?

5 tips for honing your active listening skills:

  • Give your full and undivided attention to the person who is speaking and, whenever possible, make eye contact.
  • If you are speaking with someone on the phone or VoIP, avoid distractions and the temptation to multi-task by emailing or texting. The person on the other end of the line can always tell!
  • Don’t interrupt the speaker.  No one appreciates being interrupted; when you interrupt someone, you are sending the following message:  “What I have to say is more important than what you are already saying.”  Pause to gather your thoughts and respond thoughtfully. Pay attention to any lag time or delay if you’re using Skype and time your responses accordingly.
  • Clarify and confirm. Use breaks in the conversation to confirm what you heard and clarify what you understood. Trust and rapport are built through this process. Confirmation is critical to demonstrate your listening skills and abilities.  Asking follow-up questions and testing your understanding are very powerful and simple ways to prove you are listening.
  • Provide nonverbal feedback. If you are having a conversation in person, then nodding, appropriate facial expressions, and occasional verbal affirmations reassure the person you’re speaking with that you are actively listening.

While speaking well is important, our ability to listen, learn, and understand is essential. Active listening can be practiced on anyone, anywhere in an organization. It’s really about the quality of the conversations you have. The better the questions you ask, the better the answers. The more you listen to the answers, the better the conversation, and the more effective you will be as a sales professional.

About Julie Thomas

Julie Thomas, President and CEO of ValueSelling Associates, is a noted speaker, author, and consultant. In a career spanning more than 24 years, she credits her mastery of the ValueSelling Framework® for her own meteoric rise through the ranks of sales, sales management, and corporate leadership positions.

Julie began her career at Gartner Group. In 1999, she became Vice President of Gartner’s Sales Training for the Americas, which included successfully managing the training of new hires in the ValueSelling process.  In 2003, Julie acquired ValueSelling Associates with the support of ValueSelling CEO and co-founder Lloyd Sappington. Since then, Julie has led the company to become an industry leader in competency- and process-based training for escalating sales performance.

Julie is a sought-after speaker at industry events such as the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conferences. She is a guest lecturer at both Babson University and the University of Michigan. In addition, Julie is on the advisory board of the eWomenNetwork Foundation Advisory Council and is heavily involved in her local public schools as well as the San Diego Children’s Hospital Auxiliary.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

About ValueSelling Associates

ValueSelling Associates, based in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, is the creator of the Value Selling Framework®, the sales methodology preferred by sales executives around the globe. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals increase their sales productivity. Offering customized training to FORTUNE 1000 companies, mid-sized businesses, to early stage startup organizations, ValueSelling Associates’ proprietary sales training tools and consulting services deliver measurable results. Clients turn to the experts at ValueSelling Associates for classroom and online training and consulting services that yield immediate impact, repeatable strategies, and sustainable results to sales productivity.  For more information, go to www.valueselling.com

Topics: business awards, stevie awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, valueselling, Julie Thomas

International Business Awards Name Chairs for 2014 Judging

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Aug 06, 2014 @ 04:36 PM

The Stevie® Awards have announced the ten executives who are chairing the specialized final judging committees for its 11th Annual International Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the world.

All organizations - public and private, large and small, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to The International Business Awards.

The ten committee selections are based on the categories that will be judged

COMPANY/ORGANIZATION AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Kim Dong-soo, Ph.D., Director
KOBACO (Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp.), Seoul, South Korea

DCompany Chairr. Kim joined the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) in1979 and served as vice minister from 2007-2008.  During his 30 years at the MIC, he designed and implemented Korean policy for information and communications technology (ICT), and is especially credited with developing ICT services in Korea. Dr. Kim is one of the world’s pioneers in ICT services.

More recently, Dr. Kim has worked as a senior adviser at the law firm of Gwang-jang in Seoul, providing policy and legal consulting services in ICT, Media, and Broadcasting for governments and private enterprises. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors at the KOBACO (Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation).

Dr. Kim was awarded the Hongjo-geunjeong Order (2003) and the Geun-jeong Merit Medal (1988) from the Korean nation for his successful leadership and development of the national informatization policy. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from Cheong-ju University and a Master’s Degree in public administration at Seoul National University. He also earned a Master’s Degree in policy science at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). In 2008, Dr. Kim received a Doctorate in public administration at Sungkyunkwan University’s College of Information and Communication Engineering.

MANAGEMENT/INDIVIDUAL AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Sinta Kaniawati, Director, Unilever Indonesia Foundation
PT. Unilever Indonesia Tbk., Jakarta, Indonesia

14 IBA MGT ChairSinta Kaniawati started her career in the corporate world in 1990 when she joined Unilever Indonesia as a management trainee. She built tremendous skills in market research, marketing for national and international brands, and customer development, and was assigned a senior position at Unilever Indonesia Foundation in 2007. Unilever Indonesia Foundation focuses on improving health, hygiene, and nutrition; reducing environmental impact; and improving livelihood through sustainable socio-economic programs with the community.

Since 2009, Sinta has served as a Board Member of Indonesian Business Links and is a former executive team member of the Indonesian National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. She was named Secretary General of the Indonesian Global Compact Network in 2010, and again in 2014; and she is a member of The International Society of Sustainability Professionals.

Sinta Kaniawati was born in Bandung, Indonesia. She completed her degree at Bogor Agriculture Institute. Despite a busy professional career, Sinta has a wide range of interests.  She loves music and is active in a variety of social organizations such as Bina Antarbudaya (the Indonesian Foundation for Intercultural Learning), and Toastmasters International.  She is also an enthusiastic leadership and communications trainer. Sinta is a LEAD Indonesia Fellow (cohort 15) and has been a presenter at The Climate Reality Project.

She is married with a young son and daughter.

IT/NEW PRODUCT & PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Christine K. Buck, Global Brand Manager
Accenture, Chicago, USA

IT chairAs Global Brand Manager for Accenture, Christine is responsible for developing and executing Accenture’s global brand strategy, developing brand programs, and overseeing key initiatives related to strengthening and protecting the Accenture brand.

Christine brings over 17 years of sales and marketing expertise in the financial services and software industries to Accenture, along with deep international expertise. Prior to joining Accenture in 2012, she was the International Marketing Director for Morningstar, Inc., a global investment research and technology firm. In this leadership role, she successfully developed and led global marketing and sales operations across 26 countries in EMEA, Latin America, Canada, and Asia-Pacific. She was appointed to serve on several corporate committees, including the corporate social media steering committee, which was responsible for establishing Morningstar’s global strategy and policies.

Before joining Morningstar in 2005, she served as a regional Sales Program Manager at Bank of America Global Finance managing key technology client accounts such as Oracle, Netscape, and Software AG. Christine began her career in Dublin, Ireland, working for Microsoft Corporation as a Software License Analyst for the Benelux market.

Passionate about giving back to the community, Christine is involved in many civic and charitable organizations. She is the Vice President of the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation of Chicago. She launched a pilot research program in 2011, in coordination with the Anschutz Medical School in Denver, to develop a vaccine for Multiple Sclerosis. She is a Luminary Circle member of StepUp, the national women’s organization, and served as a Director for the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education from 2003 to 2011. 

Christine graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in French Studies and in Anthropology.

MARKETING AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Luke D'Arcy, Chief Marketing Officer
Momentum WW, New York, NY

14 IBA Market ChairLuke D’Arcy joined Momentum as Marketing Director in 2003, helping the agency grow its profile and new business performance nationally and internationally with wins like Bacardi, BMW MINI, Kraft, and Intel.

A marketing professional for the past 18 years, Luke began his agency career as New Business Director for network agency Euro RSCG, twice seeing the shop win Marketing Week’s Agency of the Year award, and picking up wins like Microsoft, Diageo, and PepsiCo with assignments across 40 countries.

In 2006, Luke became a Partner of leading global independent agency Iris Worldwide with 14 offices around the world. He led the global new business, PR, and marketing of the agency, culminating with international account wins like Hertz, Volkswagen, Shell, and ING. This period also saw the agency twice voted UK agency of the Year, APAC Agency of the Year, and one of The Sunday Times Top 10 places to work.

A call from Virgin proved too good to pass up and Luke moved client side as Partnership Director for Virgin, helping Sir Richard Branson and the team raise £40 million in six months to launch the Virgin Racing team and build the brand in the competitive world of Formula 1.

Luke rejoined Momentum in 2010 as a member of its European Board. He was promoted to the global role of Chief Growth Officer in 2011, and to the global board as Chief Marketing Officer in 2013. Recent agency wins include Diageo, US Postal Service, Unilever, GoDaddy, United Airlines, and Porsche.

Luke sits on the 4A’s New Business Committee, is an IPG business mentor, and is also an international industry speaker on topics like sport, shopper, and agency growth strategies.

HUMAN RESOURCES AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Adrian Harvey, CEO
Elephants Don't Forget Ltd, London, United Kingdom.

14 IBA HR ChairOn Independence Day (July 4th) 2011, Adrian Harvey and the former Eon Finance Director, Dan Gray, formed Green Giraffe Energy Bankers, a specialist advisory boutique focused on the renewable energy section, as a vehicle that would allow them to pursue their passion for doing great business. They also found the time to write and publish their first business self-help book: The Elephant in the Boardroom.

The fact that employees forget as much as 80% of what they learn in training within the first 30 days has cost businesses in the UK hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Adrian and Dan saw that what was needed was a low-cost tool that continually assessed actual employee knowledge levels, identified knowledge gaps, and automatically retrained what had been forgotten, thereby ensuring employees had the knowledge they needed to excel.

On March 4, 2013—after 18 months of R&D and testing—Adrian and Dan launched the knowledge-retention company Elephants don't forget. The star of the business is an intelligent employee knowledge-retention App called “Nelly.” Companies utilize Nelly to optimize the effectiveness of their L&D spend.

Recently, the pair set up Panama Green Fuels (PGF), based in Panama, Central America, as a Social Enterprise. PGF is destined to transform the lives of thousands of rural Panamanians. Part funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Dan and Adrian are creating the bio-infrastructure necessary for Panama to 'grow its own diesel' and at the same time regenerate thousands of hectares of degraded land. The Panamanian-based management runs the day-to-day business operations leaving Dan and Adrian free to concentrate on Elephants don’t forget and a niche contact center optimization software, Motiv8 Solutions.

On being appointed Chair of the Human Resources Awards Final Judging Committee in The 2014 international Business Awards, Adrian commented: “This is a relevant and much-needed recognition forum. I would recommend it to any organization that believes they have best-in-class capability in any of the judging criteria.”

CREATIVE/CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS & PR AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Jon Dobinson, Chief Executive
Other Creative Limited, London, United Kingdom

jon magz blogJon Dobinson founded other in 1997 and it has grown to become one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative creative companies: working on important international campaigns for multinationals like Unilever; helping charities and not-for-profit organizations raise over £65m in funds by effective creative communication; and developing innovative new services like the creative research tool PreProven.

While developing other’s capabilities in interactive TV advertising through its subsidiary Phosphorus, Jon chaired conferences on the future of television in New York and London, and contributed to the development of the European Union’s Television Without Frontiers directive, which controls the regulation of TV across the EU and EFTA.

Prior to founding other, Jon was a Creative Director at major UK agencies. In 1989-1993, during a period freelancing, he was Secretary General of the International Society for Human Rights in the UK. In this capacity, he helped to bring the issue of human rights abuses in the former Yugoslav republics to global attention, making front page news around the world and contributing to the early deployment of UN peacekeepers in Kosovo—a move now recognized as having saved countless lives.

Jon is an awarded member of D&AD. He has won a number of Gold Stevies in the Creative and Communications categories of The International Business Awards, most recently in 2014. His work has achieved similar recognition from other international awards organizations including the New York Festivals, the Rev Awards, the Telly Awards, AFDESI, and the Digital Awards. Last year, other also won in several categories of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, including a Gold Stevie with Unilever for Best Global Campaign, and a Bronze Stevie for Most Innovative Company.

Jon lives just outside London while at work, and at Dinan in France when he can slip away. He has two children, Lucie and William, and Lucie recently joined other as a writer.

On being asked to Chair the Creative/Corporate Communications & PR Final Judging Committee, Jon told us he was “delighted to be invited to chair one of the judging panels for the International Business Awards and to help in giving recognition to outstanding people and results in business from around the world. The International Business Awards stands alone in celebrating the best achievements from the world of global business.”

CREATIVE MEDIA (WEBSITES/APPS/LIVE EVENTS/VIDEO) AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Masahisa Tsukada, CEO
DIPLO Data Service Inc., Osaka, Japan

14 IBA MEDIA ChairMasahisa Tsukada has been involved with the planning and distribution aspects of establishing MODRIC Inc. in Japan for 10 years. Until 2000 he was also the founding director of Izumi CATV Inc. (a third sector company) at Izumi Cable TV (Now J:Com Kansai Inc.).

Currently, Mr. Tsukada is a corporate group board member for a number of companies, including DIPLO Data Service Inc., Mainichi Inc., and LICENSE JAPAN Inc. He is also a program evaluator for J:Com Kansai Inc., a special advisor for Izumi Young Entrepreneurs Group (Osaka prefecture), and he is a member of the Izumi South Rotary Club Japan.

 

CREATIVE MEDIA (ANNUAL REPORTS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS) AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Rachel Deutsch, Principal/Creative Director
The Design Channel
, Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA

14 IBA PRINT ChairRachel Deutsch has worked in the branding, advertising, and marketing communications field for over twenty years, working for local agencies and later running her own agency. She has been responsible for strategizing numerous award-winning campaigns for local and national organizations in education, technology, healthcare, and government markets. Rachel is currently Principle and Creative Director at The Design Channel in Washington DC.  Some of the accounts she has worked on include CareerBuilder, Blackboard, Children's National Medical Center, Howard University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Wright Manufacturing

 

CUSTOMER SERVICE/SUPPORT AWARDS CHAIR
Chair: Steve Bujouves, Director of Support
FreshBooks, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

14 IBA CS ChairSteve Bujouves is the Director and Head of Support at FreshBooks, a cloud accounting specialist for small business owners. Steve is passionate about providing extraordinary experiences for customers and also championing the positive and fun Support Team culture at the company. 

The FreshBooks mission is: Execute on Extraordinary Experiences Everyday. Based in Toronto and founded in 2003, the company’s aim is to allow small business owners to save time on paperwork so they can spend that time on doing things they love with their family and friends.  Steve has been with FreshBooks since its early days and has helped to scale Support from a small (but mighty!) group to a large team that handles over a quarter of a million customer cases a year. 

Steve’s focus is on ensuring the highest level of quality and service for FreshBooks customers. His tenure at FreshBooks has enabled Steve to experience rapid growth first-hand. He learned early in his career that one of the biggest factors in a highly functioning Support Team was the culture and personal development of the team itself. Steve is focused on maintaining a healthy culture of growth and development, which promotes exceptionally happy team members and, in return, exceptionally happy customer experiences.

Steve mentors and advises several start-ups. He was honored to win the Gold Stevie Award for Customer Support Manager of the Year in the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and was able to lead his team to win the 2012 and 2013 Front-line Customer Support Team of the Year and the 2014 Customer Service Management Team of the Year.

KOREAN-LANGUAGE FINAL JUDGING COMMITTEE CHAIR
Chair: Hung Ki Kim
President
Korea Business Communicators Association, Seoul, South Korea

describe the imageHung Ki Kim is a full-time Instructor at the Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation Training Institute, Hangyeore Cultural Center, Hangyeong Academy, and the Korea Magazine Institute. He runs a Public Relations Course offered by the Korea Productivity Center, and he is a professor on a course for Chief Communications Officer and Administration Publicity at Gangwon-do Officials Training Institute. Other PR courses in which he is involved are run at the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the National Institute of Professional Administration, the Central Election Management Committee Training Institute, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology Training Institute, Busan Human Resources Development Center, and the Gyeonggi-do Human Resources Development Center. Kim has also been an Instructor at the Faculty of Communications and Media of Sookmyung Women’s University, and a visiting professor at the Department of Advertising Creation at Cheongju University.

Kim is an advisor to the Korea PR Association, and he is a member of the Korea Advertising Society, Korea Association for Advertising and Public Relations, and Korea Free Literary Persons Association. He is also a consultant to the Seoul Government, the Korean National Tuberculosis Association, the Road Traffic Safety Authority, the Korean Academy of Nursing, the Presidential Social Integration Commission, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and the Ministry of Environment Public Relations (Evaluation).

In addition to being a judge for The International Business Awards, Kim has also been a member of the Moscow International Advertising Festival judging panel.

Final results of this year's IBA will be announced on August 13.

Missed your chance to enter this year's International Business Awards?  Here's a solution...

Topics: hr awards, business awards, marketing awards, PR awards, creative awards, it awards, new product awards