An interview with Ralf Heim the Co-CEO at Fincite GmbH

Fincite GmbH of Frankfurt, Germany won two Stevie Awards in the 2016 German Stevie Awards. Fincite GmbH won the Gold Stevie Award for Technology Startup of the Year, and a Bronze Stevie for Management Team of the Year.  2017 The German Stevie Awards are accepting entries through January 27.  Review the entry kit to begin your nominations.

What does Fincite GmbH do?

Financial Advice today is often confounding and not made for the benefit of the customer. Technology can change this. We can make investments smarter by giving customers easy access to sophisticated analytics. We help banks, asset managers and insurers offer this technology to their customers.

What is your role as the Co-CEO?

As Co-CEO I’m responsible for growing the business. This covers marketing, business development, partnerships and recruiting.

What is the organizational vision?

Our mission is to engineer the future of finance. We see that technology will replace large parts in Financial Advice, Retail & Institutional Asset Management and even funds. Our aim is to grow and become the #1 Digital Asset Management company in Europe.

What sets your company apart in this category?

It’s the unique approach of our Digital Investment Management Software: We built a complete modular system that can easily connect to all private customers’ financial assets, analyze the status quo and make recommendations. Banks can build upon our software their own frontend and thus keep customer relationship while still providing most modern analytics and account integration capabilities.

What was it like for your company to win the Stevie award?

It was a great honor for us to win this award, especially in the category, Technology Start-Up of the Year because from the outset we wanted to focus on innovative products and organic growth. The nomination for Management Team of the Year indicates to my partners & I that we’re on the right path in how we conduct our business.

How has the win affected your business?

The direct effect is hard to tell, but I think the award is great feedback for us and it was acknowledged by our partners and clients.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

The size of our workforce has nearly doubled since April and the cash flow is still positive without external financing.

What inspires you to continue your work?

We’re inspired by our mission to change the world of finance and the good feedback we get from our partners, clients, employees and also the press.

What do you expect to change in your industry in the future?

We believe that Finance can be nearly 100% digitized. As a result, digital services will largely replace large branches and offices. We are intrigued by the thought of working on this more efficient next generation of Finance.

Learn more about Fincite GmbH

From left to right - Ralf Heim (co-CEO), Friedhelm Schmitt ( co-CEO), Stefan Post (CTO).

Insights from a Gold Stevie ® Winner at Lennox Industries, Inc.

We wanted to learn a bit more on how Rich Ford, the Sales Director for Lennox Industries in Richardson, Texas  grew to win the Gold Stevie® for Sales Director of the Year in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. So, we reached out to the Lennox Industries team and got a few different perspectives. Quan Nguyen,  the VP of Marketing helped us coordinate the conversation and expressed, “We are very excited and proud of Rich.“ Quan pulled in Gary Bedard, the Vice President and General Manager of Lennox Industries as well as the winner himself, Rich Ford.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is accepting nominations through January 11. REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

To get started we asked Gary to give us a bit of background on what solutions Lennox provides.

“Lennox Industries is a leading manufacturer and distributor of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems and products for residential and commercial markets. We have leveraged our expertise to become an industry leader known for innovation, quality and reliability,” said Gary.

Gary also shared the Vision behind Lennox. “Within the home comfort industry, we want to leverage our one step distribution model to provide our professional contractors with the most innovative and highest quality products and services for them to best serve our end customers.” Bedard continued, “Our core values of integrity, respect, and excellence has built a culture of performance and accountability to execute on our vision.”

When asked about the story behind the nomination, Gary got excited. “We have an outstanding team of sales professionals, a group honored by the Stevies for the Best Field Sales Force!  Within that team, we have a leader of leaders and that was Rich Ford. He’s elevated himself in both action and performance to become a complete sales professional. The three year sales performance and growth we’ve seen out of the Western Region is simply incredible for this industry. His leadership has been instrumental in our results. He continually coaches and mentors his team and his peers. He is a thoughtful advisor to the entire management team. He consistently finds innovative solutions to customer challenges and he maintains the highest levels of standards and integrity. When we saw this award category, we were absolutely delighted to nominate Rich. His contributions have been tremendous and he really embodies all of our values of integrity, respect, and excellence.”

Gary provided interesting background on how Lennox first became acquainted with the Stevie® Awards . “We had started undergoing a transformation in 2010. Coming out of the recession in 2012, we started winning. Not just growing,  but winning by taking market share!  It was largely driven by transformational changes in our sales team and supply chain logistics. I understood that the efforts and success we were making were not just industry leading but world class so we sought to compete on a global level. We came upon the Stevie Awards that way and that’s been one of our inspirations ever since.  And we still continue to win in the market.”

Enter Rich Ford himself who described the actual experience of winning the award. Rich began with,

“When you win something you’re not expecting, or even know you’re being considered, it’s a very humbling experience. We have some amazing leaders in our organization – others deserving of the award and recognition. Then, to find out the organization recognized me as their nominee, made me happy to be a part of the team; the organization as well as our industry.”

We were interested in learninghow the award has affected RIch’s business to which Mr. Ford replied, “I can’t say that the award has affected my business dealings. I’m not a better director or leader as a result of the award. I still strive to contribute to a culture of excellence in everything we do. I still try to bring the highest level of service to our customers and to be a champion and advocate for my team. I’m probably more acutely aware of my day to day interactions and will strive to live up to the expectations that come with the recognition.”

Rich also shared his insights on the future of his industry, ”The key drivers in our industry have always been regulatory. Either the environmental impact at the federal level or on the local level with utility companies. I find it interesting that the regulations can have a greater impact on our industry going forward beyond the typical SEER/EER ratings standards. Secondary regulations in local markets could impact the way our product is installed. And, as an applied product, this could have either a negative impact or change fundamentally how our product is designed and distributed in the future. Closely watching the actions of our competitors as well as different channels (Residential New Construction for example) will keep it interesting and require staying diligent in our own innovative development of products going forward.”

Rich showed his mettle with some inspiration we can all appreciate, “As I think about where I started professionally and where I ultimately wound up – it’s definitely not a straight line. Often times, Sales Leaders start in sales and through consecutive successes over their careers become who they are – Sales Leaders. I started with Lennox, as an IT Specialist. My background had been technology focused and it was through technology I joined Lennox. It wasn’t long before I noticed a culture of sales excellence within the company through working with the Sales Managers.

It became my purpose and goal to become a Sales Director before I had my first sales position. It was not a clear road.  It took three attempts before I was finally given the opportunity to join the sales team as a Territory Manager. With each rejection I worked harder to get better. I looked for opportunities for improvement by spending time with those who were great in the role to which I wanted to rise. From Territory Manager to District Manager – I learned from great DMs.  From DM to director – I listened to and spoke with great sales directors.  

I’m not a ‘natural salesperson’ as many believe is true for most salespeople. My point is – regardless of your dream – be it a sales leader, a great IT professional or even a great parent – don’t quit getting better at what you want to do. More importantly, find others who do it great and do what they do.”

Shown from left to right: Mark Yonai winner of the Stevie Gold for Best Use of Technology, Leigh Ann Vernon winner of the Stevie Gold for Best Sales Meeting, Rich Ford winner of the Stevie Gold for Sales Director, Bill Carlson winner of the Stevie Gold for Business Development.

You can learn more about Lennox Industries at http://www.lennox.com/

An interview with Evelyn Hsia, Director, Sales Operations at WePay

WePay won a Gold Stevie Award in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in the Sales Distinction of the Year - Financial Services category.  The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's premier awards for sales, customer service, contact center, and business developement professionals. Interested in applying for the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? The final entry deadline is January 11.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

What does WePay do?
WePay helps platform businesses deliver seamless and integrated payments services. It processes billions annually for online platforms including Constant Contact, FreshBooks, GoFundMe, Meetup, and Zoho. WePay protects our partners from risk and regulatory exposure while supporting seamless payments experiences for their end-users.

What is your role in the organization?
I'm responsible for Sales operations at WePay. My vision for my team is to be a strategic partner to Sales and an enabler of the Sales organization's success. Everything we do makes other's work easier, more efficient and highly effective. We do all of this in order to close more deals, retain loyal customers and drive quality revenue for the company.

What is the organizational vision?

WePay's vision is to help the platform economy understand, value and realize the impact of integrated payments to fuel their customers' growth and change lives. We are their trusted advisor to guide them through their payments journey and we provide them with industry leading customer service and fraud risk protection that is unmatched in the industry.

What sets your company apart in this category?

WePay is a trusted partner for making payments seamless, simple and safe.  We create a frictionless payments experience secured by our industry-leading risk technology. Furthermore, WePay provides one of the industry's best customer service offering which has been valued highly by our customers and partners and is one of the reasons why our customer retention is extremely high.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevies?
I learned about the Stevie awards when I was at Cisco. During that time, some of the best vendors I worked with had won Stevie awards. The organization I was part of, Cisco's Global Virtual Sales Organization (a team of 1800 remote sales and engineering resources) was the fastest growing sales team in the company with many industry-leading innovations and best practices. So, I submitted them for the Stevie Awards and they have since won every year.

What was it like for WePay to win this award?

The award is a testament to the value that WePay's customer service organization offers day in and day out. The award validates why our customers and partners consistently stay with us and even come back to us despite the many other options available. It also solidified the work that WePay had done the previous year to turn the Sales organization around and the resulting impact it has had on the business.

How has the win affected the business?
The Stevie Award is among several other awards that WePay has won over the past year. It is one more validation to our new hires that this is a great company to work for, that our customer service team stands above our competition and that we have a great Sales & Marketing organization that is making a difference for the company. It is also one more proof point to our customers and partners that WePay is a solid company that they can rely on.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?
From Stevie award trophies lining our lobby walls to press releases recognizing our achievements - they certainly enhance our brand as a credible and award-winning company.

What inspires you to continue your work?
Our Sales and Marketing organization is always looking for ways to enhance the business of our partners through our payments solution. We are continuously evolving to become the best in our class. It's an exciting journey to be at the forefront of helping our company achieve its goal of being the number one payments partner to platform companies.

We are always looking for ways to become bigger, better and faster. We expect to continue to innovate and improve what we do and how we do things so that we can enhance the lives of our customers and partners.

Click here to learn more about WePay

(WePay's Sales and Marketing team giving back at Second Harvest Food Bank)

 

The following seven executives have been appointed to head the final judging committees that will determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in the 2017 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  (All the category groups can be viewed in more detail here.) The winners will be announced at the awards gala on Friday, February 24 at the Caesars Palace Hotel in  Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is accepting nominations through January 11. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

SALES INDIVIDUAL/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Chair: Stephen Gill, President
Stephen Gill Associates, Aston on Trent, Derbyshire, United Kingdom

Stephen Gill is an experienced, award-winning, international business development consultant and company director with a strong engineering background. He gained much of his experience at the senior management or board level of international organizations.  With a focus on helping individuals to excel, and organizations to grow and thrive, he is a trusted advisor, mentor, and strategist to executives and businesses. 

Stephen is a high profile figure in the HVACR engineering field serving as President of the Institute of Refrigeration, and as a refrigeration expert consultant working on many prestigious HCAVR projects around the globe.  He is known for providing energy-efficient, sustainable cooling solutions that are practical and affordable. Stephen Gill Associates won a Gold Stevie® at the 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Services Awards in Las Vegas; and went on to win two Gold Stevies® at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards in Shanghai for a refrigeration industry awareness poster campaign. These posters have since been translated into 8 languages.

Comments Stephen: “The Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service bring a focus to the diversity of energy, professionalism, creativity, and sheer passion of working in this industry for individuals, departments, and organizations.  As a past Gold Stevie® winner I know just how much it means to win one of these coveted awards.”

Stephen is a regular contributor to business and technical magazines and books, as well as a conference speaker.  He has an MBA from Loughborough University and an LL.M (Business Law) from De Montfort University. He divides his time equally between his businesses in the UK and Southeast Asia.

SALES ACHIEVEMENT/NEW PRODUCT & SERVICE
Chair: Kelly Waltrich, SVP, Marketing and Communications
eMoney Advisor LLC, Radnor, PA, USA

Kelly Waltrich joined eMoney Advisor in the fall of 2013. Since that time, she has established—and now leads—the team responsible for the planning, development, execution, and monitoring of eMoney’s Marketing and Communications and Lead Generation initiatives.

Prior to this position, Kelly served as Assistant Vice President, Director of Advisor Marketing and Communications at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC, where she was responsible for creating and managing marketing strategies that increase brand awareness, positively impact revenue, and improve the client experience. Before joining Janney, Kelly provided strategic marketing support to institutional sales and client service professionals at Turner Investment Partners in Berwyn, Pa.

Kelly attended James Madison University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in marketing and communications, and holds her Series 7 and 66 securities licenses. She is a member of Women in Investing of Philadelphia, as well as the CMO Club. She also serves as Treasurer for the Bucks County Chapter Board of Associates of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and is a member of the American Marketing Association.

SALES TEAM/SALES DISTINCTION
Chair: Jeffrey C. Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director
Digital Risk, LLC, Maitland, Florida, USA

Since 2005, Jeffrey Taylor has been co-founder and managing director of Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance, and transaction management solutions. Jeff sets the strategic vision for the company’s business development and marketing. He has been on the forefront of addressing challenges faced by the mortgage industry across origination, quality control, and compliance. Under his leadership, Digital Risk has grown from a start-up venture to as many as 2,000 plus U.S.-based employees. The company has become a partner to many of the largest U.S.-based mortgage investors and banks and government-sponsored enterprises in processing mortgage transactions, as well as identifying and correcting regulatory/compliance risks. 

As a serial entrepreneur, Jeff has built dynamic, innovative businesses by identifying opportunities to meet specialized needs within the financial services ecosystem. He has launched three companies: Digital Risk; Rapid Reporting Marketing Group; and American Transfer & and Trust, Inc.  Jeff is a voice for the industry and is a frequent guest on financial television networks such as Fox Business News and CNBC.  He is also a source for top tier news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, sharing keen insights on the US mortgage market and the economy.

Jeff is an active leader in both his industry sector and his community, serving on the boards of the following non-profit organizations: Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), The Baptist Health Foundation of South Florida; Virtual Enterprises International; and the Taylor-Cata Foundation. He has a degree in political science from the University of Miami.  Jeff is honored to have won several Stevie® Awards and to have had Digital Risk recognized at multiple Stevie® Awards programs over the past few years. He looks forward to acting as Chair, along with the esteemed colleagues who will make up his judging committee.

CUSTOMER SERVICE/CONTACT CENTER INDIVIDUAL & CUSTOMER SERVICE/CONTACT CENTER ACHIEVEMENT
Chair: Will O’Keeffe, Vice President, Customer Services
Acquia, Burlington, MA

Will has more than 25 years experience leading, growing, and transforming global customer support organizations. In his role at Acquia, Will is responsible for building and maintaining a world-class Global Support team that is recognized for excellence by Acquia's customers and partners. 

Prior to Acquia, Will was Vice President of Customer Service and Support at ATG where he led efforts that resulted in dramatic improvements in customer satisfaction and retention. When ATG was acquired by Oracle in 2010, Will transitioned to lead the global support team for Oracle Commerce and was responsible for the integration of Endeca and Inquira into the Support portfolio. Prior to ATG/Oracle, Will led the Customer Care organization at NaviSite and was a Principal Consultant at PRTM. 

Will lives in the Boston area. He has a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Boston University.

CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT & CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCCESS
Chair: Chuck Browne, Sr. Manager, Customer Care
Vivint Smart Home, Provo, Utah, United States

As a Senior Manager on Vivint Smart Home’s Customer Care team, Chuck is responsible for the daily operations and strategic growth of the organization. On being appointed Chair of the Customer Service Department & Success Final Judging Committee, Chuck told us it was an honor for him to be asked to assist in the judging of the operations and success of other businesses. As he put it: “I know so many companies do so many great things. I’m looking forward to reading through best practices and being a part of recognizing some of the great work in the Customer Service industry.” 

He added: “I know our team felt a big confidence boost from the recognition in the 2016 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service for all their hard work.  I’m excited to be able to pay that feeling forward to another team in 2017.”

Chuck has been involved in the Customer Service industry for fifteen years. For six years of those years, he has been a major influence on the strong customer-facing approach to service at Vivint Smart Home. Chuck co-leads a team of nearly a thousand customer service agents and leaders across three sites. In 2016, Chuck’s team successfully launched a work-from-home program that has rapidly expanded to over 100 agents and 4 supervisors. Chuck has played a vital role in the consistent improvement of Vivint Smart Home’s quality of service and operational efficiency, amidst 30%-plus growth each year, an aggressive product-launch schedule, and market expansion.

Chuck received his Bachelor of Science from Brigham Young University in 2012. Chuck has been married for 10 year and has two beautiful daughters. When Chuck is not in the office, he can often be found on one of Utah’s world-class rivers practicing his fly fishing or hiking trails with his family.

CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM
Chair:  George Cleveland, Vice President, Customer Operations
Cricket Wireless, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

As Vice President of Consumer Operations at Cricket, George is responsible for Cricket's sales operations, customer care, training and communications, and the digital experience. Prior to his current role, George was assistant vice president of the AT&T Customer Solution Centers. George tells us he is “excited and humbled” by this opportunity to participate as Chair of this Final Judging Committee.

George began his telecom career in 1996 as a senior accountant with BellSouth Cellular in Atlanta. From there, he progressed through several sales leadership roles within AT&T Mobility before assuming the role of regional sales operations director for Company Owned Retail, supporting the South Central region. He then became executive director of AT&T University.

George is a certified CPA and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from Morehouse College in Atlanta.

SOLUTION PROVIDER
Chair: Alaa Jamaleddine, Senior Back Office Advisor
DHL Express, Beirut, Lebanon 

In 2007, while still pursuing his education, Alaa Jamaleddine started his career as a part-time call center agent with DHL Express–Lebanon. When he graduated, he resumed his career as a full-time employee, assuming many roles in the Customer Service Department throughout the years.  DHL is a multinational company operating in more than 220 countries and having around 325,000 employees. Alaa’s job consisted largely of following up and communicating with these overseas facilities and offices. This taught him a wide range of skills and allowed him to be flexible in handling and resolving any type of customers’ claims or complaints, while avoiding any delays and meeting deadlines. Not only was he able to satisfy the customers’ concerns, but he also helped the organization to retain key customers and gain new ones.

As a Certified International Specialist, Alaa is designated coach and trainer for newcomers to the back office team. He trains new agents on how to empathize with a customer’s problems, and how to give their best when handling a critical situation. In 2015, Alaa was selected by the regional office to attend an Operational Excellence Training (OET), as he had demonstrated throughout the years a great ability and passion to analyze trends and forecasting.  Not long after his return from the training, he initiated a work plan to reduce workload and increase productivity.  With his wide analytical skills, Alaa conducted a study on network profitability that grabbed the attention of the country manager who made a price revision for a specific network product code that was below profit margin. This initiative helped the company provide customers with the option of Global Quality Control monitoring. To top it off, Alaa won the 2016 Gold Stevie® Award for Back-Office Customer Service Professional of the Year in the transportation industry

Alaa is the holder of Extra Miler, Job Well Done, Hero of the Day, and Employee Of the Month certificates at DHL, and has been nominated for Employee Of the Year. Alaa graduated with a Business Administration Degree from Haigazian University in Beirut.

The Story behind the Silver Stevie® Award winner for Sales Growth Achievement of the Year - Financial Services & Insurance

USHEALTH Advisors is the wholly-owned national health insurance distribution arm of USHEALTH Group, Inc. The company sells individual health coverage and supplementary products underwritten by The Freedom Life Insurance Company of America and National Foundation Life Insurance Company, wholly-owned subsidiaries of USHEALTH Group, Inc. The company is focused on serving America’s self-employed, small business and individual insurance market through its captive agent sales force.

USHealth Advisors has won many Stevie Awards over the years. In the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, they won  Silver Stevies for Sales Growth Achievement of the Year - Financial Services & Insurance and Field Sales Team of the Year. 

Interested in applying for the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? Review the entry kit here.

Troy McQuagge, the President and CEO told us, “I have the privilege to work on behalf of every USHA agent and every USHG employee. I view my role as helping our agents and employees unlock the incredible potential that exists within themselves and collectively, within this company.”

We asked Troy about his personal organizational vision and learned it was to, “Leverage our world-class distribution capabilities to build a great American company focused on our mission of helping and serving individuals, small business, and the self-employed with affordable and innovative healthcare solutions.

Ours is a story of grit and determination. Since inception, our company has faced and overcome numerous challenges; many of which have led competing companies to exit the marketplace altogether. USHEALTH has ‘stayed in the game’ because we believe we offer a better healthcare solution for middle America.”

We asked how they had first come to hear about the Stevie® Awards. Troy recalls, “For many years, we have viewed the Stevie Awards as the premier business awards program and as an important vehicle for highlighting the good work being done by USHEALTH’s agents and employees.  We first became acquainted with the Stevie Awards while working with another company back in the early 2000’s. By 2007, we had won our first Gold Stevie Award for that company, earning “Insurance Company of the Year” honors. When we launched our new company (USHEALTH) in 2010, we knew the Stevie Awards would be an important partner in helping us tell our story.

There really is nothing else quite like winning a Stevie Award.  Winning this award is a key indicator that we have created a company that is worthy of the trust placed in it by our agents, employees and customers.    

Winning this award has created a deeper sense of pride among our agents and employees because in a sense, it validates their hard work. It has also helped create a heightened sense of awareness about our business in the American marketplace.    

Perhaps the most evident impact has been seen in our agent recruitment efforts. When considering where they want to hang their professional hat, sales people are naturally attracted to a winning organization. While we have no empirical evidence to support our assertion, there is ample anecdotal evidence that people who consider this opportunity are impacted positively by the fact that we have won so many Stevie Awards, including the prestigious Gold Stevie.” 

When we asked what inspires USHealth to continue their good work, Troy gave us a message of hope, “We are driven by our stated Mission of H.O.P.E. - Helping Other People Everyday. These are words that we live every day, in pursuit of excellence as individuals and as a company.”

McQuagge’s perspective on the future of their industry is that, “We’ve already changed our industry. Our innovative products didn’t even exist prior to being created by our company. No other company in America offers the same kind of products. Only we have successfully made this type of product portfolio affordable for the customer yet also profitable and sustainable for the company. We believe we can bring even more innovation and change to the insurance industry and in the process help even more people with affordable healthcare solutions.”

Learn more about USHealth Advisors

Shown from left to right: Dean Whaley, VP – Financial Planning & Analysis, Bill Shelton, Sr. VP - Marketing, Jim White, Sr. VP - Sales, Troy McQuagge, President and CEO, Travis Yoder, EVP - Sales, and Brian Clark, Sr. VP - Admin and CMO, Bill Woods, Sr. Director – Data Analytics.

An interview with Etsuko Tsugihara, President of Sunny Side Up, Inc.

Stevie Award-winner, Sunny Side Up, Inc of Tokyo, Japan won a Gold Stevie Award in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Women-Run Workplace of the Year.  President and CEO Etsuko Tsugihara also won the Silver Stevie for Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand.  Tsugihara shares what winning the Stevie Awards this year meant to the organization.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open for entries in May. If your organization has operations in Japan or any of  the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region, you may participate in the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

What does Sunny Side Up, Inc., do?

We are a multi-faceted Public Relations firm offering a wide range of services from standard PR and marketing, to Sports Marketing, Casting, Digital Marketing, Business Development, Media Relations, Sales Promotion and more. Recently, we've expanded our services globally and our strength is in assisting foreign companies entering the Japanese market.

What is the organizational vision?

Our company motto is "Let's have fun!" We seek to create a buzz by continuing to evolve and expand, in order to stay ahead of social and cultural trends.

What sets your company apart in this category?

Japan is still a very conservative business culture with many challenges for women. For instance, less than 1% of the 3000 companies listed on the Japanese stock exchange are run by women. In fact, I may be the only female Founder! The Japanese government has a target to increase the number of women executives drastically by 2020. In my own small way, it would be great if I'm able to encourage and inspire the future businesswomen of Japan.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevies®?

Some of our global partner companies and clients had received an award, and we wanted to see if it applied to our company as well.

What was it like for your company to win this award?

It's quite exciting for the entire company because this is a joint effort. Our company is young (average age is less than 35), with more than half being female employees. I hope that the award will help motivate them even more!

How has the win affected your business?

We hope it increases our visibility so that people who see our fun name will associate it with Public Relations in Japan. Perhaps we'll also be able to attract new team members?

What changes in the industry does your team find interesting and why?

Having been in the PR business for more than 30 years, I've seen how we've changed drastically with the diversification of media. For a very long time, mass media meant TV, newspapers, magazines and radio, and we were able to gain exposure by establishing strong working relationships and ties with the major media sources. With the expansion of the internet and social media, even the source of news and how it’s generated has expanded. In fact, anyone can be the source of news/information. More than ever, it’s not important how much you spend, but how creative and original you can be in creating newsworthy information. Sunny Side Up is known for creating a buzz, so we're in perfect position to be the trendsetters!

What is the story behind your organization that might inspire our audience?

I started the company when I was 17, and not only have we managed to stay in business for more than 30 years, we've been listed on the local stock exchange since 2008.That's quite a feat when you consider less than 1% of Japanese companies last that long. I hope that more young and motivated people are inspired to break out on their own!

Learn more about Sunny Side Up. Inc.

An interview with Paige L. Schaffer, President & COO, Identity & Digital Protection Services Global Unit, Generali Global Assistance

Stevie Award winner Generali Global Assistance won the Silver Stevie Award in the Customer Service Team of the Year category of The 2016 American Business Awards. The ABAs are the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attract more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year.

The American Business Awards are accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The last early-bird entry deadline is December 14 – with discounted entry fees. The final entry deadline is February 16 and late entries will be accepted through March 15. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

President & COO Paige L. Schaffer shares her business insights and thoughts on the Stevie Awards:

What does Generali Global Assistance do?

Generali Global Assistance (GGA) has protected the assets of organizations and their customers for over 50 years, and provides best-in-class identity theft protection and resolution services for leading Fortune 500 companies.  GGA’s recently launched Iris® identity protection platform which is offered as a solution to over 25 million people addresses all areas of need for companies and their customers, offering 360° protection with prevention, monitoring, alerts, award-winning resolution services and identity theft insurance.

What is your role as the President & COO?

I oversee our Identity and Digital Protection Services Global Unit. In this role, I lead sales & marketing strategy and revenue growth initiatives, and manage operations as well as global expansion.  Additionally, I ensure that we continue to offer the best possible solutions to our clients, minimizing the risk of identity theft for our diverse set of end users and maintaining a deep commitment to customer service.

What is the organizational vision?

Identity theft is on a precipitous rise internationally and consumer demand for identity protection service is rising at an equal rate. People are turning to the business and organizations they trust to get the protection they need - financial institutions, insurance companies, travel providers, legal services, associations and membership organizations, among others.

Our vision is to develop a seamless business-to-business platform driven by a people-first mentality that can help organizations of any type generate new revenue and exceed their business goals, especially as it relates to strengthening trust with their customers and building long-term brand loyalty. We have experienced ongoing success largely because the foundation of our program – our customer service team of identity theft resolution specialists – continues to be one of the very best in the business.

What sets your company apart in this category?

Helping people in their time of need has been GGA’s core DNA since its founding in 1963. Identity theft results in major emotional distress and financial difficulties for victims. As such, it’s absolutely essential to our mission that we not only quickly resolve any issues for identity theft victims, but do so in an empathetic, caring way. Our entire customer service team provides a human touch to identity theft protection and resolution, and this nomination was an opportunity to recognize their exceptional work.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevies?

The Stevie® Awards are well-recognized and respected and we received several recommendations from our partners and clients to submit a nomination.

What was it like for your company to win this award?

We are thrilled to have won a Stevie for the fourth year in a row – and we were especially excited, after learning of our American Business Award, to receive a Gold Stevie from the International Business Awards during the same year.

How has the win affected your business?

Each Stevie® Award that we win is a rallying cry to continually improve and innovate. It’s a valuable reminder to the entire GGA Identity & Digital Protection Team that the world is watching and taking note of those companies that are providing extraordinary service. When we meet potential new business clients, customer service is at the top of their minds.  Having a trophy case full of Stevie Awards drives confidence that our team of identity protection specialists are industry leaders and will work tirelessly to meet the needs of all customers.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

Identity and Digital Protection Services remains one of the fastest growing business lines within Generali Global Assistance and in the time since we received our first Stevie Award in 2013, we’ve delivered a number of service enhancements to support our expanding client base. Most recently, we launched our new Iris® online identity protection dashboard earlier this year. We have deployed Iris® for several organizations across a variety of industry sectors, including Optima Tax Relief and National Benefit Services, for example. Additionally, several prospective new clients are Stevie Award winners, and they quickly recognize that the award indicates exceptional service.

What inspires you to continue your work?

I’m always inspired by the individual stories that I hear from our customer service team. We’ve had specialists work with individuals for months or years at a time, untangling complicated identity fraud issues that had destroyed their credit, made it difficult to work, and put stress on personal relationships with families and friends. It’s so rewarding to see a case successfully closed and to hear directly from our clients when their customers call and say that their lives have been improved because of the work that we do.

What changes do you expect in your industry in the future?

The world is becoming increasingly connected and the need for identity theft protection will continue to develop in ways that we aren’t even aware of yet – and not just in the U.S., but also globally. The rise of the Internet of Things, surging social media use, more frequent online transactions, and a more sophisticated crowd of international criminals all present significant challenges for digital security. To best serve our clients and customers, continual learning and reinvestment in the technology that monitors theft and fraud is an absolute must. What truly sets us apart and is absolutely crucial to our future as a leading identity protection provider for organizations around the world is a commitment to the person behind the data. While identity crimes are often perpetrated digitally, the victims they affect are human and we will always go above and beyond to care for that individual.

 

From left to right: David Brown, Generali Global Assistance Marketing Manager, Identity and Digital Protection Services Global Unit, Julie Jamsa, Generali Global Assistance Vice President, Service Delivery, Identity and Digital Protection Services Global Unit, Patrice Bobala, Generali Global Assistance Identity and Digital Protection Quality Analyst, and Michael Gallagher, the Stevie Awards President.

Learn more about Generali Global Assistance

 

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, haveannounced that ValueSelling Associates Inc., the creator of the ValueSelling Framework, has signed to be a sponsor of its Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service program for the ninth consecutive year.

The 2017 (11^th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are accepting nominations through January at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.  The program recognizes the year’s best achievements in sales, business development and customer service.  The awards will be presented at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 24. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

ValueSelling Associates offers its customers a conversational, question-based sales methodology that is simple, logical and scalable, empowering sales organizations around the globe with a proven formula to qualify prospects, accurately forecast and close more deals.

“The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service offer our customers and their peers around the world the opportunity to seek public recognition for their achievements, and we’ve seen time and again how meaningful and impactful it is for them to win a Stevie,” said Julie Thomas, president and CEO of ValueSelling Associates.  “We’re pleased to be able to support this program again in 2017, as our customers will benefit from the opportunity to celebrate their good work.”

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•         Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
•         Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
•         Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
•         Sales Distinction categories in 13 industry groupings
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•         Customer Service Department categories in 11 industry groupings
•         Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings, to recognize the customer service-related achievements of organizations without a formal customer service function
•         New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
•         Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards or Recognition Provider of the Year
•         Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year    

The 2017 program offers new categories for new products and services and solution providers. New categories for new products and services include Customer Service or Sales Book of the Year, Customer Service Training Product of the Year and Sales Training Product of the Year. The new solution provider category for 2017 is Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year.

The 2017 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

Stevie Winners in the 2016 edition of the awards included Adobe Systems, Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, DP DHL, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, IBM, ISN Software UK Ltd., Kohl’s Department Stores, Office Depot, Ooyala, SAVO, ServiceMax, ShopKeep POS, Sirius Decisions, SugarCRM, VIZIO, Inc. and Vodafone Turkey, among others.  The full-text of Gold Stevie-winning nominations are available on the website.

The 2017 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About ValueSelling Associates, Inc.
ValueSelling Associates is the creator of the ValueSelling Framework®, a proven formula for accelerating sales results. Its customized training on the ValueSelling Framework methodology, reinforcement tools and consulting services, make complex B2B sales simple so sales organizations around the globe adopt it immediately and consistently. Since 1991, thousands of sales and customer-facing professionals use the ValueSelling Framework to grow revenue, increase productivity and improve win rates. Visit http://www.valueselling.com.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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.

An interview with Stevie Award-winner Hannah Perry, Founder and Owner of The Giggling Pig

Stevie Award-winner, The Giggling Pig of Shelton, CT won a Bronze Stevie Award in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Great Employers. They share what winning the Stevie Award for Engagement / Happiness Team of Year means to their organization.

Interested in participating in the 2017 Stevie Awards for Great Employers? 

Request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you in March when the competition opens.

What does The Giggling Pig do?

The Giggling Pig is an art and party studio that enriches the lives of children and adults through creativity.

What is your role as the founder and owner?

My job as the owner is to manage the overall business and to create and develop a range of art-focused programs. I'm always finding new ways to connect with my customers through art.

What is the organizational vision?

The long-term vision of this business is to reach as many people across the country and globally by bringing creative projects to homes and facilities.

What sets your company apart in this category?

The reason we were nominated for the Happiness award was for our work with children and adults with special needs. As a team, we have really made a difference in the lives of many people with our outreach program that allows us to visit assisted living homes and hospitals to share art with those in need. We also employ a few special needs staff members to provide them a welcoming place to learn and grow and the opportunity to feel included and important.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevies?

I’ve heard about the Stevies for a few years through social media outlets. I was inspired to get involved and be considered.

What was it like for your company to win a Stevie Award?

To win an award for the happiness we have brought to our community and surrounding areas is a great honor. It means so much that the judges saw the value in our work.

How has the win affected your business?

After winning the award, we’ve noticed more special needs facilities reaching out to work with us. This recognition has had a positive effect on our business and affords us the opportunities to positively impact many more people through creativity. It has truly helped us elevate and solidify our credibility. It’s an objective third-party recognition that supports and honors our mission and contributions. That is very comforting for our customers.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

We are beginning to expand our services as awareness of our Company grows.

What inspires you to continue your work?

Having this recognition has inspired me to continue to grow our outreach program. I enjoy what I do so much and when you’re  doing something that truly enhances people's lives, and you see the joy it brings, it's contagious. I will never stop doing this. I came to this country with $15 and built an enterprise for the good of others. It is so rewarding, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

What do you expect to change in your industry in the future?

I'm not sure how the art industry will change, although things such as 3D printing have started to become popular. I know we will continue to grow and be creative and whatever people want or ask for - we will create for them. We will always try to consider incorporating cutting-edge art methods into our offerings

Learn more about The Giggling Pig

 

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The last early-bird entry deadline is December 14 – with discounted entry fees. The final entry deadline is February 16 and late entries will be accepted through March 15. 

One of the larger category groups in The 2017 American Business Awards is the Marketing Awards categories. 

The Marketing Awards categories are divided into three groups:

• Marketing Campaign: Industry Categories
• Marketing Campaign: Specialty Categories
• Marketing Professional Categories

Categories Include:

Marketing Campaign of the Year - Industry Categories

E01. Agricultural / Industrial / Building: for all related products, materials, tools and services.
E02. Automotive - Aftermarket: gasoline, motor oil, tires, batteries, paint, quick-lube, oil change, muffler, transmission, windshield wipers, enhancements, etc.
E03. Automotive - Vehicles: cars, trucks, motorcycles, both brand and model advertising.
E04. Beauty: cosmetics, fragrances, hair products, nail products, beauty services such as salons, spas, etc.
E05. Beverages - Alcohol: beer, champagne, liquor, wine, wine coolers, after dinner drinks, etc.
E06. Beverages - Non-Alcohol: diet and non-diet soda, coffee, tea, juices, milk, milk substitutes, bottled water, sparkling water, etc.
E07. Breakfast Foods: cereals and other foods intended primarily for breakfast consumption.
E08. Corporate Reputation/Professional Services: includes sponsorships, image & identity, communications to promote corporations, not exclusively their products. Includes business/professional services such as consulting, accounting, legal, employments, etc.
E09. Culture & The Arts: plays, museums, music organizations, concert series, cultural festivals, theater festivals, etc.
E10. Electronics: audio and/or video devices such as TVs, radios, mobile devices, home entertainment (DVD/Blu-ray players), cameras, computer hardware, game consoles, laptops, tablets, sound systems, etc.
E11. Energy/Nutrition Products & Services: products and services aimed at the energy, sports, wellness lifestyle. Vitamins, energy bars, drinks, etc.; weight loss and fitness programs/camps, training camps and facilities, etc.
E12. Entertainment & Sports: includes entertainment and sporting events. Sporting events such as the Super Bowl, sports teams, etc. All forms of entertainment including specific films, books, DVDs, videogames, games (online, mobile, social, board, card, etc.), entertainment apps, greeting cards, online, radio and TV programming, etc.
E13. Fashion & Style: brands of clothing, eyewear, footwear, hosiery, jewelry, accessories, etc.
E14. Financial Cards: credit, charge, debit, reward, phone and other cards.
E15. Financial Products & Services: communications promoting overall image and capabilities of a financial institution and specific products or services including home banking, loans, mortgage, mutual funds, traveler's checks, etc.
E16. Government / Institutional / Recruitment: municipal or state economic development, lotteries, utilities (i.e. electricity conservation messages), membership drives, armed forces marketing communications. Includes political messages and special interest/trade group communications.
E17. Healthcare - Disease Education & Awareness: communications to educate and/or spread awareness about a certain disease or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
E18. Healthcare - OTC: communications efforts for products that may be purchased without a subscription that address a specific illness, disease, or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
E19. Healthcare - Rx: communications efforts for products that may be purchased with a subscription that address a specific illness, disease, or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
E20. Healthcare - Services: marketing communications efforts that were developed for hospitals, HMOs, referral services, dental and medical care services, or chronic care facilities, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
E21. Home Furnishings & Appliances: kitchen appliances, air conditioners, carpeting, furniture, decorator's supplies, paint, wallpaper, etc.
E22. Home Supplies & Services: cleaning products, waxes, detergents, floor-care products, fabric softeners, paper products, domestic services, mowers, fertilizers, lawn care, gardening services, etc.
E23. Insurance: communications promoting specific products or services related to insurance and the capabilities of financial institutions offering these services. All types of insurance are eligible (home, auto, financial, health, life, travel, business, etc.).
E24. Internet / Telecom: wireless/cellular providers, high speed Internet access services, online services, portals, search engines and related Internet products & services (including SaaS/IaaS and Cloud-based services), bundled communications (Internet, telephone, and cable TV).
E25. Leisure Products & Services: recreational, sporting, and camping goods/services and other items/services intended for leisure activity.
E26. Media & Entertainment Companies: broadcasters, magazines, newspapers, web sites, consumer or trade media, radio and television stations, including networks.
E27. Office & Delivery Products & Services: delivery - overnight delivery, packagetracking, international service, etc. Office - printers, physical servers, fax machines, copiers, supplies, office furniture, etc.
E28. Packaged Food: packaged and frozen foods both regular and diet/light.
E29. Personal Care: soap, dental products, face & body lotions and cleansers, cotton swabs, deodorants, feminine hygiene products, razors, shaving cream, etc.
E30. Pet Care: animal care products and services of all types, including food, toys, veterinary and boarding services, training, and breeders.
E31. Real Estate: homes, real estate brokers, malls, etc.
E32. Restaurants: quick service, casual dining, mid-scale, white table cloth and other restaurants.
E33. Retail: general -- stores and/or web sites that provides a multiple range of non-related or generally related merchandise, which include department stores, food retailers, and discount/bulk retailers, craft stores, etc. Specialized -- stores and/or web sites that specialize in one particular line of products (e.g. clothing, fashion, jewelry, health food, shoes, pet care, toys, greeting cards, etc.).
E34. Snacks / Desserts / Confections: ice cream, candy, chips, cookies, bakery items, nut, fruit & vegetable snacks, popcorn, etc.
E35. Software & Apps: software, groupware, operating systems, or software stored locally on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. (See category E24 for Saas/IaaS or Cloud-based services, and category E12 for online and mobile games.)
E36. Transportation: air, train, bus/trolley, taxi, subway systems, bike shares, car rentals, leasing not including automobile sales/leasing, ferries, etc.
E37. Travel / Tourism / Destination: cruises, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, travel websites and booking services, travel tours, tourism campaigns, etc.

Marketing Campaign of the Year - Specialty Categories

E40. Brand Experience of the Year - Business-to-Business: recognizing work that reaches out to business audiences to establish meaningful relationships, memorable, engaging experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
E41. Brand Experience of the Year - Consumer: recognizing work that reaches out to consumer audiences to establish meaningful relationships, memorable, engaging experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
E42. Branded Utility of the Year: recognizing products and services created to address a marketing or business challenge, not to be sold, as part of a marketing program itself.  Entrants must explain the product or service created in response to the challenge, its roles and objectives, and how it was communicated to its audience, and the results achieved.  (New category for 2017)
E43. Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns targeted to consumers' mobile devices.
E44. Branded Content Campaign of the Year: recognizing work that has used branded content - original or sponsored - to reach out to audiences to establish meaningful relationships, memorable, engaging experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
E45. Online Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns that were conducted in their entirety online.
E46. New Product or Service Introduction of the Year: for campaigns conducted to introduce a new product or service to the U.S. market.
E47. Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million)
E48. Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns that used word-of-mouth, video stunts, and other viral tactics as their primary means of communication.
E49. Youth Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns that targeted the youth market (up to age 24).

Marketing Professional Categories

E50. Marketing or Advertising Agency of the Year
E51. Marketing Department of the Year
E52. Marketing Team of the Year
E53. Marketing Executive of the Year
E54. Marketer of the Year: recognizing non-executive marketing professionals.  There is no entry fee for this category

World's Top Honors for Women Entrepreneurs, Executives, Employees and the Organizations They Run Were Presented in New York Before More than 500 Accomplished Women From Around the World

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business announced the results of its 2016 competition on Friday, November 18.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With more than 500 businesswomen and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced at a gala dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Nations represented at the event include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, South Africa, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.A.

The presentations were broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 1,400 nominations from organizations and individuals in 22 nations were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. More than 160 professionals around the world participated in the judging process to determine the Finalists and then the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to the five organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition.

The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

•         PAIRELATIONS LLC, Centennial, CO USA (#1)
•         Accenture, Chicago, IL USA (#2)
•         WDS Marketing & Public Relations, Overland Park, KS USA (#3)
•         Jeunesse Global, Lake Mary, FL USA (#4)
•         Linqia, San Francisco, CA USA (#5)

Notable Gold Stevie Award winners from this year’s competition include:

• Shauna MacDonald, Principal and founder of Brookline Public Relations, Calgary, AB, Canada - Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada
• Viviana Zocco of Grupo Vi-Da, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Female Entrepreneur or Executive of the Year in Mexico, Central & South America
• Susan L. Abrams, CEO, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, IL - Female Innovator of the Year – Government or Non-Profit
• LivingTree dba: Snowflake Technologies Inc., Austin, TX - Community Involvement Program of the Year
• Shyamala Soundari Kuppusamy, Senior Product Manager, Macy's Inc., San Francisco, CA - Employee of the Year - Business
• Bobbi Leach, CEO of RevenueWire Inc, Victoria, BC, Canada - Female Executive of the Year in Canada
• SUNNY SIDE UP, Inc. Tokyo, Japan - Women-Run Workplace of the Year - More Than 10 Employees
• TAPfit, Queensland, Australia - Startup of the Year - Consumer Products Industries
• TEARS Foundation, Sandton, South Africa - Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– 10 or Less Employees
• Susan Ma, founder of Tropic Skin Care, Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom - Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year
• Yvonne Mei, Executive Vice Chairman of World System Builder, World Financial Group, San Jose, CA, USA - Woman of the Year - Industry

The 2016 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include Accenture, Cisco Systems, Inc., Enabled Employment, Final Salute Inc., Goldie Blox, Happy Family, Jeunesse Global, Linqia, Madison Services Group, Inc., Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and RippleNami, Inc.

For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Entries for the 2017 edition of the awards will open next May.

The 13th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run, will be presented this Friday, November 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.  More than 400 women and their guests from around the world will attend.

The presentations will be broadcast via LiveStream at 7:30 pm eastern time on Friday. Watch it live or later on, here.  Follow along with a copy of the awards dinner's official program book. The red caprt pre-show will air on the Stevie Awards Facebook page at 6:00 pm ET.

Finalists in the 2016 awards were announced last month.  This Friday the Finalists will find out whether they've won Grand, Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award status.

So who's coming to New York City for Friday's gala event?  Here are the organizations who have already booked their place for the awards dinner.  Tickets are still available.

360 Total Concept Oakland CA
ABS Associates Inc. Schaumburg IL
Accenture Chicago IL
Access One Inc. Chicago IL
ActionCOACH-The London Coaching Group London United Kingdom
Actuated Medical Inc. Bellefonte PA
Aflac Columbus OH
Alliance Data Columbus OH
Amobee San Diego CA USA
Aspire Phoenix AZ
AT&T Dallas TX
ATREVIA Madrid Spain
Australian Charity for the Children of Vietnam Brisbane
Axis Capital Inc. Grand Island NE
Bank Leumi Tel-Aviv Israel
BBR Creative Lafayette LA
Biocrystal Technologies Rijeka Croatia
Blanks Boutique Birmingham AL
Blueliner Marketing New York NY
Bounce Australia Maryborough VIC Australia
Braeburn Pharmaceuticals Princeton NJ
BRG Communications Alexandria VA
Bronto Software Durham NC
Brookfield Sydney NSW Australia
Burson-Marsteller Hong Kong
Candor Oklahoma City OK
CBIZ Women's Advantage Cleveland OH
Century 21 Real Estate Madison NJ
Chargebacks911 Clearwater FL
Chesapeake Utilities Corporation Dover DE
Citrus Studios Santa Monica CA USA
Clearfield Inc. Plymouth MN
Clearslide San Francisco CA
Coast Professional Inc. West Monroe LA
Concentrix Corporation Tempe AZ
ConnectIreland Dublin Ireland
Corporette New York NY
Curriculum Associates North Billerica MA
Darktrace San Francisco CA
Dell EMC Hopkinton MA
Democracy Prep Public Schools New York NY
Dignity Health San Francisco CA USA
Dr. Marlene Mahipat Randallstown MD
Dynamic Solutions International Denver CO
EHR Concepts Villa Rica GA
Enabled Employment Canberra ACT Australia
Encore Associates San Ramon CA
Engage2Learn Corpus Christi TX
Epsilon Irving TX
ERA Franchise Systems LLC Madison NJ
EssayJack Inc. Toronto ON Canada
Event Head Melbourne VIC Australia
EvolveMKD New York NY
Family Legacy Missions International Irving TX
Final Salute Inc. Alexandria VA USA
FIS Jacksonville FL
FIS St. Petersburg FL
Fiserv Warren NJ
Foxtail Marketing American Fork UT
FuturePay Salt Lake City UT
Gail Lowney Alofsin Newport RI
General Electric Fairfield CT
Generation Hope Washington DC
George P. Johnson Auburn Hills MI
Gina Din Group Nairobi Kenya
Globalization Partners Cambridge MA
Goodwin Group PR Walpole MA USA
Grass Roots Meetings & Events New York NY
Grupo Vi-Da Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires Argentina
H&S Enterprises Inc. Scottsdale AZ
Happy Family New York NY
Hawkins International Public Relations New York NY
Headmark Sydney Australia
Heaven Skincare Shifnal Shropshire United Kingdom
Hilton Software Coral Springs FL
Hinduja Global Solutions HGS USA Peoria IL
Humana Insurance Louisville KY
Humana Louisville KY
hVIVO plc London United Kingdom
IAC Applications Yonkers NY
iCIMS Matawan NJ
Identity Theft Resource Center San Diego CA
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Skokie IL
Improving Addison TX USA
Indus Health Plus (P) Ltd. Pune Maharashtra India
Innovid New York NY
INVNT New York NY
iTalent Corporation San Jose CA
Ithraa Consulting Group Jeddah Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
iVvy Pty Ltd Gold Coast QLD Australia
Ixia Calabasas CA
JDA Software Scottsdale AZ
Jenny Fenig Worldwide Great Barrington MA
Jewel Toned West Hollywood CA
JMA Solutions LLC. Washington DC
Jones Publishing (Citywealth) London United Kingdom
JSP Properties LLC St. Paul MN
Kristie's Beirut Lebanon
Krupp Kommunications New York NY
Kura-ra.net Osaka Japan
Linqia San Francisco CA USA
LivingTree dba: Snowflake Technologies Inc. Austin TX
LLORENTE & CUENCA Madrid Spain
Macy's Inc. San Francisco CA
Madison Services Group Inc. Washington DC
Manpower Group Milwaukee WI
Marketing CoPilot Toronto ON Canada
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA
Matrex Exhibits Addison IL
MATRIXX Software Saratoga CA
Meals on Wheels America Arlington VA
Meelo New York NY
Mid-America Asian Culture Association Leawood KS
Miller Vein Novi MI
MONAT Global Doral FL
n e t a m o r p h o s i s New York NY
Nicole Rodrigues - NRPR Group Beverly Hills CA
OBI Creative Omaha NE
One Mission Framingham MA
PAIRELATIONS LLC Centennial CO
PayneGroup Seattle WA
Payoneer Inc New York NY
Peggy Klaus Berkeley CA
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Pivot Point Marketing Larkspur CA
Prime Focus Technologies Private Limited Mumbai India
Primrose School Franchising Company Acworth GA
Proforma Durkee Huntersville NC
Push! Leadership and Business Training Brisbane QLD Australia
ReachLocal Woodland Hills CA
Red Hat Raleigh NC
RevenueWire Inc Victoria BC Canada
RevUnit Bentonville AR
Sealed Air Diversey Care Charlotte NC
SEVEN PRESS s.a.s Live-In Style - Televiva Houston etc... New York NY
Silverlink Burlington MA
Simple Mills Chicago IL
Southwest Michigan First Kalamazoo MI
SPLICE Software Calgary AB Canada
Spong Minneapolis MN
Sports 1 Marketing Irvine CA
Strategy and Management Services Inc. Springfield VA
Stratix Norcross GA
Stratus Interactive West Chester PA USA
STREAM magazine Torino ITALY
SUNNY SIDE UP Inc. Tokyo Japan
Susan Davis International Washington DC
Tagetik Lucca Italy & Stamford CT
TAPfit Queensland Australia
TEADS New York NY
TEARS Foundation Sandton South Africa
The Association for Women in Events Washington DC
The Australian Charity for the Children of Vietnam Brisbane QLD Australia
The Enrichery Houston TX
The Henker Group Easton MD
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Lawrenceville NJ
Thought Bubble Brisbane QLD Australia
TIBCO Software Palo Alto CA
TMG Des Moines IA
Trendy Lime Inc. San Francisco CA
Triple A Financial Services Pty Ltd Australia Adelaide South Australia
Tropic Skin Care Croydon Surrey United Kingdom
Universal Environmental Consulting Westbury NY
Untangle Life Alexandria VA
USAID/OFDA Washington DC
WDS Marketing & Public Relations Overland Park KS
Webzap Technologies Noida Uttar Pradesh India
Wells Fargo Treasury Management San Francisco CA
WeSpire Boston MA
West Pharmaceutical Services Exton PA
Wind Rose Communications Atlanta GA
Women in PR London United Kingdom
World Financial Group San Jose CA
Zafin Palo Alto CA

The 2015 Annual Report of CLP Holdings Limited, in Hong Kong, China, won the Gold Stevie® Award for Innovation in Annual Reports in the Annual Report & Other Publications Awards categories of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.

The 2017 (4th Annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards is now accepting entries.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

We asked Geert Peeters, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer at CLP Holdings, for some insight into how the Stevie® Award-winning 2015 Annual Report was created, and what winning a Stevie® Award has meant to the people who created it.

Geert Peters, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer at CLP Holdings, was delighted that his company’s 2015 Annual Report had won a Gold Stevie® Award in the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.  He told us: “We are deeply honored to have won the Stevie Award for Innovation in Annual Reports. As an organization that prizes innovation, we are delighted by the recognition of our excellence in this regard.”

Encapsulating guidelines by the International Integrated Reporting Council and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, CLP’s 2015 Annual Report is the company’s fifth integrated annual report. Structured around the theme of CLP’s “unwavering commitment to the communities we serve,” the Report presents a connected view of the social, environmental, operational, and financial aspects of CLP’s overall performance in an integrated and innovative manner.

Innovation

Explained Geert: “We entered the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for continuous learning: every year, our colleagues across different departments and countries work very hard to put together an annual report that makes us proud, so winning the Stevie Award is definitely a strong recognition of these efforts.”

“We have benefited immensely in the process, because innovation is a continuous undertaking and we are still learning how to do better,” continued Geert.  “For example, we are an early adopter of integrated reporting, which means we report our business achievements alongside our environmental, social, and governance performance. Such an approach has provided us a holistic picture of what we do and what values we deliver to our stakeholders.

“The awards we have received motivate us to innovate and try new ideas, like designing a posting bag that can double up as a recyclable shopping bag. We also make use of a feedback form to drive donations for selected NGOs. Through these channels, we are able to better engage with our different stakeholders, and deliver values to them in ways that we never could before.”

Design and Format

“Electricity is an indispensable part of modern life,” explained Geert. “It powers the machines that keep our communities safe, and allows us to live and work comfortably and with convenience. To highlight the close relationship between CLP and our stakeholders, this year we decided to create a relaxing home feel, reflected in our Annual Report’s vivid and colorful illustrations, well-designed diagrams, intuitive infographics and selective use of photographs. To provide an at-a-glance look at our business performance, we captured and visualized all key information with figures, graphics. and tables in the opening six-page section of ‘A Snapshot of CLP in 2015’.”

Accessibility and Interactivity

To expand CLP’s reach to broader audiences, the print version of its Annual Report went live with an online multimedia Snapshot and Sustainability Report. As Geert put it: “Our Snapshot presents an overview of our business using multimedia tools such as videos, whilst our Sustainability Report provides a more detailed account of our sustainability principles, strategies, and efforts. Together with our website and other CLP literature, we aim to enable our stakeholders to have a more informed assessment of our company.”

Charitable Donations

In addition, Geert stated: “We have also developed an innovative way to strengthen our interaction with readers by pledging to make charitable donations of HK$60 for each feedback that we receive on our Annual Report, online Snapshot, and Sustainability Report, with a cap of HK$350,000 in total.”

In conclusion, Geert told us that “being recognized by such a well-regarded organization is a strong vote of confidence on the work we do. It gives us the motivation to strive for the best.”

Environmental Concerns

With energy and its impact on the environment a topic of major concern, we asked Geert what plans CLP had for 2017.  He commented: “We are fully aware of the impact of the activities of the energy industry on environment.  That’s why we decided about a decade ago that we would shoulder our responsibility to address the risk and effect of climate change. Adopting the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong’s ESG Reporting Guide is a part of that commitment. In fact, we were one of the few companies that began to report on environmental and social performance way back in the 1990s, and this later evolved and became our Sustainability Report which is available online. So we are no strangers to ESG reporting.”

Reducing the Carbon Footprint

To play its part in reducing the carbon footprint, CLP encouraged e-communication by donating HK$60 for each shareholder’s request to switch to its electronic publications. For the mailing of hard copies, the company specially designed a posting bag which could be converted into a reusable carrier bag in order to promote conservation and reduce waste.

Sustainability Principles

Added Geert: “In our 2015 annual report, we already disclosed ESG information that fell under the ‘comply or explain’ provisions. In our 2016 annual report, which will be published in March 2017, we plan to do more. But for us to be able to report, first we must have the action. Last year, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at tackling poverty, hunger, climate change, and other global problems by 2030. The SDGs have provided the international community with a clear direction on the transformative steps that are urgently needed for sustainable development. They also inspired us to develop our own Sustainability Principles, which set the foundation for articulating our sustainability priorities in support of our longer-term business strategy. This signifies our willingness to play a role in helping the world achieve the SDGs, especially those on combating climate change and affordable electricity.”

Inspiration for the Future

Geert is optimistic about the future.  “CLP’s goal is to meet Asia Pacific’s energy challenge in a sustainable way–from one generation to the next,” he explained.  “This means we want to be able to supply our customers with electricity that is reliable and safe, and to make sure it is done in an environmentally friendly manner and at a reasonable price.”

Continued Geert: “We recognize the world is changing rapidly, however. We need to have a clear vision of tomorrow and be able to harness the power of innovation so that we are well equipped and ready for change. To become the utility of the future, we need to transform to become a customer-centric energy company that can compete in a low carbon world.

“This opens up a whole new vista of possibilities. Renewable energy is definitely one of them. It has been exciting to see that more and more countries in Asia are generating energy through renewable means, be it solar or wind. This is especially true in Mainland China and India, CLP’s two growth markets, which both have ambitious clean energy targets. Over the years, CLP has developed more than 3,000 megawatts of renewable projects, mostly in these two markets. And we have plans to do more.

“Meanwhile, our presence in these markets is inspiring on another level. We have seen the emergence of private savings in these emerging markets. Through the issuance of local currency bonds, including green bonds, we are thrilled to be able to help people to channel their hard-earned savings into infrastructure projects that will ultimately advance their home lands. And I am excited to be able to contribute to this adventure.”

About Geert Peeters:

Geert Peeters has been the Group Director & Chief Financial Officer since 1 April 2014, responsible for Group financial control & reporting, Group treasury, Group tax, Group corporate finance, risk management, and investor relations for CLP Holdings Limited. He was appointed the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of CLP Holdings with effect from 1 January 2016.

Mr. Peeters has over 25 years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining CLP, he was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer of GDF SUEZ (now known as ENGIE) Group based in Paris. Mr. Peeters was with GDF SUEZ from 1997 to 2013, gaining extensive experience in senior financial and operational roles in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. He also served as the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of International Power plc, a GDF SUEZ subsidiary listed on the London Stock Exchange and part of the FTSE 100 index until July 2012. Before joining GDF SUEZ, he worked for KBC Bank in Brussels and New York and for Tractebel Energy Engineering at the Doel Nuclear Power Plant in Antwerp (Belgium). He also served as a Reserve Officer in the Belgian Air Force.

In the past three years, Mr. Peeters has served on the boards of several listed energy companies, including International Power plc, E-CL, listed in Chile, and Glow Energy in Thailand. He is a member of the CNBC Global CFO Council.  Mr. Peeters is a Knight in the Order of King Leopold. He has a Master of Science in electro-mechanical engineering from Ghent University, Belgium, a postgraduate degree in business and IT administration from ICHEC Brussels, Belgium, and he attended executive business training at INSEAD Paris, France

About CLP Group

CLP Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, is the holding company for the CLP Group, one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia Pacific. Through CLP Power Hong Kong Limited, it operates a vertically integrated electricity supply business providing a highly reliable supply of electricity to 80% of Hong Kong’s population.

Outside Hong Kong, CLP holds investment in the energy sector in Mainland China, India, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Australia. Its diversified portfolio of generating assets uses a wide range of fuels including coal, gas, nuclear, and renewable sources. CLP is one of the largest external investors in the Mainland’s renewable energy sector. In India, it is one of the biggest renewable energy producers and among the largest foreign investors in the electricity sector. In Australia, its wholly owned subsidiary, EnergyAustralia, is one of the largest integrated energy companies, providing gas and electricity to over 2.6 million households and businesses.

CLP is listed on the Global Dow–a 150-stock index of the world’s leading blue-chips, the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index (DJSI Asia Pacific), the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific 40 Index (DJSI Asia Pacific 40), Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index Series, and MSCI Global Sustainability Index Series.

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is now accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. There are two early-bird entry deadlines this year – November 17 and December 14 – with discounted entry fees. 

A category group that has been greatly expanded for 2017 is the Company / Organization Awards.

Recognizing the achievements of entire organizations (for-profit or non-profit, large medium or small, public or private). 

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's achievements since January 1 2016

b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominated organization's chief achievements since January 1 2016

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

Company of the Year (may be for-profit or non-profit, public or private, large or small).  New for 2017, each of these 35 industry categories now has three sub-categories:

• Small (≤ 50 employees and revenue ≤ $10 million)
• Medium-size (≤ 250 employees and revenue ≤ $50 million)
• Large (> 250 employees and revenue > $50 million)

B01.    Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
B02.    Aerospace & Defense
B03.    Apparel, Beauty & Fashion (a new category for 2017)
B04.    Automotive & Transport Equipment
B05.    Banking
B06.    Business & Professional Services
B07.    Chemicals
B08.    Computer Hardware
B09.    Computer Software
B10.    Computer Services
B11.    Conglomerates
B12.    Consumer Products - Durables
B13.    Consumer Products - Non-Durables
B14.    Consumer Services (a new category for 2017)
B15.    Diversified Services
B16.    Electronics
B17.    Energy
B18.    Financial Services
B19.    Food & Beverage
B20.    Health Products & Services
B21.    Hospitality & Leisure
B22.    Insurance
B23.    Internet/New Media
B24.    Legal
B25.    Manufacturing
B26.    Materials & Construction
B27.    Media & Entertainment
B28.    Metals & Mining
B29.    Non-Profit or Government Organizations
B30.    Pharmaceuticals
B31.    Real Estate
B32.    Retail
B33.    Telecommunications
B34.    Transportation
B35.    Utilities

B36. Startup of the Year (for companies that began operations since January 1 2015).  There are no entry fees for the Startup of the Year categories
a. Business Product Industries
b. Business Service Industries
c. Consumer Product Industries
d. Consumer Service Industries

B37. Tech Startup of the Year (for companies that began operations since January 1 2015).  There is no entry fee for this category
a. Hardware/Peripherals
b. Services
c. Software

B38. Most Innovative Company of the Year (recognizing overall achievement in product and/or marketing, sales, manufacturing, management, etc. innovation)
   a. Up to 100 Employees
   b. Up to 2,500 Employees
   c. More Than 2,500 Employees

B39. Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year (recognizing overall achievement in product and/or marketing, sales, manufacturing, management, etc. innovation)
   a. Up to 100 Employees
   b. Up to 2,500 Employees
   c. More Than 2,500 Employees

B40. Innovation of the Year (recognizing singular innovations in product and/or marketing, sales, manufacturing, management, etc., by an organization or an individual)
   a. Business Product Industries
   b. Business Service Industries
   c. Consumer Product Industries
   d. Consumer Service Industries

B41. Technical Innovation of the Year (recognizing singular innovations in technology, new products, etc., by an organization or an individual)
   a. At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees
   b. At Organizations With Up to 1,000 Employees
   c. At Organizations With 1,000 or More Employees

B42. Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year (recognizing organizations' contributions to society)
   a. At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees
   b. At Organizations With Up to 2,500 Employees
   c. At Organizations With 2,500 or More Employees

B43. Fastest-Growing Company of the Year (recognizing outstanding revenue growth since the beginning of 2016 over 2015)
   a. Up to 100 Employees
   b. Up to 2,500 Employees
   c. 2,500 or More Employees

B44. Fastest-Growing Tech Company of the Year (recognizing outstanding revenue growth since the beginning of 2016 over 2015)
   a. Up to 100 Employees
   b. Up to 2,500 Employees
   c. 2,500 or More Employees

B45.  Minority-Owned Business of the Year: This category will recognize the achievements since January 1 2016 of businesses in the U.S.A. that are majority owned by members of an ethnic minority

B46. Veteran-Owned Business of the Year: This category will recognize the achievements since January 1 2016 of businesses in the U.S.A. that are owned by veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces

B47. Energy Industry Innovation of the Year: This category recognizes singular innovations in energy-related technology, production, conservation, storage or delivery, by an organization or an individual in the U.S.A., since January 1 2016.  There is no entry fee for this category

Gold Stevie winners in the 2016 American Business Awards Company / Oraganization of the Year categories include:

Company of the Year - Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Makovsky & Co, New York, NY

Company of the Year - Banking & Financial Services
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
First GREEN Bank, Mount Dora, FL

Company of the Year - Business Services - Less than 100 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Kount, Boise, ID

Company of the Year - Business Services - 100 to 2,500 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Fleetmatics, Waltham, MA

Company of the Year - Business Services - More than 2,500 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNERS (TIE):
Infinite Computer Solutions, Rockville, MD
TransPerfect, New York, NY

Company of the Year - Computer Hardware & Services
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
QLess Inc., Pasadena, CA

Company of the Year - Computer Software - Up to 500 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Tintri, Mountain View, CA

Company of the Year - Computer Software - 500 or More Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
HubSpot, Cambridge, MA

Company of the Year - Consumer Products
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Jeunesse Global, Orlando, FL

Company of the Year - Food & Beverage
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Fazoli's Italian Restaurants, Lexington, KY

The Stevie® Awards has issued a call for entries for the 2017 (fourth annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the only business awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. 

The early-bird entry deadline is November 30.  The final entry deadline is February 8, 2017, but late entries will be accepted through April 5 with the payment of a late fee. Complete entry details are available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are open to all organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region. The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries will be accepted in seven languages – Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay and Thai - in the following awards category groups:

• Annual Report Awards & Other Publication Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Company/Organization Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Corporate Communications, IR, and PR Awards
• Website Awards and Smartphone and Tablet App Awards
  …and more

Asia-Pacific Stevie Award winners will be announced on April 19. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala banquet on June 2 in Tokyo, Japan.

Scores of professionals from throughout the region will participate in the judging process to determine the Stevie winners.

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in the past three years including Cisco Systems, Crocs Singapore, DHL Express, Ford China, Freelancer.com, Globe Telecom, Harvey Norman, MetLife Asia Ltd., Samsung, Singapore Airlines, Sony, Telkom Indonesia, Volkswagen Group China, and more.

Judging committees for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are now being formed. Those interested in participating in the judging process may also apply at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Stevie Awards have a made a significant multi-year financial contribution to the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the School of Business at George Mason University, the largest public university in the State of Virginia in the USA. 

Michael Gallagher, Stevie Awards president and a 1994 MBA graduate of the university, has been actively involved with Mason for more than 20 years. So much so that he was honored with the university’s 2015 Alumni Service Award.

In 2005, he worked closely with the School of Business Alumni Relations staff to create the first Annual Business Alumni Celebration, the School of Business' premiere alumni event. In 2009, he became active with the School of Business Alumni Chapter, serving as vice president of events and then led the group as president for the next two years. After completing his tenure as president, he served as an at-large member for another year and most recently led the chapter's fundraising committee.

Gallagher regularly contributes time and money to the School of Business’ annual Deans’ Business Plan Competition and often serves as a mentor to student entrepreneurs.

Still, he wanted to do more.

“I feel strongly about encouraging people to become entrepreneurs,” said Gallagher.

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

“It’s important to ask people face-to-face to do something because it’s hard for them to say no,” explained Gallagher. That’s what happened to him when asked to be involved with Mason, and he’s had “a lot of fun doing it.”

Having already volunteered much of his time and financially supported several of the entrepreneurial activities the School of Business offered, Gallagher saw a natural alignment with his interests and the school’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

He learned through a conversation with David Miller, director of Mason’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, that the center didn’t lack for ideas and projects, it lacked time to properly run and grow the initiatives already created. Gallagher immediately pledged that the Stevie Awards would contribute $195,000 to give the center the gift of time, which comes in the form of a program manager that will help run the center’s programs.

“Entrepreneurs are the babies of the business world. If people don’t have babies there won’t be much of a human race,” he continued. “The same is true for the economy. If you don’t have entrepreneurs, you won’t have economic and job growth.”

With current opportunities for students ranging from field trips, mentor programs, a maker space, business plan competition, an innovation lab, student support groups, and more, Miller found it challenging to provide each initiative the attention it needed to fully serve students. The new program manager funded by the Stevie Awards will be fully dedicated to expanding and resourcing existing opportunities.

This will provide Miller more time to nurture student entrepreneurs and hopefully, increase their success.

“If you have 100 entrepreneurs, maybe one will be successful. That’s the reality of entrepreneurship. I’d like that to be five or six at Mason,” said Gallagher

“Everyone has an expertise in something, and I would like to see Mason, and the USA as a whole, to encourage people to start their own businesses. You don’t have to be Mark Zuckerberg or Sergey Brin. You just need to support yourself and be able to look at yourself in the mirror. You can be a company of one.”

Learn more about Mason’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship or contribute to its success by making a gift.

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is now accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. There are two early-bird entry deadlines this year – November 17 and December 14 – with discounted entry fees. 

A category group that has been greatly expanded for 2017 is Mobile Site & App Awards. 

These categories recognize excellence in mobile websites and apps.

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include

a. An essay of up to 200 words describing the mobile site or app's purpose and results to date.

b. The mobile site or app itself, in the form of a demonstration video of up to three (3) minutes in length.  You must attach the video to your entry through our attachment/link uploading tool. 

c. Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your site or app - a list of the people and organizations that contribute to its development

F55. Business/Government
F56. Education & Reference
F57. Entertainment
F58. Events
F59. Experimental & Innovation
F60. Family & Kids (new category for 2017)
F61. Fashion & Beauty (new category for 2017)
F62. Financial Services / Banking (new category for 2017)
F63. Fitness & Recreation (new category for 2017)
F64. Food & Drink (new category for 2017)
F65. Games
F66. Guides/Ratings/Reviews
F67. Health (new category for 2017)
F68. Integrated Mobile Experience
F69. Lifestyle
F70. Magazine / Editorial (new category for 2017)
F71. Marketing
F72. Messaging (new category for 2017)
F73. Music
F74. News
F75. Productivity (new category for 2017)
F76. Professional Education
F77. Professional Services (new category for 2017)
F78. Public Service & Activism (new category for 2017)
F79. Real Estate (new category for 2017)
F80. School / University (new category for 2017)
F81. Shopping
F82. Social
F83. Sports
F84. Training
F85. Travel
F86. Utilities & Services

Gold Stevie winners in the Mobile Site & App Awards categories in 2016 include:

Business/Government - Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations and Business Services Industries
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
EffectiveUI, Denver, CO: City and County of Denver’s PocketGov Web App Allows Citizens to Interact with Government from Anywhere

Business/Government – All Other Industries
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Applied Systems, University Park, IL: Applied Mobile

Education & Reference
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Neocate, Rockville, MD: Neocate Footsteps App

Events
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
BMO Capital Markets, Chicago, IL: Global Metals and Mining Conference App

Experimental & Innovation
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sharecare.com, Atlanta, GA: Sharecare Voice App

Integrated Mobile Experience
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
LogMeIn, Boston, MA: join.me

Lifestyle
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
ACTIVE Network, Dallas, TX: Couch to 5K: Running App, Training Coach and GPS Tracker

Marketing
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
LABOV Marketing Communications and Training, Fort Wayne, IN: Audi of America Audi exclusive App

Shopping
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Peapod, Skokie, IL: Smart Shopping Gets Smarter: Peapod's New Mobile App
App

Today, the Stevie® Awards issued the call for entries for The 2017 (15th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year.  Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. There are two early-bird entry deadlines this year – November 17 and December 14 – with discounted entry fees.  The final entry deadline is February 16, but late entries will be accepted through March 15 with payment of a late fee.

The 2017 awards will honor outstanding work since the beginning of 2016.

More than 200 professionals nationwide will participate in the judging process in February through April.  The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners will be announced on May 1, and celebrated during a gala event in New York City on June 20.

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

-Management Awards

-Company of the Year Awards

-Customer Service Awards

-Human Resources Awards

-Information Technology Awards

-Marketing Awards

-New Product Awards

-Public Relations Awards

-Web Site Awards, App, Video, Live Event, and Other Media Awards

New categories for 2017 include:

• Mobile Site & App Awards: Family & Kids, Fashion & Beauty, Financial Services, and more
• Video Awards: Travel & Tourism
• Company/Organization Awards: Each of the 34 Company of the Year categories have been broken into 3 sub- categories by company size and/or revenue
• Management Awards: Apparel, Beauty & Fashion, and Consumer Services
• Marketing Awards: Branded Utility of the Year
• New Product Awards: Data Visualization Technology, Endpoint Security Management Solution, Event Management Solution, and more
• PR Awards: Communications Research, Healthcare, Media Relations, and more

Every new product or service nominated in The 2017 American Business Awards will automatically be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. Voting will open to the general public in May, and the winners will be honored at The American Business Awards banquet on June 20.

More than 330 executives from over 30 nations will gather at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy this coming Friday evening, October 21 for the presentation of The 13th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards program.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award® winners, selected from more than 3,800 nominations received from organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations, were announced on August 11. 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, new product awards, marketing awards, PR awards, customer service awards, website awards, and more.

More than 200 executives worldwide participated in the judging process this year to determine the Stevie winners.

Winners of People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, as voted by the general public, and Grand Stevie Award trophies, as determined by the total number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevies won in the IBAs, were also announced earlier and will be presented in Rome this Friday.

Here is the list of most of the 2016 Stevie-winning organizations that will be represented in Italy this Friday.

Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company United Arab Emirates
Akmerkez Istanbul Turkey
Allstate Northern Ireland Belfast United Kingdom
arithma+ corporate communications Tehran Iran
Arkadin Paris France
Arvato Istanbul Turkey
ASDA'A Burson Marsteller, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Autologic Diagnostics Wheatley Oxon United Kingdom
Azercell Telecom LLC Baku Azerbaijan
Bilkom Bilisim Hizmetleri A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Brcomm Seoul South Korea
CallidusCloud Dublin CA USA
Capitol Shopping Center Istanbul Turkey
Carbonite Inc. Lewiston ME USA
Cigna Finans Emeklilik ve Hayat A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Cisco Systems San Jose CA USA
Community Chest of Korea Seoul South Korea
Crystal Lagoons Miami FL USA
Dani Communications Co., Ltd. Seoul South Korea
DHL Express Mexico
Digiturk Istanbul Turkey
Djembe Communications International Dubai United Arab Emirates
Dogus Otomotiv Servis ve Ticaret A.S. Kocaeli Turkey
Domino's Pizza Istanbul Turkey
Dubai Statistics Center Dubai United Arab Emirates
Enerjisa Energy Efficiency Trainings Programme & Theater Istanbul Turkey
Epos Now Norwich Norfolk United Kingdom
Euro Wings Seoul South Korea
Festival Walk Hong Kong
Forter San Francisco CA USA
Freelancer.com Sydney Australia
Garanti Emeklilik (Garanti Pension) Istanbul Turkey
Garden of Words, Warsaw, Poland
GDY Piksel Yazilim Reklam Bilisim Ürünleri ve Hiz.Tic.A.S. Ankara Turkey
Gebze Centre Shopping Mall Istanbul Turkey
Generali Global Assistance Bethesda MD USA
Gensuite LLC Mason OH USA
GRAFFITI Istanbul Turkey
HANAROADCOM Seoul South Korea
Hanyang University ERICA Seoul South Korea
IBB Istanbul Turkey
IETT General Directorate Istanbul Turkey
Insurance Information and Monitoring Center (SBM) Istanbul Turkey
International Armoring Corporation Centerville UT USA
KBCA Seoul South Korea
KECC Seoul South Korea
KEPCO Nuclear Fuel Company(KNF) Seoul South Korea
KOSHA Seoul South Korea
LLORENTE & CUENCA Madrid Spain
M Cube Partners Seoul South Korea
Malatya Shopping Centre Malatya Turkey
MANILA ELECTRIC COMPANY (MERALCO) MANILA PHILIPPINES
Melco Crown Entertainment Macau SAR
Mercedes-Benz Türk A.S. Istanbul Turkey
MicroHealth LLC Vienna VA USA
Ministry of Health Sharjah United Arab Emirates
Minoru-an Hyogo, Japan
MOSAICOON S.p.A Isole Della Femine Italy
MSLGROUP New York NY USA
MY JET Geneva Switzerland
NetRefer Msida Malta
Nishiguchi Home Limited Kagoshima Japan
Noguchi Porter Novelli Budapest Hungary
NU SKIN Greater China Hong Kong
Nutracelle Saskatoon SK Canada
OBI Creative Omaha NE USA
Odea Bank A.S. Istanbul Turkey
OMV PETROL OFISI, Istanbul, Turkey
Osan Neuropsychosis Hospital Seoul South Korea
other London United Kingdom
Paradigm Design Group Houston TX USA
Passion Film Mumbai India
PMFTC, Philippines
PPC LTD Sandton Gauteng South Africa
PRIMA INDUSTRIE S.p.A. Collegno Italy
Pronet Istanbul Turkey
PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk Jakarta Indonesia
QLess, Inc. Pasadena CA USA
Qonsilus GmbH Mainz Germany
Rainier Communications Westborough MA USA
Resolute Forest Products Montreal Quebec Canada
RheinBrücke IT Consulting Cologne Germany
Road and Transport Authority - Rail Agency Dubai United Arab Emirates
SABC Pension Fund Johannesburg South Africa
sahibinden.com Istanbul Turkey
Seoul Institute of the Arts Seoul South Korea
SIDM Seoul South Korea
Soohyun Seoul South Korea
Squarespace New York NY USA
Strategic Public Relations Group Hong Kong
Studio 5 Designs (Manila) Makati City Philippines
Sungard Availability Services Wayne PA USA
Tata Consultancy Services Bangalore India
Telkom Indonesia Jakarta Indonesia
Thai Life Insurance Plc. Bangkok Thailand
The Central Agency for Information Technology Kuwait City Kuwait
The Korea Pork Board Commission Seoul South Korea
The Shell Company of Turkey Istanbul Turkey
Thomson Reuters London United Kingdom
TRACCS Dubai United Arab Emirates
TrademarkNow Helsinki Finland
Türk Telekom Istanbul Turkey
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Turkey
Union National Bank Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
Viettel Group Ha noi Viet Nam
Vodafone London United Kingdom
Vodafone Qatar Doha Qatar
Weber Shandwick London United Kingdom
WP Engine Austin TX USA
Zorlu Shopping Mall Istanbul Turkey

The Stevie Awards are delighted to announce the  five distinguished women who will chair the final judging committees of the 2016 (13th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business competition.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run.

Finalists in this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business were announced on
October 6.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie placements from among the Finalists will be determined in final judging, to begin October 17.  Results will be announced at the 13th annual awards dinner in New York on November 18.  Tickets are on sale now.

The five committee chair selections are based on the categories that will be judged. Final judging chairs helped to form their committees, each of which will be comprised of 10-20 other executives.  Here are this year's final judging committee chairs.

INDIVIDUAL/ENTREPRENEUR

Jo Wimble-Groves, Business Support Director
Active Digital, Lamberhurst, Kent, United Kingdom

Jo Wimble-Groves is co-owner of the successful Kent-based company Active Digital, an award-winning business mobile communications company, which she operates with her brother, Richard Groves. Jo has spent the last 20 years of her career working on customer experience and team strategy. Her commitment to delivering an exceptional level of service has led to a number of company awards. Active Digital was named as one of the “Top 6 Customer Service Business Leaders in Europe” at the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards in 2013. The company also won the Gold Stevie® Award for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - Technology Industries in the 2015 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Established in 1996, Active Digital clients include Olympic teams and rugby clubs. Its core business is providing mobile phones, tablets, fixed line, and apps to UK organizations of all sizes.

INDIVIDUAL/EXECUTIVE

Karen Justice, CEO
Just For Pets, Suffolk Park, New South Wales, Australia

An award-winning business leader, Karen Justice has owned and managed the Just for Pets buying group business based in Byron Bay since January 2009. As CEO, she liaises with over 65 independent pet retailers and most major manufacturers and suppliers to the pet industry on a daily basis. Karen keeps her finger on the pulse in this fast-changing industry.

Karen’s first job was as a vet nurse while she was still a teenager, which she did for four years before completing her Higher School Certificate and moving into the world of human health. She is a registered nurse who moved into private Child and Family Health Clinics when she started her own family. She managed a pharmacy for over eleven years, and then moved into the pet-care industry in 2005. After leaving the health industry completely, Karen owned and managed a pet shop for five years before taking on the challenge of a pet industry buying group.

Karen owns a beautiful Tiboodle (a cross between a Tibetan spaniel and a poodle) named Daisy, and a rescue cat named Sox, and is an avid marine fish enthusiast.

COMPANY/ORGANIZATION

Dr Ambreen Zaman Riaz, Founder
I Change Her Life, Lahore, Pakistan & Istanbul, Turkey

Dr Ambreen Zaman Riaz is a medical doctor, social entrepreneur, renaissance scholar, and polymath. She left her successful career as a cosmetic dermatologist to help disadvantaged women because she firmly believed that educated people needed to get actively involved in the social-service sector. Dr Zaman has worked as a volunteer for non-profits both in Pakistan and Turkey. This has further enhanced her enthusiasm to serve vulnerable and weak women.

Dr Zaman is an active advocate of women's rights and participates in highlighting the rights of Christian, Agha Khani, and non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. Her commitment to change the lives of underprivileged women has enabled her to achieve the status of "change maker" in international circles.

PUBLIC RELATIONS/MARKETING/MEDIA

Mary Ann Henker, President
The Henker Group, Easton, Maryland, USA

Mary Ann Henker is president of The Henker Group, an integrated marketing communications firm serving clients up to the national level. She founded The Henker Group in 2005 to fully leverage her skills and experience to deliver powerful and proven results for companies and organizations. Prior to The Henker Group, Mary Ann was the executive director of the Giant Screen Theater Association, the worldwide association for the IMAX theater and film industry. In that role, she completed business and contract negotiations with individuals and companies in 22 countries. Her management and business style is that of aggressive marketing, detailed planning, and strict fiscal management.

Mary Ann has been a frequent judge for the marketing and communications categories of The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards and the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business. She has also been invited by A Billion + Change to participate in a forum at the White House. She is a past recipient of The Daily Record of Maryland's “Successful by 40 Award,” and has has been honored as a Business Woman of the Year by the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce. In addition to receiving a Stevie® Award for Women in Business, her company, The Henker Group, won Bronze Stevie® Awards in The  2016 American Business Awards for both Marketing Agency of the Year and Communications Department of the Year.

Currently, Mary Ann sits on the boards of Junior Achievement for Talbot County, Maryland, the Eastern Shore Experiential Learning Center, and The Cause Agency.  She is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, a Minor in Management, and a focus on employment law. She has completed courses towards a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas.

NEW PRODUCT & SERVICE

Fatima Cabral, CEO and co-founder
Pink Elephant, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Since the founding of Pink Elephant in 1989, Fatima Cabral has been a driving force behind the success of Pink Elephant across Canada, North America, and Asia. After introducing ITIL® to North America and Asia in 1997, Pink Elephant established itself as a leading provider of IT Service Management conferences, education, and consulting services.

Fatima has received many awards, including ranking in the PROFIT W100 of Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs for eight successive years, a business award from the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business Professionals, and the Gold Stevie® for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada in the 2015 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business.

Currently, Fatima and Pink Elephant are leading the way in the Lean IT Revolution–an essential certification that should be part of every IT professional’s toolkit.

Finalists were announced today in the 13th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

This year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at an awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Friday, November 18. More than 400 women and their guests from around the world are expected to attend the presentations, which will be broadcast live on LiveStream. The red carpet pre-show will air on the Stevie Awards’ Facebook Live.

More than 1,400 entries were submitted this year by organizations and individuals around the world for consideration in more than 90 categories including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women-Run Workplace of the Year.

Organizations with multiple Finalists in a variety of categories include Accenture (Chicago, IL), Aflac (Columbus, GA), Cirkled in (Redmond, WA), Creative Lodging Solutions (Lexington, KY), DCR Workforce (Boca Raton, FL), EvolveMKD (New York, NY), Jeunesse Global (Lake Mary, FL), Linqia (San Francisco, CA), Stratus Interactive (West Chester,PA), TAPfit (Queensland, Australia) and World Financial Group (San Jose, CA), among others.

Nominations were submitted by organizations in 22 nations including Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA.

Visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women for a complete list of Finalists by category.

Finalists were chosen by more than 110 business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging. Members of five specialized judging committees will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging that begins on October 17.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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.

The following professionals participated in first-round judging of the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Businessin September - October 2016.  Their average scores determined the nominations that were eligible to be included in final judging, that would ultimately be named Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.  We thank them for their time, interest and insights. Stevie Awards for Women in Business finalists will be announced on October 6, 2016.

Lisa Abeyta, Founder/CEO, APPCityLife, Inc., Albuquerque, NM USA

Lara Abrams, Managing Member, Lara Abrams Communications, LLC, Lexington, KY USA

Nicole Y. Adams , Marketing, PR and Corporate Communications Translator, NYA Communications, Bellbird Park, QLD Australia

Ahmed Alhai, BRM Specialist, ADCO, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Huda Al-Husaini , Associate Engineer, Jordan Engineers Association, Shmisani, Amman Jordan

Marcie Allen, CEO, MAC Presents. New York, NY USA

Maria Bailey, CEO, Blue Suit Mom Media, Miami, FL USA

Janet Beale, Managing Director, Sytor Enterprises Pty Ltd, East Lindfield, NSW Australia

Deb Birnbaum, Strategic Initiatives and Continuous Quality Improvement Professional, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN USA

Jennifer Bonham, Director, Marketing & Sales Strategy, Envolve, Inc., St. Louis, MO USA

Yvonne Borg, SVP, E.ON Nordic, Malmo Sweden

Deborah Bowie, CCE, IOM, President/CEO, United Way of North Central Florida, Gainesville FL USA

Marcia Brand, President, Creative Marketing Concepts, Inc., Alexandria, VA USA

Khobi Brooklyn, Communications, Tesla Motors, San Francisco, CA USA

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing, Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Rigaud, QC Canada

Carolin Buchardt, CEO and Founder, CB Praxisberatung, Heidelberg Germany

Valerie Burke, Director of Digital Media and SEO, Sundance Vacations, Wilkes-Barre, PA USA

Beverly Butler, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo, San Francisco, CA USA

Krista Canfield, Founder, Food Water Shoes, San Francisco, CA USA

Deb Carr, Founder, Sydney Lifestyle Blog, Sydney, NSW Australia

Alexandra Cearns, Creative Director / Owner, Houndstooth Studio, Perth Australia

Viola Manuela Ceccarini, TV PERSONALITY, PRODUCER, COLUMNIST AND WRITER, LIVEIN-STYLE MAGAZINE, SEVENPRESS.COM, TELEVIVA HOUSTON, DEAMINA MAGAZINE, New York, NY USA

Joy Chen, Chairman & CEO, H2O+ Beauty, San Francisco, CA USA

Kim Clark, Principal, Polished Professionals Boston, Boston, MA USA

Robyn Davis, Owner, When I Need Help, Columbia, SC USA

Ana Degani, Regional Director of Customer Service, Americas Region, DHL, Plantation, FL USA

Michele Don Durbin, VP, Inflection, San Jose, CA USA

Eve Dumovich, Editor, Boeing/Snowline Publishing, Ashford, WA USA

Lorretta Gasper, Owner/Principal, Wind Rose Communications, Atlanta, GA USA

Pamela Gharaibeh, Child and Family Therapist, Main Street Therapy for Children and Families, Livonia, MI USA

Barb Girson, President, My Sales Tactics, LLC, New Albany, OH USA

Siki Giunta, Managing Director - Cloud and Infrastructure, Accenture, New York, NY USA

Regina Glick, Director of Marketing, Summit Professional Networks, New York, NY USA

Lisa Goldberg, Director, Marketing Services, VetCentric, Inc., Baltimore, MD USA

Allison Golsby, CEO, ConsultMine, Brisbane Australia

Charity Herb, Online Content Administrator, American Greetings, Cleveland, OH USA

Alison Higgins-Miller, Regional Business Development Manager, International Corporate Advisory PTE LTD, Dural, NSW Australia

Robyne Highsmith, Founder, Teen Dare To Dream Program, Zionsville, IN USA

Joann Hizon, Vice President - Human Resources SM Investments Corp, Pasay City, Philippines

Rebekah Hurworth, Founder and Director, Your Architect, Red Hill, Queensland Australia

Craig Jacobsen, Founder, Open Spaces Marketing, Encinitas, CA USA

Anne Jefferies, Vendor Compliance Manager, AT&T Global Vendor Management, Biggar, United Kingdom

Jess Jones, Founder, Soar Collective, Melbourne, Australia

Dr. Neelima Kamrah, Chairman, KIIT Group of Colleges, Gurgaon, Haryana India

Michelle King, Senior Director, Legal Operations, Intralinks, New York, NY USA

Renée Knee, Customer Success Executive, Self-employed, San Rafael, CA USA

Shamina Krishna, Manager, Training Department, Smart Reader® Worldwide Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, AL Malaysia

Jill Liberman, Founder, Videoglobetrotter, Inc., Boca Raton, FL USA

Sarah Lippincott, Digital Marketing & Public Relations Professional, Tigercomm, Washington, DC USA

Theresa Mack, Owner, PowerUp Partners, Torrance, CA USA

Lisa MacKenzie, President, MacKenzie Marketing Group, Portland, OR USA

Rachel Maleh, Deputy Director, American Heart Association, Arlington, VA USA

Scott Maloney, CEO/Co-Founder, BowTie, Albuquerque, NM USA

Francesca Masoero, CEO and co-Founder, STREAM magazine, Cumiana, TO Italy

Karen Mayfield, Division Lending Executive at Citi, Citi Bank, San Francisco, CA USA

Renie McClay, Project Manager, Caveo Learning, Ozark, MO USA

Robin McCoy-Ramirez, Owner, SoothEaze, Boston, MA USA

Karen McFadzen, Director and co-Owner, Vision Training Australia, Sydney, NSW Australia

Kim McGann, Founder, Wedding Entrepreneurs Academy, Nelson Bay, NSW Australia

Carolyn Melby, President, Carolyn B. Melby, Skin Specialist llc, Chandler, AZ USA

Shar Moore, Editor-in-Chief, YWoman, Wellington Point, Queensland Australia

Jason Morris, Director, SRS Acquiom, Denver, CO USA

Jennifer Morrison, Director of Marketing & Talent Management, H&S Enterprises, Los Angeles, CA USA

Danielle Mullin, Site Coordinator, EmCare, Fort Smith, AR USA

Balaji Nagabhushan, Group Chief Administrative Officer, Tristar Transport LLC, Dubai, NH United Arab Emirates

Rajendran Nair, VP, Marketing, Rootstock Software, San Ramon, CA USA

Mandy Nembs, Founder               , Capillus Distribution LLC, New York, NY USA

Carey-Ann Oestreicher, CEO, Potential Unlimited, Burlington, ON Canada

Lorraine O'Neill, Dr, The EPI Centre Australia Pty Ltd, Parrearra, Australia

Görkem Özkan, HR Professional, HR, Ankara, Turkey

Kaan ÖZSÖKMEN, Owner, K-Tex Sourcing & Buying Agency, Istanbul, Turkey

Liz Palmer, President and CEO, Liz Palmer Media Group Inc., Toronto, ON Canada

M Carmen Paz, Founder, Director of Program Management, Page One Guru, Austin, TX USA

Christine Pietryla, Consultant, Freelance , Pietryla PR & Marketing LLC, Chicago, IL USA

Fabi Preslar, President, SPARK Publications, Matthew, NC USA

Jesintha Rajaratnam, Managing Partner, Money Garden, Bangalore, Karnataka India

Shenan Reed, President of Digital, North America, MEC, New York, NY USA

Dennis Reno, Corporate Vice President, Customer Success, Proofpoint, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA USA

June Ressler, President & CDO, Cenergy, Houston, TX USA

Kelly Roark, Founder & CSO, KPR Strategic Consulting, New York, NY USA

Grace Rodriguez, Co-Founder, Station Houston, Sugar Land, TX USA

Ritzi Ronquillo, Chairman, IABC Phillipines, Manilla, Philippines

Catalina Rousseau, President & CEO, BDR Associates, Bucharest, Romania

Srinivasan Saravanamuthu, Senior Manager, Accenture, Seattle, WA USA

Susan Savage, General Manager , MICROS Fidelio Australia, South Turramurra, IN Australia

Steve Schonberg, Managing Director, K2 Krupp Kommunications, Inc, New York, NY USA

Christine Seymour, Director, Marketing and Communications, John Crane, Norcross, GA USA

Manal Sham, Customer Service Supervisor, DP DHL, Amman, Jordan

Keira Shein, Partner, Shein Strategies, Owings Mills, MD USA

Gary Shumaker, President and CEO, C2 Solutions Group, Inc., Reston, VA USA

Alysia Silberg, COO, Acceleforce, London, United Kingdom

Sylvia Slezak, Director of Marketing & Social Media, Internet Directory, Inc. d/b/a CityOf.com, Corpus Christi, TX USA

Theavy Sok, Partner, Country Club Apiaries, Denver, CO USA

Carla Spain, Director of Marketing & Communications, Holy Names High School, Oakland, CA USA

Vickie Sullivan, Founder and President, Sullivan and Associates, Tempe, AZ USA

Linda Summerton, Managing Director, Advanced Care Australia, Maroochydore, QLD Australia

Aniket Suru, FX & Commodities Programme Manager, HSBC, London, United Kingdom

Shoab Syed, Principal Consultant, Sovnex, Toronto, ON Canada

Alice Takpemongo, Co-Create IKEA Open Innovation Leader, IKEA Group, Brentford, Middlesex United Kingdom

Asli Tas Kayabas, Professional Training & Coaching, Kuzey Academy, Istanbul, Turkey

Julie Taylor, Owner, Business coaching 1-1 LLC, Washington, DC USA

Josie Thomson, CEO, JosieThomson.com, Red Hill, QLD Australia

Katy Thorbahn, Partner, Managing Director, Shiny, Wilmington, DE USA

Lori VanDyke, Manager Customer Care, Access One, Chicago, IL USA

Imal Wagner, President, Phoenix Rising, PR, Gaithersburg, MD USA

Joyce Weiland, President, SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA

Marci Weisler, Co-Founder/Consultant, MW Advisory, New York, NY USA

Susan Werkner, Managing Director/Founder, Interactive Investor Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW Australia

Becky Wilson, Chief Visibility Officer, WDS Marketing & PR, Overland Park, KS USA

Kathy Woodard, Communications Specialist, Freelance Writer, Columbus, OH USA

Lori Zaret, Chief Marketing Officer, Bond Consulting, Dallas, TX USA

If you're interested in being a Stevie Awards for Women in Business Judge in 2017, apply below.

Winners in the 2016 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, an international competition, were announced on Friday, September 30. The awards recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, teams, achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help to create and drive great places to work.    

Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Grand Stevie Award winners were announced at a gala awards banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. 

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized. The leader among winners is the Dubai Statistics Center. The Emirati government organization won five Gold Stevie Awards, including Employer of the Year – Government or Non-Profit.   The five Gold Stevie wins earned the organization the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Organization. 

RWE Group Business Services GmbH of Essen, Germany, a leading provider of energy sources throughout Europe, won three Gold Stevie Awards, including Achievement in HR Technology.

Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards include Anadolu Efes (Turkey), AT&T (USA), BetterWorks (USA), DHL Express Mexico (Mexico), Insperity (USA), Kuzey Academy (Turkey), Loot Crate (USA),  Merchant e-Solutions (USA), Rita Trehan, LLC (USA), T-Mobile (USA), Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. (Turkey), and Under Armour Inc. (USA).

Stevie Award winners in 34 Employer of the Year categories were determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. More than 44,000 votes were cast by members of the public for their favorite employer.  The most voted-for nominee, Coveo (USA), won the Grand Stevie Award for Highest-Scoring Nomination in the competition, as well as the Gold Stevie for Employer of the Year – Computer Software – up to 250 Employees.

More than 250 nominations from organizations around the world were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 50 professionals worldwide, acting as judges. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

•    Employer of the Year
•    HR Achievements
•    HR Individual Awards
•    HR Team Categories
•    Solution Provider Awards
•    More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

Complete information about the program are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.  Entries for the 2017 edition of the competition will open in March.

The 11th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Solution Provider Awards categories.

These categories recognize the achievements of solution providers for sales, contact center, and customer service professionals.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's accomplishments since July 1, 2015.

(c) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

120. Sales Consulting Practice of the Year
     121. Sales Training Practice of the Year
     122. Sales Outsourcing Provider of the Year
     123. Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year
     124. Customer Service or Call Center Consulting Practice of the Year
     125. Customer Service or Call Center Training Practice of the Year
     126. Sales or Customer Service Solutions Technology Partner of the Year
     127. Contact Center or Customer Service Outsourcing Provider of the Year 
     128. Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year (new category for 2017)

Solution Provider Award winners in 2016 include: 

Sales Consulting Practice of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: A Beautiful Reinvention of Selling
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
EFG Companies. Irving, TX USA: Raising the Bar in Client Service
Imparta Inc., Austin, TX USA: Imparta Inc.
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Confero Inc., Raleigh NC USA: Leveraging mystery shopping and employee engagement for maximum sales
HGS, Lisle, IL USA: Improving Enterprise Sales with Speed, Effectiveness, and Visibility
Janek Performance Group, Las Vegas, NV USA: Janek Performance Group

Sales Training Practice of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Imparta Inc., Austin, TX USA: Imparta Inc.
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
iSpeak, Inc., Round Rock, TX USA: iSpeak and IGT
Janek Performance Group, Las Vegas, NV USA: Janek Performance Group
MarketBridge, Bethesda, MD USA: MarketBridge
Wilson Learning, Minneapolis, MN USA: Wilson Learning
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
The Brooks Group, Greensboro, NC USA: The Brooks Group
Carew International, Inc., Cincinnati, OH USA: Carew International
MAVI Interactive, LLC, Doylestown, PA USA: "Waisimo" customer service training game with LC Waikiki
mLevel, Chicago, IL USA: mLevel's Partnership with Microsoft Azure
New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Westbury, NY USA: Building Business Customer Relationships

Sales Outsourcing Provider of the Year
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Sales Outsourcing Leader Wins Head to Head Yet Again
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Revana, Tempe, AZ USA: Revana - Integrated Sales and Marketing Solutions Drives Superior Outcomes for Clients
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Partnering for Success

Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
MarketBridge, Bethesda, MD USA: MarketBridge
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
EXTRA Loyalty Solutions Co., Istanbul, Turkey: Tailored Loyalty Solutions for our Clients to Increase Their Sales and Customer Engagement
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Flexible Work Arrangements = Win-Win
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Change Leaders Committed to Continuous Improvement
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Curtain Call - Top Performers Have Chance to Razzle Dazzle ‘em

The 11th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Customer Service and Contact Center Individual awards categories.

The customer service and contact center individual categories recognize individual contact center and customer service professionals.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee’s accomplishments since July 1, 2015. 
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

55. Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of customer service professionals who directly engage customers. This category is split into five separate categories:
    a. Business Services Industries: recognizes achievements of professionals in business services industries such as advertising, consulting, marketing, public relations, recruiting, etc.
    b. Financial Services Industries: recognizes the achievements of professionals in the accounting, banking, financial services, insurance, etc. industries.
       c. Other Service Industries: recognizes achievements of professionals in services industries such as financial services, healthcare, hospitality & leisure, legal, media & entertainment, real estate, retail, etc.
       d. Technology Industries: recognizes achievements of professionals in technology industries such as computer software, computer services, computer hardware, internet/new media, and telecommunications.
       e. All Other Industries: recognizes achievements of professionals in all industries not covered by the other Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year categories.
56. Back-Office Customer Service Professional of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of customer service professionals who work behind the front lines of customer service organizations for their achievements since the beginning of July 2015.
    
    57. Young Customer Service Professional of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of customer service professionals under the age of 30.
    
    58. Customer Service Manager of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of customer service managers and service professionals with a managerial role at organizations of any size, of any type.
    
    59. Customer Service Leader of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of senior customer service and call center executives.
    
    60. Contact Center Professional of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of non-executive professionals who work in a call or contact center.
57. Contact Center Manager of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of contact or call center managers for their achievements since the beginning of July 2015.
58. Contact Center Leader of the Year
    Recognizing the achievements of senior contact or call center executives for their achievements since the beginning of July 2015.

Customer Service and Contact Center Individual Stevie winners in 2016 include:

Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year - Financial Services Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNERS:
eMoney Advisor, LLC, Conshohocken, PA USA: Jennifer Collins, Success Coach
eMoney Advisor, LLC, Conshohocken, PA USA: Joseph Pearson, Client Support Specialist
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
AllClear ID, Austin, TX USA: Benjamin Miller, Senior Licensed Investigator
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Paycor, Inc.; Cincinnati, OH USA: Jon Southern, Implementation Solutions Manager

Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year - Other Service Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express United Arab Emirates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Juanita Santos, Contact Center Advisor
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express Bulgaria LTD, Sofia, Bulgaria: Radoslava Pavlova, Key Account Desk Advisor

...and more. See all Stevie winners here.

The PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies is the top winner in the 2016 People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Companies, a feature of The International Business Awards, the world’s only international, all-encompassing business awards program which is now in its 13^th year.

The worldwide public vote was conducted this summer, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of industries. More than 33,000 votes were cast. All Stevie Award winners in the Company of the Year categories of this year’s International Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards.

The PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, the Manila, Philippines-based conglomerate that owns and operates a portfolio of financial services businesses, has won People’s Choice Stevie Awards in three industry categories. Freelancer.com, the Sydney, Australia-based outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplace for small businesses, has won two People’s Choice Stevie Awards.   The organization that received the most votes overall is the Dubai Statistics Center.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The International Business Awards banquet on Friday, 21 October at the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy. Tickets for the event are now on sale. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be presented with their awards along with the People’s Choice Stevie Awards. Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,800 nominations received from organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations.

The winners of the 2016 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are:

-Advertising, Marketing & PR: other
-Automotive / Manufacturing / Transport: International Armoring Corporation
-Banking: ZiraatBank
-Business or Professional Services: Freelancer.com
-Computer Services: RheinBrücke IT Consulting
-Computer Software: Jasper
-Consumer Products: Jeunesse Global
-Diversified Services: PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies
-Financial Services: Payoneer
-Government / Non-Profit: Dubai Statistics Center
-Health / Pharmaceutical: NMC Healthcare
-Insurance: Cebuana Lhuillier
-Internet / New Media: Freelancer.com
-Other Industries: PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies
-Real Estate / Retail: N&F Global Corp.
-Telecommunication: Ooredoo Qatar

You've been busy. Summer's over and you're getting back into the swing of things. Whatever the reason, you didn't get around to submitting entries to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business. But you've gotten a reprieve. We have some tips on how you can submit your nominations in as little time as possible. The last day final entries wil be accepted is Friday, September 30.

We know, you're still busy. Your calendar this week is still chockablock. But surely you can find 10 free minutes. Because in 10 minutes you can prepare and submit an entry to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and potentially win a Stevie®, one of the most coveted trophies on the planet.

Here are a number of ways you can do that:

Repurpose Nominations From Other Awards Programs
The submission requirements are fairly open-ended, and there's a wide variety of categories to choose from. If you've entered any other awards programs this year, simply repurpose the nominations you wrote for those competitions, as long as they qualify as being run by women. Most categories require only the submission of an essay of up to 650 words and a bullet-list summary of the achievements portrayed in the essay.

Repurpose Your Press Releases and White Papers
It's likely you've already done the heavy-lifting of describing your organization's achievements, your innovations, your new products and services, your marketing and PR campaigns, etc. Throughout the year you've been trumpeting your successes through press releases and white papers. Simply comb through your output over the past year and cobble together the text you've already written into a short essay. Note that the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will recognize your achievements since the middle of 2015.

Repurpose Your Press Clippings
With every nomination you have the option to attach any number of press clippings, work samples, video clips, photographs, etc. to your essay, to help paint the picture for the judges. Does one or more of your press clippings feature a compelling story that can be the basis of the essay for your Stevie Awards for Women in Business nomination? There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists and you can reuse it.

Hire a Consultant
Did you know that there are a number of consultancies that specialize in preparing and submitting awards nominations on behalf of their clients? There are quite a few in the U.S.A., and internationally and they've been remarkably successful over the years in winning Stevie Awards for their clients. Contact us if you'd like a referral to one of them who can take the process of getting entries into the Stevie Awards for Women in Business off your hands this week.

Submit Media Work
Sometimes you hope to win a Stevie for a specific reason - for a major achievement, or a member of your team - but you can also win a Stevie Award for specific media work. If that's the case, take a look at the categories for videos, apps, websites, publications, and live events. It's really easy to enter these categories. These categories generally require only a short essay of up to 125 words, describing the nominated work's purpose and results to date, and the nominated video or app, etc., itself.

Resubmit a Nomination From Another Stevie Awards Program
Did you have success with a nomination in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or The American Business Awards? One Stevie Awards competition has nothing to do with another, and resubmitting a nomination from one program to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business is a valid strategy followed by many organizations.

Contact Us for Help
You'll save a lot of time by letting us do some of the important work for you. We'll save you the trouble of plowing through our category lists to find the category that's right for you, for example. Contact us, by email at help@stevieawards or telephone at +1 703-547-8389. Tell us what your organization wants to be recognized for, and we'll suggest the best category for your nomination.

Whichever strategy you choose to get your nominations written and submitted this week, do get them submitted by the final entry deadline of Friday, September 30.

Ready to Enter the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

The 11th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Sales Team Awards categories. Sales team categories recognize the members of individual teams within your overall sales department.  For example, the team may service a particular customer segment or a single client, or may work in a particular sales territory.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing the team’s accomplishments since July 1, 2015.
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

Global Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose industry, client, or other focus has a global scope.

National Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose industry, client, or other focus has a national scope.

Government Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose charge is selling to government clients.

Field Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business out of the office at face to face meetings with clients.

Telesales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business by telephone .

Online Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business via online and social media.

Sales Support Team of the Year
Recognizing teams that provide administrative, logistical, or resource support to sales organizations.

Sales Operations Team of the Year
Recognizing teams that help sales organizations to run effectively, efficiently and in support of business strategies and objectives

Virtual Technology Sales Enablement and Pre-sales Team of the Year
Recognizing teams that provide remote sales and technology expertise to accelerate and enable sales with a global or national scope.

Sales Management Team of the Year
Recognizing the leadership teams of sales organizations for their achievements.

Past Stevie Award winners in the Sales Team Awards categories include:

Global Sales Team of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, CA USA: Cisco's Global Virtual Sales Organization
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Acquia, Burlington, MA USA: Acquia's Global Account Sales Team
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Marriott International Inc., Bethesda, MD USA: Marriott Global Reservation Sales
Varonis, New York, NY USA: Varonis Systems Sales Team
Victrex plc, Lancashire, United Kingdom: Victrex Sales Team

National Sales Team of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Adobe Systems Incorporated, San Jose, CA USA: Adobe Strategic Accounts Sales Team
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
iHeartMedia, Inc., New York, NY USA: iHeartMedia, Inc. National Sales Team
Lyons Consulting Group, Chicago, IL USA: LYONSCG's National Sales Team
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Sales Partnerships, Inc. Sales Team of the Year
SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA: SoftPro Sales Team Boosts Revenue Amidst Industry Changes
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Digital Risk, Maitland, FL USA: Digital Risk National Sales Team
Revana, Tempe, AZ USA: Revana Ranked Highest Global Google AdWords Vendor

Government Sales Team of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express U.S., Plantation, FL USA: DHL Express Public Sector Team
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
IAC Philippines / TomArmor Systems, Layton, UT USA: IAC Philippines Government Sales Team

Field Sales Team of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: SPI Lights up Sales in 2015
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
American Solar Direct, Los Angeles, CA USA: American Solar Direct Embraces Change to Drive Results
Turk Ekonomi Bankasi, Istanbul, Turkey: Strongest Field Sales Team of Turkey
USHEALTH Advisors, LLC, Grapevine, TX USA: USHEALTH Advisors Field Force Fulfills Our Company's Mission of HOPE
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Lennox Industries, Inc., Richardson, TX USA: Lennox's Field Territory Sales Team

...and more. See all 2016 Sales Team winners here.

The Spaceship, in Sydney, Australia, won five Gold Stevie® Awards in the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards: two in the Corporate Communications/Investor Relations/Public Relations Awards categories, for Innovation in the Use of Celebrities or Public Figures and for Innovation in the Use of Video; and three in the Marketing Awards categories, for Innovation in Branded Entertainment, for Innovation in Sponsorships, and for Most Innovative Marketing or Advertising Professional of the Year.

The 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards will open for entries in October. 

Request your Entry Kit here.

We spoke with 2016’s Most Innovative Marketing or Advertising Professional, Kumar Manix, Founder and Creative Director of The Spaceship, about his company, his work philosophy, and what winning multiple Gold Stevie® Awards has meant to him and his team.

Kumar and his team at The Spaceship specialize in blending the creative and the commercial with an entrepreneurial flair, and bring to each project a deep level of strategic thinking and industry knowledge honed by years of experience working with blue chip brands.

The Spaceship team is talented and highly motivated, and they approach campaigns with a provocative and adventurous spirit, as well as a strong sense of fun, but are still relentless in achieving demonstrable results for their clients.

Kumar told us that winning in the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards has been great for his team and his clients. “We take great pride in our work,” he told us. “We celebrate our success at the Stevie Awards and it is something each of us will hold close to our heart. Our clients also get to share in the win and it allows them to shine amongst their peers.”

Transforming Customers into Fans

Together with his team at The Spaceship, Kumar’s goal is to find innovative and inspiring ways to transform customers into fans, content into ideas, and ideas into experiences. 

A great example of this is the Gold Stevie® Award-winning entry for their Rise of The Tomb Raider Asia Launch.

Tomb Raider is the iconic video game franchise starring its beautiful and fearless protagonist, Lara Croft, battling enemies through highly challenging environments using improvised weapons and gadgets. The exclusive launch of Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox made the event a natural magnet for worldwide attention, Xbox sought to elevate the game experience even further by bringing Lara Croft herself to life for fans in Asia.

The Spaceship team created and executed a clever stunt-led idea that developed into an all-encompassing, fan-focused campaign. It started with a death-defying stunt, and continued with fun interactive contests using Twitch, the leading video platform and community for gamers.

High Impact Stunt

Renowned Lara Croft cosplayer, Jenn Croft, leapt off the world’s highest bungee jump at Macau Tower, decked out in the latest Tomb Raider outfit and accessories.

Embedded Prizes

Fans could #HackTheIce through the twitter hashtag to reveal prizes embedded in eight Rise of the Tomb Raider-themed ice sculptures.

Social & Digital

The entire event, from the death-defying stunt, fan engagement contests, unveiling of never-before-seen Rise of the Tomb Raider footage, meet-and-greets, and question-and-answer sessions were all streamed live over Twitch–a first for a game launch in Asia.

Fans who tuned in participated by tweeting in their questions bearing the #HackTheIce hashtag, and voted for the ice sculpture to be hacked by Jenn Croft, to reveal prizes for participating fans. This sequence of events was also amplified via Xbox and Microsoft social media channels across Asia. A media release on the #HackTheIce campaign was disseminated to media across Asia, and posted on the Microsoft Asia News Center.

Outstanding Results

In line with Lara Croft’s personal adventures in Rise of the Tomb Raider, the #HackTheIce Campaign has shown that the bold execution of big ideas and going off-the-beaten-track can lead to great rewards:

• The campaign generated the highest-ever digital sales for any Tomb Raider version on Xbox;

• The video game content created for the campaign was viewed more than a million times;

• The interactive live stream event saw nearly 600 questions tweeted over just two hours, and reached close to 600,000 fans from around the world via social media; and

• The media outreach garnered 66 stories across multiple markets in the region.

Bringing Crazy Ideas to Life

We asked Kumar how The Spaceship team keeps coming up with such amazingly wild and crazy ideas. He told us: “We are fortunate to have an incredible team that thrives on the challenge and relishes the buzz of bringing crazy ideas to life. We have a zest for doing amazing experiences. We want our clients to push us to create new and bold ideas. We don’t want to just emulate other best practices. We want to create them.”

A Bright Future for Brands in Digital and Social Media

Kumar added that the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards are helping in broadening awareness of his company.  “Being recognized as an ‘innovative business’ by the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is helping to further open doors for us in new business development. It is also helping us to transcend the traditional events agency model.”  As Kumar puts it:  “We work on creating epic launches and experiences for brands across Asia.”

Looking ahead, Kumar sees a bright future. “We love the challenge of creating shareable experiences that go well beyond the moment and that extend beyond the audience at an event,” he explained. “We aim to transform customers into fans. Digital and Social are at the heart of what we believe is the start of an amazing era of rich experiences for brands all over the world.”

About Kumar Manix:

Kumar has led a wide range of high profile campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, Foxtel, Samsung, Intel, Coca Cola, and Adobe. He has achieved enormous success, driving millions of dollars’ worth of earned media and inspiring epic levels of fan engagement.

As a marketer, his campaigns have seen him collaborate with some of the greatest storytellers in the world including Oprah, the BBC, Disney and Marvel. Through his innovative use of video to drive engagement, Kumar has taken fans on numerous adventures to thrilling places, such as floating 100,000 feet into the sky on a space balloon, leaping off a high building with Lara Croft, and driving at 280 km/h in a racing car with The Stig.

He has worked extensively in the Asian market, primarily in China and Singapore, but also in Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. His deep understanding of the unique character and requirements of consumers in Asia has helped him to achieve extraordinary results, including working on the launch of the Xbox video game console in China in 2014 following a decade-long ban on foreign video game consoles.

Outside of his work, Kumar is happily married and the father of two children, Kiran and Ria. He is sports obsessed–something the Australians term a “sports tragic”–and a lover of street food from all over the world. He also owns an enviable collection of sneakers.

About The Spaceship:

The Spaceship is a brand activation agency that is based in Sydney and works globally.

For more information, go to http://thespaceship.com.au/

Top Sales Awards and Customer Service Awards Winners to Be Recognized in Las Vegas

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for entries for the 2017 (11th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

All customer service, contact center, business development and sales departments, teams and professionals worldwide are eligible to be nominated, in addition to new products and services used by those professionals. The 2017 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2015.

The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is October 19, 2016. The final entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11, 2017 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the 11th annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•         Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
•         Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
•         Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
•         Sales Distinction categories in 13 industry groupings
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•         Customer Service Department categories in 11 industry groupings
•         Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings, to recognize the customer service-related achievements of organizations without a formal customer service function
•         New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
•         Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards or Recognition Provider of the Year
•         Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year    

The 2017 program offers new categories for new products and services and solution providers. New categories for new products and services include Customer Service or Sales Book of the Year, Customer Service Training Product of the Year and Sales Training Product of the Year. The new solution provider category for 2017 is Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year.

The 2017 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

2017 will see the return of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in which the general public worldwide may vote for their favorite providers of customer service.

Stevie Winners in the 2016 edition of the awards included Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, DP DHL, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, IBM, ISN Software UK Ltd., Kohl’s Department Stores, Office Depot, SAVO, ShopKeep POS, Vestmark, VIZIO, Inc. and Vodafone Turkey, among others.  The full-text of Gold Stevie-winning nominations are available on the website.

The 2017 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will focus on the Customer Service Success Awards categories.

If your organization doesn't have a formal customer service function - if "everyone here works in customer service" is your motto - then these are the categories for you.

 If your organization has a formal customer service function, don't enter these categories - enter the Customer Service Department categories instead.

Information required for entries in these categories include:

(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your organization's customer service-related accomplishments since July 1, 2015.
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

140. Customer Service Success - Business Service Industries
     141. Customer Service Success - Financial Service Industries
     142. Customer Service Success - Other Service Industries
     143. Customer Service Success - Technology Industries
     144. Customer Service Success - All Other Industries

Winners of the Customer Service Success Awards categores in 2016 include:

Customer Service Success - Business Service Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
John Hancock Financial Services, Boston, MA USA: Service Success Along the Way
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
SAHOURI Insurance, McLean, VA USA: SAHOURI Insurance

Customer Service Success - Technology Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Wagepoint, Kitchener-Waterloo, ON, Canada: Wagepoint - Where customers are part of the family
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Calabrio, Minneapolis, MN USA: Calabrio's Customer Service Success
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Aplos Software, Fresno, CA USA: Aplos Builds Customer Confidence To Find Customer Service Success
Cisco Systems, Inc., Feltham, United Kingdom: Service Logistics and Operations Best Practice in the Delivery of Field Services
Patagonia Health, Cary, NC USA: Patagonia Health: Trust Comes from Providing Great Service

Customer Service Success - All Other Services and Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
IDG TechNetwork, New York, NY USA: IDG TechNetwork's Customer Service Success
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Youth Assembly, Istanbul, Turkey: IMM Youth Assembly's Successful Projects
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Selvice Service Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan: Selvice Service's Maple Halloween

Tania Hummel is Director of Thrive Coaching and Consulting in London, United Kingdom.  She assisted in judging the Company/Organization Awards categories for last year’s Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business is accepting late entries through the final entry deadline of Wednesday, September 21.  REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Preliminary judging of the 2016 Awards has just commenced. Tania will be joining the final round of judging in October. If you are interested in being a judge this year, apply to judge here.

Following are some surprisingly moving comments Tania sent us on her experience of judging in 2015.

This time last year, I was approached by an old friend to judge the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.   Not knowing what to expect, I gamely applied and was accepted. At the allotted time and date I accessed the judging website to view entries.

The first thing I discovered was that there were many more entries than I had expected– and from all over the world.  

The next thing I discovered was just how challenging judging could be.

Pressure to Succeed

Some submissions were about women who had scaled the heights of corporate giants, landing in senior roles where the competition and pressure to succeed could scarcely be imagined. Closer inspection of supporting documents to these applications showed that these were often “winners” from childhood–starting in their earliest school days, often mentored or supported by other high achievers, and given the best education money could buy.  In some cases, the question wasn't how could they succeed, but how could they possibly fail?  Yet the pressure to succeed, the perfectionist standards, and the constant striving made clear that success was without doubt hard won.

Rising from Obscurity

Then there were women who rose from complete obscurity, with no advantages at all, who told stories of how they worked during the day, and studied at night, sometimes working more than one job just to make ends meet.  They also scaled the corporate heights, sometimes in areas you might expect such as NGOs and charities, where sheer pluck and strength of character might get you places, but also in more conventional and male-dominated industries.  They added a quality of sheer grit and determination, inspiring others to believe that they, too, could make it, against all odds.  I identified with these women, as their story was my story–but I was careful not to allow my conscious bias to affect my objectivity.

Building Businesses from Scratch

I noticed there were women from all kinds of backgrounds: corporate refugees; stay-at-home moms; apparently ordinary women who started up businesses from their living rooms.  Sometimes they succeeded first time, sometimes they didn't.  Some of them had succeeded so well they had more than one entry, as they were running more than one business.  This demonstrated the power of the Internet to create new businesses, but these entries didn't shy away from illustrating the long hours, moments of doubt and despair, and sheer commitment and sacrifice needed to build a business from scratch.

Turning Weakness into Strength

Then there were the women who defeated the odds by overcoming their personal demons, and in so doing had succeeded beyond all expectations. These were women who had been given harsh feedback because of some personal flaw, but had not given in to either self-pity or self-loathing. Instead–with courage, determination, and the will to work on themselves–they had turned things around, and turned those weaknesses into strengths.  

Harnessing Technology to Solve Suffering

And then there were the women in technology roles, who started out in global organizations but who managed to use their positions of power to lobby their organizations to use their technology for a purpose beyond profit.  One such example was a woman who showed how her company brought first-line medical care to the remotest parts of the world via telecommunications in a way that made me rejoice at the limitless possibilities of harnessing technology to solve suffering in the world.

The Capacity to Care

Finally, there were the stories that made me stop in wonder at the human capacity to care.  One woman had started an obscure charity in a faraway country to which she apparently had no personal links. As an example of what must have been pure altruism, she showed the difference she had made–with no personal gain that I could see–to a group of blind and disabled people in a developing country, who, as a result of her efforts, were able to earn a living in a supportive community.

Mentoring and Inspiring

How clever, how kind, how determined, and how creative these ladies were. And how wonderful that so many of them cited other women as mentors, and were mentoring young women themselves.  It shattered the myth of the Queen Bee who pulls up the ladder behind her, and renewed my gratitude to the great lady who gave me my own big break.  And how encouraging, too, that many cited as inspiration their fathers, the male bosses who mentored them, or the husbands and partners who provided much needed moral, practical, or financial support.

I was once asked in a consultation forum what was the one thing I thought a woman with a family most needed to be successful. Without hesitation I replied: “A quality husband!”  Looking around at my successful girlfriends, however, I note that these can be a rare commodity, which makes the women who succeed as single parents, or who recover from adversity, all the more to be admired and respected.  

At any rate, there is usually someone, whether male or female, who is prepared to take a step down while you take a step up. Someone who is prepared to be a little bit beta while you go a little bit alpha … because no one gets to have it all–at least not all at the same time. 

So, in celebration of all successful women and the people who helped make them so, here is an anthem to Women’s Day from Peter Gabriel & Youssou N’Dour to play us out. 

Read more of Tania’s views on the world of Coaching and HR on the Thrive Blog.

About Tania Hummel:

Currently the Director of Thrive Coaching & Consulting, for six years until 2014 Tania Hummel led the HR function of the Nature and Macmillan Publishing Group, one of the world’s most renowned scientific, academic, and education publishers, during a period of transformation from a regionally organized, traditional, print-based business to a global digital and data-driven information provider. She had strategic and operational accountability for over 5,000 employees in over 50 markets, dealing with complex people and organizational challenges in countries as diverse as Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya, Mexico, Brazil, India, Japan, Australia, and the US. Her key experiences include managing complex employee relations issues in the UK and internationally, executive coaching, talent management, employer brand development, leadership and management development, communications, and global compliance and risk management.

Creative, pragmatic, and focused, Tania creates a safe space for teams and individuals to develop transformational goals whilst building confidence and increasing strategic capability. She is equally comfortable coaching groups, or individuals and is passionate about developing talent through strategic talent management initiatives. She uses innovative, award winning tools and techniques to create bespoke initiatives and has coached senior executives internationally via Skype or Google hangouts.

The Stevie^® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, is accepting entries for its 2016 (13^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The final entry deadline is Wednesday, September 21. Finalists will be announced on October 5. The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on November 18, 2016.    

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 85 categories 

Today we will highlight the Company / Organization Awards categories:

These categories will recognize the achievements since July 1, 2015 of women-owned and -run organizations worldwide. To be eligible for these categories, an organization must be at least 50% owned by one or more women, and/or have a woman as its chief executive and at least 40% of its management team comprised of women.

Entries to these categories require the following:

1. An essay of up to 525 words describing the nominated organization's achievements in the category since July 1, 2015

2. A biography of up to 125 words of the leader of the nominated organization
3. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

Note that employee totals are for the entire organization.

50. Company of the Year – Business Products – 10 or Less Employees
51. Company of the Year – Business Products – More Than 10 Employees
52. Company of the Year – Business Services – 10 or Less Employees
53. Company of the Year – Business Services – More Than 10 Employees
54. Company of the Year – Consumer Products – 10 or Less Employees
55. Company of the Year – Consumer Products – More Than 10 Employees
56. Company of the Year – Consumer Services – 10 or Less Employees
57. Company of the Year – Consumer Services – More Than 10 Employees
58. Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– 10 or Less Employees (this category has no entry fee)
59. Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– More Than 10 Employees (this category has no entry fee)

60. Startup of the Year: These categories will recognize the achievements since July 1, 2015 of organizations that began operations after July 1, 2014.  There are no entry fees for these categories.
      a. Business Products Industries
      b. Business Services Industries
      c. Consumer Products Industries
      d. Consumer Services Industries

61. Most Innovative Company of the Year – 10 or Less Employees
62. Most Innovative Company of the Year – More Than 10 Employees

63. Fastest Growing Company of the Year
64. Community Involvement Program of the Year

65. Management Team of the Year – 10 or Less Employees
66. Management Team of the Year – More Than 10 Employees

67. Women-Run Workplace of the Year - 10 ore Less Employees
68. Women-Run Workplace of the Year - More Than 10 Employees

Past winners in the Company / Organization Awards categories of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business include:

Company of the Year - Business Services - 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DemandLab, LLC, Jenkintown, PA USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Irving Levin Associates, Inc., Norwalk, CT USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Brookline Public Relations Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada
Jacobson Strategic Communications, Philadelphia, PA USA
KC Projects, Birmingham, AL USA
Tasman Consulting, San Francisco, CA USA

Company of the Year – Business Products & Services - More Than 10 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Vaco Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
ALOM, Fremont, CA USA
Consultants 2 Go, Newark, NJ USA
Grow Marketing, San Francisco, CA USA
Pink Elephant, Burlington, ON, Canada
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
DCR Workforce, Inc., Boca Raton, FL USA
eZCom Software, Englewood, NJ USA
HUYA Bioscience International, San Diego, CA USA & Shanghai, China
Stratus Interactive, West Chester, PA USA

Company of the Year - Consumer Products & Services - 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Owl's Brew, New York, NY USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
ECLAT! on madison, New York, NY USA
MuTu System, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Organization of the Year - Government or Non-Profit- 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Dream it. Code it. Win it., New York, NY USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
The Australian Charity for the Children of Vietnam (ACCV), Queensland, VIC, Australia
The Double Hit Lymphoma Foundation, Chicago, IL USA
Miss America's Outstanding Teen, Inc., Clearwater, FL USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
The Mentoring by Example Foundation, Inc., Bowie, MD USA

Organization of the Year - Government or Non-Profit- More Than 10 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Enterprise Community Partners, Columbia, MD USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
The Connecticut Open, New Haven, CT USA: The Connecticut Open Tennis Tournament and Its Ability to Connect the Community
Pathways Community Interest Company, Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom: Impacting Health Through Work

...and more. See all of the 2015 Stevie-winners here.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight we the Sales Distinction Awards categories.

Rather than focus on the performance of a named sales department, these categories recognize sales-related achievements across your entire company or organization. You choose the successes you wish to highlight. They can be related to revenue growth, customer acquisition, lead development, training, enculturation of product knowledge, etc.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your organization's sales-related accomplishments since July 1, 2015.

(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

40. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Hardware
41. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Services
42. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Software
43. Sales Distinction of the Year – Distribution & Transportation
44. Sales Distinction of the Year - Financial Services
45. Sales Distinction of the Year – Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries
46. Sales Distinction of the Year – Hospitality & Tourism
47. Sales Distinction of the Year - Industrial & Manufacturing
48. Sales Distinction of the Year  - Media & Entertainment
49. Sales Distinction of the Year – Public Services & Education
50. Sales Distinction of the Year - Services
51. Sales Distinction of the Year - Telecommunications
52. Sales Distinction of the Year – All Other Industries

Winners of the Sales Distinction Awards in 2016 include:

Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Services 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA: SoftPro Shatters 2015 Sales Goals
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Oildex, Denver, CO USA: Oildex: A David vs. Goliath Deal
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Yesware, Boston, MA USA: Yesware - Ahead of the Pack in Sales Software

Sales Distinction of the Year - Distribution & Transportation 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express, Beirut, Lebanon: DHL Service Point Team, in Beirut Central District
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express, Arnhem, The Netherlands: DHL Express NL Spotdesk
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express - Saudi Arabia, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia: DHL Express - Saudi Arabia - A Journey from Good to Great

Sales Distinction of the Year - Financial Services 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
WePay Inc, Redwood City, CA USA: WePay's Amazing Sales Achievements
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
HealthEquity, Draper, UT USA: HealthEquity
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Elephant Insurance, Richmond, VA USA: Elephant's Sales Department: Growing, Growing, Growing!

Sales Distinction of the Year - Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: High Performers Rise to the Occasion
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: ‘MOR' assures Guidewell Connect is not 'Middle of the Road'
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Time for a Do Over

Sales Distinction of the Year - Telecommunications 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Vodafone Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey: Vodafone Turkey's 'Pusula'
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Internet leader shines with SPI

Sales Distinction of the Year - All Other Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Cutting Edge Blue Collar Sales
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Orlando, FL USA: Marriott Vacation Club - Sales Center Technology - Dynamic Customization and Personalization
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Campaigner Email Marketing, Woburn, MA USA: Campaigner Email Marketing's Distinctive Sales Achievements

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2016 (13^th annual) International Business Awards, the world’s premier business awards competition.

Nominees in the 2016 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 with a Gold Stevie win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie for two points and a Bronze Stevie win for one-and-a-half points. 

This year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on 10 August. The winners of the Best of the IBA Awards will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies at The 13^th annual International Business Awards banquet at the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy on 21 October. 

Winners of the 2016 Grand Stevie Awards are:

Most Honored Organization: With 62 award points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted by DHL offices in 21 nations, Deutsche Post DHL is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Organization of the year. DP DHL is no stranger to Grand Stevie Award honors. The company won the same honor in last year’s IBAs and the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. They’ve also won the award for three consecutive years in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Most Honored Public Relations Agency: With a total of 65 points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted by their agencies and offices in China, India, Japan and the USA, MSLGROUP is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Public Relations Agency of the year.

Most Honored Marketing Agency: With a total of 87.5 points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries on behalf of clients such as Korean Air Lines, LG and the Seoul Foundation for Arts Culture, South Korean advertising agency HS Ad is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Marketing Agency of the year.

Most Honored Interactive Services Agency: With 26.5 points for Stevies won on behalf of clients including China Mobile Hong Kong, L’OCCITANE and NIVEA, Hong Kong-based PRIZM is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Interactive Services Agency of the year.

Top 10: These are the top Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners among all other organizations honored in the 2016 IBAs. They’ll be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies.

1. LLORENTE & CUENCA—Madrid, Spain (50 points)
   2. CallidusCloud—Dublin, CA, USA (47)
   3. (two-way tie at 44 points)
   ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller—Dubai, United Arab Emirates
   Cisco Systems—worldwide
   5. Telkom Indonesia—Jakarta (42)  
   6. ECE Türkiye—Istanbul, Turkey (39.5)
   7. Weber Shandwick—worldwide (38.5)
   8. Ooredoo—Doha, Qatar (37 points)
   9. Dubai Statistics Center—Dubai, United Arab Emirates (31)
   10. Freelancer.com—Sydney, Australia (29)

“These 14 organizations understand the value of seeking public recognition for the achievements of their executive teams and their employees, by nominating them for Stevie Awards in many different categories,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The Best of the IBA Awards are intended to honor organizations that demonstrate a high level of achievement globally, in many different initiatives, and we look forward to celebrating these firms with Grand Stevie Award trophies at our gala event in Rome on 21 October.”

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.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements in the 2016 IBAs were determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals worldwide in the three-month judging process.

For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2016 competition, visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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.

The Ministry of the Interior in Seoul, South Korea, won a Gold Stevie for Innovation in Community Relations or Public Service Communications in the Corporate Communications, Investor Relations and Public Relations Awards categories of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. The Ministry also received the Grand Award for Communications/Public Relations.

The 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards will open for entries in October.  Sign up to recieve the entry kit as soon as it's available.

Because of a low birth rate and rapidly aging population, social welfare requirements in South Korea have increased. This has put pressure on local finance, so in 2015, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) introduced Local Finance Reforms to help address these problems. As a result, the Ministry has significantly improved public service communications with local communities through such activities as locally oriented storytelling, customized field public relations, extensive communications through social media channels, and the production and distribution of visual products such as info-graphics.

We talked with Kim Sung-lyul, Vice Minster at the MOI, about the challenges his office was addressing; what winning the Gold and Grand Stevie Awards had meant to his department; and what the department was planning for the coming year.

Communication is Key

Kim told us that the main objective of the reforms carried out by the MOI since 2015 was to improve local fiscal operative soundness and transparency, which up until then had been the task of local governments. As he put it: “Communication was key, as the process involved different stakeholders such as local businesses and citizens.”

The MOI used various methods to communicate with different people. Kim explained: “A program called ‘Regional Storytelling (Not Text, But Story),’ was developed to cater to regional citizens, along with customized regional promotion campaigns; participatory activity produced by Social Media journalists composed of digitalized policy prosumers; Group Intelligence linking service of portals (Netizens ask and MOI answers); the production and distribution of visual-intuitive contents such as infographics—these were just a few other examples. Public relations were also conducted through the social media channels and other different news media of the MOI.”

The MOI efforts proved a success, Kim told us. “The program to publicize local fiscal reform gained good reviews after a thorough evaluation. And winning the Grand and Gold Stevie Awards shows that our diverse efforts to communicate with the citizens have now received recognition on a wider stage.”

Expanding our Network

Continued Kim: “It is a great honor that our program to publicize local fiscal reform has won an internationally renowned award. It has inspired the teams that contributed to promoting these programs despite difficult circumstances.  Our publicists are more confident and more focused on their work, and our administrators recognize more than ever the important role that communications play in actively motivating people.

“It was also immensely helpful to have learned about other excellent cases and individuals from different countries at the awards ceremony, and to expand our network of policy publicity within the Asia-Pacific region.

“We fully expect that our government-led reforms will be further encouraged as the program is recognized by the international community. We have successfully publicized our different policies, and while we acknowledge the fact that it is a rare thing, it is delightful to have been officially recognized from the outside.  I would also like to express my gratitude to the judging committee and officials of the Stevie Awards.”

Elevating Government Stature

Kim also sees the value of these awards to his government as a whole. “Effective communication and cooperation between central government and local government is crucial for local fiscal reform. The fact that our program for strategic publicity of this reform gained international recognition implies that the innovative administration of the Korean government has been recognized as well. This will play a pivotal role in elevating the stature of the Korean government and the MOI through publicity in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Government 3.0

Looking ahead, Kim told us that the MOI will continue its efforts to communicate with citizens using various practical approaches to allow easier understanding of its major policies.  “We are currently focusing on Government 3.0 tasks. Government 3.0 is based on Article 1 Clause 2 of the Constitution, which states: The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea resides with its citizens. Simply put, we are encouraging citizens to actively participate in evaluating the government’s policies, works and services.”

Kim explained: “The reason Government 3.0 holds such great importance is that unlike in earlier days when the government decided policies unilaterally, now it is co-governance between the government and the people. Also back then, corporations were only required to fulfill their social responsibilities, but now they’re expected to create shared values. It’s officially an ‘era of governance’ where cooperation between the government and the people is more than necessary. The border dividing the two entities is diminishing rapidly.

“A good example of Government 3.0 is the Citizen Policy Design Group, in which citizens proactively participate in the enforcement of government policies. Not only do citizens enjoy the services provided, but also they directly create ideas and services, which the government may adopt or purchase as needed. The society we are living in right now is one where everyone can be a professional and wisdom is valued over knowledge. We have introduced the concept of Do-It-Yourself to public services!”

Putting People First

Kim is enthusiastic about his career and the future: “If I had to live my life again I would still be a civil servant. I can think of no other occupation that is more rewarding. I take care and protect the lives, property, and security of the people. As a public official, I put people first. I can provide what people need and I can make the fallen stand once again.

Kim has a personal credo, which consists of three core values: Pride, Pleasure, and Fulfillment.

“People should have pride and respect for themselves. Being proud and respectful—not arrogant—will lead to success. And people should be proud of their work, organization, boss, and country as well.”

“Secondly, you should enjoy work. Don’t just do it for the sake of doing it, but do it differently from others. Pleasure comes when you see new things and do new things.”

“Last but not least, everything should come with a sense of fulfillment. Work can only be truly rewarding when you feel it in your heart, not just from getting a prizes or being promoted. You should be moved and impressed by your own work.”

About Kim Sung-lyul:

Vice Minister Kim Sung-lyul was born to serve. His father was a police officer, teacher, and a town official. Following in his father’s footsteps, Kim has been a devoted public servant for 30 years. He is immensely proud that his work protects the lives, security, and property of the people.  Kim is also a founding members of the Civil Service Commission, and is proud of his involvement in the establishment of the public officer system, including the senior executive service system, incentive salaries, executive agency system, political executive HR system, and more.

Early in his career, Kim spent two years on dispatch to the United Kingdom’s Home Office, and two-and-a-half years on dispatch to the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) in Paris, France, which provided him with a strong basis in domestic administration.

Before starting his career as a public servant, Kim studied public policies in the United States.

About the Korean Ministry of Interior:

The Korean Ministry of the Interior is one of the core departments of the Korean government, working to improve the wellbeing of citizens through innovation and local governance. Under the regime of Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea, the MOI is focused on creating jobs and establishing an efficient government by providing customized services through Government 3.0 under the maxims of openness, sharing, communication, and cooperation.

The MOI is devoting its full capacity to improving local government by fortifying and reforming local finance. Its top priority currently is to fulfill national endeavors to create an autonomous living style in which the people are happy; and to eliminate discomfort in daily life by reviving the local economy through on-the-spot regulatory reforms and innovation of local budgets.

The MOI also supports government operations including parliamentary activities and prizes, national archival management, running the government office, unified operation of governmental resources, and scientific investigations.

Finalists in the 2016 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, an international competition, were announced today. The awards recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, teams, achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help to create and drive great places to work.    

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized. The leader among finalists is the Dubai Statistics Center. The Emirati government organization is recognized in five categories, including Employer of the Year.  

Turk Telekom (Turkey) and Under Armour (USA) are finalists in four categories. Organizations with three finalists each include BMC Software (USA), Ceridian (USA), Karrikins Group Pty Ltd. (Australia), Kuzey Academy (Turkey), New American Funding (USA), Roth Staffing Companies (USA), RWE Group Business Services GmbH (Germany) and T-Mobile, worldwide.

For a full list of finalists by category, visit www.StevieAwards.com/HR.   

All finalists will ultimately be named Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award winners. The placements will be announced during a gala banquet on Friday, September 30 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Tickets are now on sale. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 250 nominations from organizations around the world were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 50 professionals worldwide, acting as judges. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

•     Employer of the Year
•    HR Achievements
•    HR Individual Awards
•    HR Team Categories
•    Solution Provider Awards
•    More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

Stevie Award winners in the 34 Employer of the Year categories were determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. More than 44,000 votes were cast by members of the public for their favorite employer.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Customer Service Department Awards categories.

In addition to the possibility of receiving a peer-reviewed honor in these categories, all nominated customer service departments that are chosen as Finalists also will be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service.  Online voting will open to the public worldwide in mid-January and will continue through early February.  We will provide Finalists in these categories with tools to help you encourage your fans, followers and customers to vote for you.  The nominee with the most votes in each category will receive a special crystal People's Choice Stevie Award.

The customer service department categories recognize everyone who works formally in customer service in your organization, regardless of their role or location. 

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your customer service department’s accomplishments since July 1, 2015.
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

80. Customer Service Department of the Year – Airlines, Distribution & Transportation
81. Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Hardware
82.  Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Software. This category is split into two separate categories:
       a. At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees
       b. At Organizations With 100 or More Employees
83. Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Service
84. Customer Service Department of the Year – Financial Services. This category is split into two separate categories:
       a. At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees
       b. At Organizations With 100 or More Employees
85. Customer Service Department of the Year – Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries
86. Customer Service Department of the Year – Leisure & Tourism
87. Customer Service Department of the Year – Public Services & Education
88. Customer Service Department of the Year – Retail
89. Customer Service Department of the Year – Telecommunications
90. Customer Service Department of the Year – All Other Industries

Past winners of the Customer Service Department awards include…

Customer Service Department of the Year - Airlines, Distribution & Transportation 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Delta Air Lines, Inc., Atlanta, GA USA: Delta Air Lines' Sales Support

Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Hardware 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Service Express, Grand Rapids, MI USA: SEI's Exceptional Customer Service Experience

Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Services 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Datapipe, Jersey City, NJ USA 

Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - Up to 100 Employees 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Druva Inc., Sunnyvale, CA USA

Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - 100 or More Employees 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Jobvite, San Mateo, CA USA

...and more. See all 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service winners here.

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been recognized as Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 13th Annual International Business 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, 21 October at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy. Tickets for the event are on sale now at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,800 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 200 executives worldwide participated in the judging process this year to determine the Stevie winners.

The top Gold Stevie Award winner this year is HS Ad, the South Korean advertising agency, with 13 Gold Stevies in a variety of categories. MSLGROUP worldwide is next with eight Gold Stevie wins, while Dubai Statistics Center, Telkom Indonesia and Weber Shandwick worldwide follow with seven each.  Accenture (USA), DHL Express Worldwide, and Freelancer.com (Australia) are winners of six Gold Stevies. Cisco Systems (USA), Jeunesse Global (USA), and Say Communications (United Kingdom) won five; and ASDA'A Burson Marsteller (United Arab Emirates), CallidusCloud (USA), and Odea Bank A.S. (Turkey) each won four Gold Stevie Awards.

Winners of three Gold Stevie Awards include Insurance Information and Monitoring Center (SBM) (Turkey), KB Kookmin Bank (South Korea), LLORENTE & CUENCA (Spain), Ribose (Hong Kong), PRONET (Turkey), Qonsilus GmbH (Germany), and Vodafone (Turkey and the United Kingdom).

A complete list of all 2016 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

“We received a record number of nominations in the IBAs this year, and the judges were awed by the inspiring stories of workplace success from all over the world,” said Stevie Awards founder and president Michael Gallagher.  “We look forward to honoring on stage the Stevie winners who join us in Rome on 21 October, and to sharing their stories with the world over the coming months through our website and social media channels."

During the week of 22 August the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes, will be announced.  Winners will be determined by a tally of the total number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevies won by organizations, and will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies in Rome.

For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or International Business Awards logo, visit http://stevieawards.com/iba/photos-and-logos. Other information and resources for press are available at http://stevieawards.com/iba/media-inquiries-news-service-list

The 11th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Business Development Categories. These categories recognize the achievements of individual business development professionals, and singular business development achievements in a variety of industries.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's accomplishments since July 1, 2015.
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

130. Business Development Executive of the Year
     Recognizing the achievements of business development executives since July 1, 2015. (Professionals at the VP level or higher.)
131. Business Development Professional of the Year
     Recognizing the achievements of non-executive business development professionals since July 1, 2015. (Professionals at a Director level or lower.)
132. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Financial Services Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the financial services industries since July 1, 2015.
133. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the hospitality and leisure industries since July 1, 2015.
134. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Media & Entertainment Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the media and entertainment industries since July 1, 2015.
135. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Services Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the services industries (business or consumer) since July 1, 2015.
136. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Technology Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the technology industries since July 1, 2015.
137. Business Development Achievement of the Year - Transportation Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - in any of the transportation industries since July 1, 2015.
138. Business Development Achievement of the Year - All Other Industries
     Recognizing singular business development achievements - agreements, deals, implementations, and/or performance results - since July 1, 2015 in any industry not addressed by categories 132 - 137.

Past Stevie Awards winners in the Business Development categories include:

Business Development Executive of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Thought Bubble, Brisbane, Australia: Nyree McKenzie, Managing Director and Principal Consultant

Business Development Professional of the Year 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Lennox Industries, Inc., Richardson, TX USA: Bill Carlson, Director of Retail National Accounts

Business Development Achievement of the Year - Technology Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
B&L Information Systems, Bridgman, MI USA: B&L Information Systems Bus. Dev. Achievements

Business Development Achievement of the Year - All Other Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
EFG Companies, Irving, TX USA: Quality Service Leads to Quality Growth

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

The final entry deadline for the Stevie Awards for Great Employers has been extended to Wednesday, August 10.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Solution Provider Categories—the categories that recognize the achievements of the providers of solutions that help to create and drive great places to work.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated organization's achievement since the beginning of 2015.  Focus on achievements since that date.  Make reference, where appropriate, to supporting materials attached to your entry that support your claims.

b. Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief accomplishments of the nominated organization since the beginning of 2015.

c. Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, work samples, internal or external reviews, or employee feedback, for example. 

Solution Provider Awards Categories:

D01     Business Acumen & HR Strategy Solution Provider of the Year           
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for diversity services, management consulting, outplacement, outsourcing, and relocation, among others.

D02     Employee Relations Solution Provider of the Year          
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for arbitration/mediation/dispute resolution, awards and motivation, employee engagement, performance appraisal and management, and employee surveys, among others.

D03     Global HR Solution Provider of the Year 
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for cultural awareness/cultural competence, global employment law, global outsourcing, and global relocation, among others.

D04     Health, Wellness and Safety Solution Provider of the Year        
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for drug and alcohol treatment or testing, health promotion, recreation, safety, security, or wellness, among others.

D05     HR Technology Solution Provider of the Year     
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for human resources-related systems, software or analytics.

D06     Leadership or Skills Development Solution Provider of the Year          
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for assessment tools, certificate programs, distance learning, leadership development, or training materials, among others.

D07     Talent Acquisition & Retention Solution Provider of the Year  
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for applicant assessment or tracking, background investigations, executive search, recruitment, recruitment advertising, or temporary staffing, among others.

D08     Total Rewards Solution Provider of the Year      
Recognizing the achievements of providers to the industry of solutions for child or dependent care, insurance, pensions/retirement benefits, and wage and salary administration, among others.

An international judging panel of nearly 100 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Finalists will be announced on August 17. Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at a gala event in New York City on September 30.

The Stevie® Awards have announced the three executives who will chair the specialized judging committees for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers. 

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR achievements, teams and professionals and human resources-related products and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

Individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The final entry deadline has been extended through August 10.

Stevie Award winners in the 34 Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. Public voting is open now through August 10 at http://stevies-sage.secure-platform.com/a/gallery?roundId=1. 

Finalists will be announced on August 17. Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at a gala event in New York City on September 30.

Here are this year's judging committee chairs.

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR/HR TEAM AWARDS JUDGING COMMITTEE:

Chair:
Brenda Gallick, Director of Team Member Success
Billhighway, Troy, Michigan, USA

Brenda is the Director of Team Member Success at Billhighway.  Her primary role is to innovate and nurture a team-oriented culture that aligns with the company’s Playbook (core values).  In addition to culture and engagement strategies, she is responsible for talent acquisition and development, as well as compensation, benefits programs, policies, and strategic performance objectives.

Founded in 1999, Billhighway provides automated dues and financial management solutions for chapter-based member organizations. Billhighway was named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™ list (2013-2015), a National Best and Brightest Company to Work For® (2012-2015), Crain’s Coolest Place To Work (2011, 2012, 2014), and the Detroit Free Press Top 100 Workplace (2014). 

Prior to joining Billhighway in 2010, Brenda worked in human resources and benefits consulting at Great Lakes Strategies.  Her commitment to exceptional human resource practices has allowed her to create an award winning culture with both regional and national recognition. Brenda is SPHR certified and earned an MSA in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a BBA in Human Resources from Western Michigan University. 

HR ACHIEVEMENT/HR INDIVIDUAL AWARDS JUDGING COMMITTEE

Chair:
Dr. Christina Augustine, Director HR-Global Human Resources
VirtusaPolaris Corporation, Chennai, India

Dr. Christina Augustine is a proficient Global HR leader with 18 years of experience in steering HR in diverse industries and capacities including IT, Telecom, FMCG, and Health Care. She is currently Director HR-Global Human Resources at VirtusaPolaris Corporation.

Christina was honored with a national award in India, the “Indira Super Achiever” in HR Excellence; and she and her company have also received international HR accolades in The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, the Asia Best Employer Awards, Golden Peacock Awards®, and the UK Top Employers. She is the President of Women of Virtusa, a Diversity & Inclusion initiative.

Christina earned her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology, with expertise in leading Digital HR and OD domains, from the University of Madras. She is an experienced therapist and mentor specializing in counseling and psychotherapy, and has published several scientific papers. She is a Human Resources evangelist and international keynote speaker through TV Shows, social forums, print, and other media; and her TV show, “Enna Seivadhu?” is a good family treat. 

NEW PRODUCT & SERVICE/SOLUTION PROVIDERS AWARDS JUDGING COMMITTEE

Chair:
Dr. Heena Bulchandani, Specialist–Training and Development
Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Heena Bulchandani joined DEWA as Specialist–Training & Development in 2008 and has contributed to improving the services of her department and division, thereby achieving enhanced customer satisfaction and maintaining a positive image of the department. On the learning and development front, Heena has contributed in many ways, including customizing several training and development programs to meet DEWA’s strategic requirements.

Outside her work for DEWA, Heena is a visiting professor at such reputable educational institutions as Murdoch University Dubai and the University of Dubai. She is also a regular speaker at HR conferences around the United Arab Emirates and has published several papers on HR-related topics. Heena has been an assessor in the Dubai Human Development Awards for the past 3 years. She has also been an Assessor with Emirates Women Awards and a judge for various Stevie Awards.

Before Joining DEWA, Heena was a Human Resources Consultant and trainer in Dubai for three years; and prior to that she was the Head of HR at Bhailal Amin General Hospital at Vadodara in India. She earned her Ph.D. at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, in 2006, where she also studied Economics, Psychology, and Social Work.

First Annual Awards Honoring World’s Best Workplaces Continues to Accept Nominations

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards, announced today that the final entry deadline for its new Stevie Awards for Great Employers has been extended to Wednesday, August 10.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR achievements, teams and professionals and human resources-related products and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

“We’ve received so many requests for individual deadline extensions that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for everyone,” said Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher. The original final deadline was July 20. Gallagher also stated that there will be no additional late fees for entries submitted through August 10, and late entries will not be penalized in the judging process.

Individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The 2016 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2015. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

Stevie Award winners in the 34 Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. Public voting is open now through August 10 at http://stevies-sage.secure-platform.com/a/gallery?roundId=1. 

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers will recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

• Employer of the Year
• HR Achievements
• HR Individual Awards
• HR Team Categories
• Solution Provider Awards
• More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

An international judging panel of nearly 100 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Finalists will be announced on August 17. Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at a gala event in New York City on September 30.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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

The International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year, is currently accepting entries through the extended entry deadline of Wednesday, July 13.

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

Today we will highlight the Company/Organization Awards categories, recognizing the achievements of entire organizations. A bonus perk of entering the Company of the Year awards categories is also being included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies voting. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

How to Win Twice the Recognition for Your Organization

Every organization that is honored with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award in the following Company of the Year categories (categories B01 - B34) will automatically be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies.  Voting will be conducted by the general public worldwide in August - September, and the winners will be honored at the IBA awards banquet in Rome, Italy in October 2016.  When the results of the IBAs' peer-conducted judging are announced in August, honorees in the Company of the Year categories will receive instructions on how to promote People's Choice voting to their own customers and stakeholders.  Note that only nominees that receive at least 100 public votes are eligible to win a People's Choice Stevie Award.

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's achievements since 1 January 2015

b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominated organization's chief achievements since 1 January 2015

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

Company of the Year 
May be for-profit or non-profit, public or private, large or small.  New for 2016, each of these industry categories now has three sub-categories:

• Small (≤ 50 employees and turnover ≤ €10 m / $11 million)
• Medium-size (≤ 250 employees and turnover ≤ €50 m / $55 million)
• Large (> 250 employees and turnover > €50 m / $55 million)

B01.    Accounting
B02.    Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
B03.    Aerospace & Defense
B04.    Automotive & Transport Equipment
B05.    Banking
B06.    Business or Professional Services
B07.    Chemicals
B08.    Computer Hardware
B09.    Computer Software
B10.    Computer Services
B11.    Conglomerates
B12.    Consumer Products - Durables
B13.    Consumer Products - Non-Durables
B14.    Diversified Services
B15.    Electronics
B16.    Energy
B17.    Financial Services
B18.    Food & Beverage
B19.    Health Products & Services
B20.    Hospitality & Leisure
B21.    Insurance
B22.    Internet/New Media
B23.    Legal
B24.    Manufacturing
B25.    Materials & Construction
B26.    Media & Entertainment
B27.    Metals & Mining
B28.    Non-Profit or Government Organizations
B29.    Pharmaceuticals
B30.    Real Estate
B31.    Retail
B32.    Telecommunications
B33.    Transportation
B34.    Utilities

B35. Startup of the Year (for companies that began operations since 1 January 2014).  There are no entry fees for the Startup of the Year categories.
a. Business Product Industries
b. Business Service Industries
c. Consumer Product Industries
d. Consumer Service Industries

B36. Most Innovative Company of the Year (recognizing product and/or marketing, sales, manufacturing, management, etc. innovation in the past year)
a. in Asia, Australia and New Zealand
b. in Asia (China, Japan and Korea)
c. in Europe
d. in the Middle East and Africa
e. in Canada and the U.S.A.
f. In Mexico, Central and South America

B37. Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year (recognizing organizations' contributions to society)
a. in Asia, Australia and New Zealand
b. in Asia (China, Japan and Korea)
c. in Europe
d. in the Middle East and Africa
e. in Canada and the U.S.A.
f. In Mexico, Central and South America

B38. Fastest-Growing Company of the Year (recognizing outstanding revenue growth since the start of 2015 over 2014)
a. in Asia, Australia and New Zealand
b. in Asia (China, Japan and Korea)
c. in Europe
d. in the Middle East and Africa
e. in Canada and the U.S.A.
f. In Mexico, Central and South America

B39. Health, Safety & Environment Program of the Year  (recognizing organizations' successful implemention of policies to prevent workplace accidents and injuries, increase safety awareness, and meet the requirements of environmental and occupational health and safety laws and requirements)
a. in Asia, Australia and New Zealand
b. in Asia (China, Japan and Korea)
c. in Europe
d. in the Middle East and Africa
e. in Canada and the U.S.A.
f. In Mexico, Central and South America

B40. Energy Industry Innovation of the Year: This category recognizes singular innovations in energy-related technology, production, conservation, storage or delivery, by an organization or an individual anywhere in the world, since 1 January 2015. There is no entry fee for this category.

 

Past winners in the Company/Organization awards categories include:

Reading Room Pte Ltd, Singapore

Elixirr Partners LLP, London, United Kingdom

M-CAT Enterprises, LLC, Austin, TX USA

Geosoft, Toronto, ON Canada

Amira Nature Foods Ltd., Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hoteles City Express, Mexico City, Mexico

Today Newspaper, Seoul, South Korea

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Beraca Ingredientes Naturais S/A, São Paulo, Brazil

Monkey tie, Paris, France: Premier site de recrutement affinitaire

Coca-Cola Icecek, Istanbul, Turkey: 3.2.1 Move!

 

The winners of the 2015 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are:

•     Banking: Odeabank AS, Istanbul, Turkey
•     Business / Professional Services: Freelancer.com, Sydney, Australia
•     Computer Services: ScaleFocus, Sofia, Bulgaria
•     Computer Software: RheinBrücke IT Consulting GmbH, Cologne, Germany
•     Energy: Bahrain National Gas Company (B.S.C.), Manama
•     Financial Services / Insurance: USHEALTH Advisors, Grapevine, TX, USA
•     Health / Pharmaceuticals: OptumCare Operations, Phoenix, AZ, USA
•     Hospitality & Leisure: Creative Lodging Solutions, Lexington, KY, USA
•     Internet / New Media: Freelancer.com, Sydney, Australia
•     Non –Profit / Government: The National Archives (UAE) – Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
•     Transportation: Road & Transport Authority – Rail Agency, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Atomic 212° in Sydney, Australia, won a number of awards in the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, including a Gold Stevie for Most Innovative Advertising or Marketing Agency of the Year in the Marketing Awards Categories, and for Innovation in the Use of Events in the Corporate Communications Awards Categories with their campaign “Lucy The Robot.”

We talked with Jason Dooris, chief executive of this young and rapidly-growing agency.

Atomic 212° is an independent, technology-driven, full service marketing agency, which opened in 2014. In just two years, revenue has grown from a base of $20m to $180m. According to Jason: “We have worked hard to grow and we love what we do.”

We asked Jason about how winning the Stevie® Awards would contribute to his company’s success. His response: “We were proud to have been so successful in the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards program with 13 gongs under our belt. These results position us as a market leader with a competitive edge.”

He added: “Winning these Awards falls within the amazing Atomic awards Hall of Fame for 2015–2016. Overall this has enabled the agency to position itself as a market leader in media, content, creative, public relations, and beyond.”

Rapid Growth

From 2014 to 2015, Atomic 212° grew its staff from 21 to 85 and opened new offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, and Newcastle.  At the same time, revenues increased by 1,105%.

We asked Jason how he had coped with such rapid growth.  He told us: “While our growth has been rapid, we always had strong processes in place and had positioned ourselves for rapid growth from the outset. Our targets may have been incredibly ambitious, but when we achieved them, we had the right systems and staff in place to support this expansion.”

When asked what his plans were for the future, Jason replied: “We have a number of plans for 2017 that we are currently working on … but you will have to wait and see.  Watch this space: we expect 2017 to be an even bigger year!”

Lucy The Robot - A Viral Campaign

Double Robotics, a technology company based in Burlingame, California, USA, wanted to launch their robot in Australia. A user can maneuver it from the comfort of their home or office.

The objectives were to launch the Double Telepresence Robot in the Australian and Asian markets; and to support existing North American, French, and UK activity

Context

Awareness was nil. Where normally this would be considered a disadvantage, the team at Atomic 212° decided to turn this to their advantage by tapping into the fact that customers had no preconceptions of robots. The territory of robots therefore presented a wonderful opportunity to engender the imagination and interest of customers. Budget constraints meant that something extraordinary was required.

Strategy

Atomic 212° recognized the need to create an engaging story and ignite the imagination. The robot needed personality. The agency also needed a launch platform that would cost almost nothing, providing powerful and positive value to everyone’s experience. Some would say this was asking the impossible.

The idea was to seek out and identify a positive, almost fanatical world event of such significance that the eyes of customers and media would be focused on it.  It was also necessary to give the robot personality, drive massive user-generated content, and—more importantly—drive media-generated content.

The Ideal Platform

Atomic 212° identified the launch of the iPhone 6s as the ideal platform and developed an idea adding relevance and entertainment to those fixated on the event.

The agency focused on Lucy Kelly, the girl behind the device. She was positioned as a young, energetic, innovative woman who did not want to stand in the wind and torrential rain. The humanoid robot was placed outside the George Street Apple store in Sydney to line up for the global release of the iPhone 6s. It queued for days and interacted almost constantly with Apple fanatics, the media, and people passing by.

With Sydney being the first Apple store to release the 6s globally, Lucy The Robot ended up being the first person—droid or human—to buy the iPhone 6s. The story was: Robot Buys First iPhone 6s in the World.

Support

The campaign was driven by PR, branded content marketing, and social media. A number of mainstream publications were targeted, such as news.com.au and The Australian, along with popular television programs like The Project, and well-known technology websites like Mashable.

Phase two came after the mainstream phase. The agency used the hype to target business titles and programs regarding the practical uses of the Double Robotics device in the workplace. A microsite was developed to support lead generation and sales.

Results

“The result represents a new record for a genuine viral marketing campaign both in terms of speed and reach,” according to Fabiano Destri Lobo of the Global Mobile Marketing Association.

The story was covered in some 4,000 news items across print and broadcast—including The Australian, Gizmodo, BRW, Seven News, Nine News, The AFR, and Mashable. Globally, it was translated into 32 languages, reaching 123 million people in total. The estimated media value was $73.2 million.

There were 12,452 sales enquiries, which generated $44,777,392 in sales opportunities.

As an added benefit, the Apple store PR team invited the robot to be part of its own marketing effort.

The results were remarkable by both Australian and global standards and, according to the Mobile Marketing Association, set new benchmarks for viral media campaigns.

On the Cutting Edge

When we asked Jason what he most enjoyed about his work at Atomic 212°, he replied: “Where to begin? The agency is at the cutting edge crossroads of innovation and technology. When guests walk through our offices, they are blown away by the level of energy and amount of technology: robots and holograms … you name it.”

About Jason Dooris:

Jason Dooris is the CEO and Founder of Atomic 212°.  Starting his career in London in 1995, Jason’s experience is rare in that it includes media, creative, and management consulting. Over the past 20 years, Jason has held a variety of senior local and global industry positions, including CEO MediaCom UK, Deputy CEO MediaCom Europe, GM Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, GM Ogilvy & Mather Australia, GM Dentsu Australia, and Consulting Practice Director Deloitte Asia.

Jason is well known in the industry for his firm stance on transparency and integrity within the media community and he is active on the speaker circuit. Particular areas of interest include brand reinvention, the performance and accountability of media, and behavioral psychology. Jason’s strategic leadership is reflected in the depth and range of professional awards, which include 2016 Adnews Agency of the Year, B&T Agency of the Year, Interactive Agency of the Year, Gold Lion Cannes, Cyber Lions Cannes, Deloitte Tech 50 2015, BRW Fast100 2015, and many more.

Personal interests include travel, the beach, rugby, his wife Marisa, and his three lovely children.

About Atomic 212°:

Atomic 212° started out in 2007 as Atomic Search, a performance media-buying agency and data-driven search specialist. The business has since transformed into Atomic 212°.

Atomic has grown into a completely independent, full-service media agency, with competencies across media, strategy, digital, data, creative, content marketing and so much more. Atomic competencies cross media buying and strategy, data and analytics, search, content marketing, PR, creative, production, consumer insights, publishing, and more.

Atomic is the only full service business in Australia to have started out as a search specialist, and accountability and performance lie at the core of everything the agency does. It is also the largest independent communications agency in Australia, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Auckland, and San Francisco. For more information go to http://atomic212.com.au/

The 13th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year, is currently accepting entries through July 13. This is the extended final entry deadline this year.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

Today we will highlight the Video Awards Categories. These categories recognize excellence in videos produced for a business- or work-related purpose that were first released or otherwise made public since January 1, 2015 .

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include: 

a. An essay of up to 125 words describing the video's purpose and results to date
b. If applicable, the video itself, in the form of an attachment or a URL, which you must attach to your entry through our attachment/link uploading tool
c. Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your work - a list of the people and organizations that contributed to its development

We prefer that you submit your video online.  However, if you will submit your video on DVD for review by the judges, you must first submit your entry information online. Then print out a copy of your entry and mail it with one (1) copy of the DVD to: The Stevie Awards, 10560 Main Street, Suite 519, Fairfax, VA 22030. U.S.A.

Q01. Branded Entertainment
Q02. Corporate Overview
Q03. Events & Webcasts
Q04. Internal/Employee Communications
Q05. Magazine Format
Q06. Meeting Modules
Q07. Motivational
Q08. Orientation
Q09. P.R.: Annual Reports
Q10. P.R.: Government
Q11. P.R.: Industrial
Q12. P.R.: Media & Entertainment
Q13. P.R.: Non-Profit Fund Raising
Q14. P.R.: Other
Q15. P.R.: Technology
Q16. Sales: Direct Response Marketing
Q17. Sales.: Government
Q18. Sales.: Industrial
Q19. Sales.: Media & Entertainment
Q20. Sales.: Other
Q21. Sales.: Technology
Q22. Sales: Product Sales
Q23. Sales: Service Sales
Q24. Security/Safety
Q25. Tourism/Travel
Q26. Training
Q27. Viral

Past Stevie Award winners in the  Video Awards cateogries include:

• Passion Film, Mumbai, India: Shakti Bhog Brand Film- Corporate Overview
• PayPal, San Jose, CA USA: PayPal in 90 Encourages PayPal Employees to Be the Customer- Internal/Employee Communications
• Hyundai Heavy IndustriesCo., Ltd (HHI), Ulsan, South Korea: The World’s Leading Heavy Industries Company, HHI- P.R.: Technology
• Vend Limited, Auckland, New Zealand: Vend Ecommerce & TopShelf Style- Sales: Technology
• The Korea Scholarship Foundation (KOSAF), Seoul, South Korea: Kim Hung Ki Mentor Team- Training
• BBG Production, Istanbul, Turkey: Kerem Bürsin Destroys “Buffering”!- Viral
• …and many more!

The 13th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year, is currently accepting entries through the extended final entry deadline of July 13.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will highlight the Marketing Award Categories.

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories in 2016 include:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's accomplishments since 1 January 2015.  In the marketing campaign categories, this will be a description of the campaign: its genesis, development, execution, and results to date

b. In bullet-list form, a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of the nominee since 1 January 2015.  In the marketing campaign categories, this will be a list of the chief features and results of the nominated campaign

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges
 

Marketing Organization / Professional Categories

G01. Marketing Department of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize everyone who works in marketing functions in your organization, regardless of function, location, seniority or position.

G02. Marketing Team of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize some subset of your entire marketing organization, such as a specific product marketing, brand marketing, social media or creative team, for example.  The team may be multidisciplinary, may stretch across multiple organizations (your own organization, client organizations, and agency or vendor organizations, for example), and may be a permanent team or a temporary team that was assembled only for a specific task or assignment.

G03. Marketing Executive of the Year

Enter this category to recognize the achievements of individual marketing executives at the VP level or above.
 

Marketing Campaign of the Year - Industry Categories.

G04. Agricultural / Industrial / Building: for all related products, materials, tools and services.
G05. Automotive - Aftermarket: gasoline, motor oil, tires, batteries, paint, quick-lube, oil change, muffler, transmission, windshield wipers, enhancements, etc.
G06. Automotive - Vehicles: cars, trucks, motorcycles, both brand and model advertising.
G07. Beauty: cosmetics, fragrances, hair products, nail products, beauty services such as salons, spas, etc.
G08. Beverages - Alcohol: beer, champagne, liquor, wine, wine coolers, after dinner drinks, etc.
G09. Beverages - Non-Alcohol: diet and non-diet soda, coffee, tea, juices, milk, milk substitutes, bottled water, sparkling water, etc.
G10. Breakfast Foods: cereals and other foods intended primarily for breakfast consumption.
G11 . Corporate Reputation/Professional Services: includes sponsorships, image & identity, communications to promote corporations, not exclusively their products. Includes business/professional services such as consulting, accounting, legal, employments, etc.
G12. Culture & The Arts: plays, museums, music organizations, concert series, cultural festivals, theater festivals, etc.
G13. Electronics: audio and/or video devices such as TVs, radios, mobile devices, home entertainment (DVD/Blu-ray players), cameras, computer hardware, game consoles, laptops, tablets, sound systems, etc.
G14. Energy/Nutrition Products & Services: products and services aimed at the energy, sports, wellness lifestyle. Vitamins, energy bars, drinks, etc.; weight loss and fitness programs/camps, training camps and facilities, etc.
G15. Entertainment & Sports: includes entertainment and sporting events. Sporting events such as the Super Bowl, sports teams, etc. All forms of entertainment including specific films, books, DVDs, videogames, games (online, mobile, social, board, card, etc.), entertainment apps, greeting cards, online, radio and TV programming, etc.
G16. Fashion & Style: brands of clothing, eyewear, footwear, hosiery, jewelry, accessories, etc.
G17. Financial Cards: credit, charge, debit, reward, phone and other cards.
G18. Financial Products & Services: communications promoting overall image and capabilities of a financial institution and specific products or services including home banking, loans, mortgage, mutual funds, traveler's checks, etc.
G19. Government / Institutional / Recruitment: municipal or state economic development, lotteries, utilities (i.e. electricity conservation messages), membership drives, armed forces marketing communications. Includes political messages and special interest/trade group communications.
G20. Healthcare - Disease Education & Awareness: communications to educate and/or spread awareness about a certain disease or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
G21. Healthcare - OTC: communications efforts for products that may be purchased without a subscription that address a specific illness, disease, or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
G22. Healthcare - Rx: communications efforts for products that may be purchased with a subscription that address a specific illness, disease, or health issue, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
G23. Healthcare - Services: marketing communications efforts that were developed for hospitals, HMOs, referral services, dental and medical care services, or chronic care facilities, whether to healthcare professionals, patients, and/or consumers.
G24. Home Furnishings & Appliances: kitchen appliances, air conditioners, carpeting, furniture, decorator's supplies, paint, wallpaper, etc.
G25. Home Supplies & Services: cleaning products, waxes, detergents, floor-care products, fabric softeners, paper products, domestic services, mowers, fertilizers, lawn care, gardening services, etc.
G26. Insurance: communications promoting specific products or services related to insurance and the capabilities of financial institutions offering these services. All types of insurance are eligible (home, auto, financial, health, life, travel, business, etc.).
G27. Internet / Telecom: wireless/cellular providers, high speed Internet access services, online services, portals, search engines and related Internet products & services (including SaaS/IaaS and Cloud-based services), bundled communications (Internet, telephone, and cable TV).
G28. Leisure Products & Services: recreational, sporting, and camping goods/services and other items/services intended for leisure activity.
G29. Media Companies: broadcasters, magazines, newspapers, web sites, consumer or trade media, radio and television stations, including networks.
G30. Office & Delivery Products & Services: delivery - overnight delivery, packagetracking, international service, etc. Office - printers, physical servers, fax machines, copiers, supplies, office furniture, etc.
G31. Packaged Food: packaged and frozen foods both regular and diet/light.
G32. Personal Care: soap, dental products, face & body lotions and cleansers, cotton swabs, deodorants, feminine hygiene products, razors, shaving cream, etc.
G33. Pet Care: animal care products and services of all types, including food, toys, veterinary and boarding services, training, and breeders.
G34. Real Estate: homes, real estate brokers, malls, etc.
G35. Restaurants: quick service, casual dining, mid-scale, white table cloth and other restaurants.
G36. Retail: general -- stores and/or web sites that provides a multiple range of non-related or generally related merchandise, which include department stores, food retailers, and discount/bulk retailers, craft stores, etc. Specialized -- stores and/or web sites that specialize in one particular line of products (e.g. clothing, fashion, jewelry, health food, shoes, pet care, toys, greeting cards, etc.).
G37. Snacks / Desserts / Confections: ice cream, candy, chips, cookies, bakery items, nut, fruit & vegetable snacks, popcorn, etc.
G38. Software: software, groupware, operating systems, or software stored locally on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. (See category E24 for Saas/IaaS or Cloud-based services, and category E12 for online and mobile games.)
G39. Transportation: air, train, bus/trolley, taxi, subway systems, bike shares, car rentals, leasing not including automobile sales/leasing, ferries, etc.
G40. Travel / Tourism / Destination: cruises, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, travel websites and booking services, travel tours, tourism campaigns, etc.
 

Marketing Campaign of the Year - Specialty Categories

G45. Brand Experience of the Year - Business-to-Business: recognizing work that reaches out to business audiences to establish meaningful relationships, memorable, engaging experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
G46. Brand Experience of the Year - Consumer: experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
G47. Branded Content Campaign of the Year: recognizing work that has used branded content - original or sponsored - to reach out to audiences to establish meaningful relationships, memorable, engaging experiences, and unique connections with their brands.
G48. Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns targeted to consumers' mobile devices.
G49. Online Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns conducted entirely online.
G50. New Product or Service Introduction of the Year: for campaigns conducted to introduce a new product or service to the U.S. market.
G51. Re-Branding / Brand Renovation of the Year: for campaigns that recreated or repositioned an existing brand.  A new category for 2016.
G52. Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (< €3 m / $3 million)
G53. Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns that used word-of-mouth, video stunts, and other viral tactics as their primary means of communication.
G54. Youth Marketing Campaign of the Year: for campaigns that targeted the youth market (up to age 24).

There are a number of other IBA categories that should be of interest to marketing professionals, including many of the publication awards categories, website awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

Past Stevie Award winners of Marketing Awards include:

• Su Hee Jo, Photographer, Seoul, South Korea: Su Hee Jo, Photographer- Marketing Executive of the Year
• VEET Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey: VEET's 'Defeating the Seasons'- Marketing Campaign of the Year - Beauty & Personal Care
• WebTalk, Warsaw, Poland: One HELL of a GDN campaign for Register of Debtors ERIF BIG S.A.- Marketing Campaign of the Year - Financial Products & Services
• Seegene Medical Foundation, Seoul, South Korea: One-Day Test System to Change the Korean Medical System- Marketing Campaign of the Year - Healthcare - Disease Education & Awareness and Services
• Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Visit Abu Dhabi Online Campaign- Marketing Campaign of the Year - Transportation & Travel / Tourism / Destination
• Hyundai Greenfood, Yongin, South Korea: “Smart Ordering System” through Omni-Channel Strategy- Marketing Campaign of the Year - All Other Industries
• Thai Life Insurance Plc, Bangkok, Thailand: Thai Life Insurance - Unsung Hero- Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year
• …and many more!

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

Other Stevie Awards programs such as The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards do offer New Product & Service categories, but the categories we will highlight today are specifically for the best HR products and services. This is one of the larger category groups in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. No other competition offers these category varieties.

The last day entries will be accepted is July 20 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

New Product & Service Categories:

These categories recognize specific achievements - individual, team, or organizational - since the beginning of 2015.

The information requirements for entries:

in these categories in the 2016 competition include:
a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated product or service: its benefits, features, functions, and sales results to date.

b.  Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief benefits, features, and functions of the nominated product or service.

c.  Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, or images, for example. 

SOFTWARE

F01      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New
F02      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New Version
F03      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution - New
F04      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution – New Version
F05      Attendance Tracking Solution - New
F06      Attendance Tracking Solution - New Version
F07      Benefits Management Solution - New
F08      Benefits Management Solution - New Version
F09      Compensation Management Solution - New
F10      Compensation Management Solution - New Version
F11      Course Authoring Solution - New
F12      Course Authoring Solution - New Version
F13      Employee Engagement Solution - New
F14      Employee Engagement Solution - New Version
F15      Employee Recognition Solution - New
F16      Employee Recognition Solution - New Version
F17      Employee Scheduling Solution - New
F18      Employee Scheduling Solution - New Version
F19      HR Reporting Solution - New
F20      HR Reporting Solution - New Version
F21      Human Capital Management Solution - New
F22      Human Capital Management Solution - New Version
F23      Human Resource Information System - New
F24      Human Resource Information System - New Version
F25      Human Resource Management System - New
F26      Human Resource Management System - New Version
F27      Job Board Solution - New
F28      Job Board Solution - New Version
F29      Learning Management Solution - New
F30      Learning Management Solution - New Version
F31      Onboarding Solution - New
F32      Onboarding Solution - New Version
F33      Payroll Management Solution - New
F34      Payroll Management Solution - New Version
F35      Performance Appraisal Solution - New
F36      Performance Appraisal Solution - New Version
F37      Performance Management Solution - New
F38      Performance Management Solution - New Version
F39      Self-Service HR Solution - New
F40      Self-Service HR Solution - New Version
F41      Talent Management Solution - New
F42      Talent Management Solution - New Version
F43      Time and Expense Solution - New
F44      Time and Expense Solution - New Version
F45      Workforce Management Solution - New
F46      Workforce Management Solution - New Version

           
TRAINING PROGRAMS OR MEDIA

May be blended, instructor-led, microlearning, video or web-based. 

F50      Brand Training
F51      Compliance Training
F52      Consumer Education Training
F53      Diversity or Sensitivity Training
F54      Interpersonal Skills Training
F55      Leadership Training
F56      Literacy Training
F57      Managerial Training
F58      New Hire Training
F59      Problem-Solving Training
F60      Product Training
F61      Professional or Legal Training
F62      Quality Training
F63      Safety Training
F64      Sales Training
F65      Skills Training
F66      Systems Training
F67      Technical Training
F68      Other

CURATED TRAINING PLATFORM OF THE YEAR

F70      Consumer
F71      Industrial/Technical
F72      Managerial/Professional
F73      Technology
F74      Other

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of The International Business Awards, announced today that the final entry deadline for the 13th annual IBAs has been extended to Wednesday, July 13. Recognized as the world’s premier business awards program, the IBAs attract nominations from organizations in more than 50 nations and territories each year.

 “We’ve received so many requests for individual deadline extensions that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for everyone,” said Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher. The original final deadline was June 15. Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted through July 13, and late entries will not be penalized in any way in the judging process. All organizations now have an additional four weeks to prepare and submit their entries.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The 2016 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2015.  Entry details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

• Management Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards
  •New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Website Awards, Smartphone and Tablet Apps, and other Media Awards

A variety of new categories were introduced for the 2016 competition including Technology PR Campaign / Program of the Year, and Re-Branding / Brand Renovation of the Year. The 34 Company of the Year categories have each been split into three categories, based on company size (small, medium-size, and large).

Stevie Award winners will be selected during the judging process by more than 200 professionals worldwide. Winners will be announced on August 11, and the awards will be presented at a gala awards ceremony at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy, on October 21. 

The Stevie® Awards will present The 14th Annual American Business Awards, the top business awards program in the U.S.A., on Monday, June 20 at 7:00 pm ET at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.   The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

Close to 500 executives from across America will attend the June 20 presentations. More than 3,400 nominations were reviewed in The American Business Awards (ABA) judging process this year by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners in categories such as Executive of the Year, Woman of the Year, Startup of the Year, and many more.

The format of the ABA presentations has been changed this year.  In the past, Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winner placements were not revealed until the gala.  At the event, only Gold Stevie winners were called to the stage to accept their awards and make a speech.  This year all Stevie winners were pre-announced on May 2. All Stevie-winning organizations that attend the gala will come to the stage to accept their awards. 

Monday's event will feature a silent auction to benefit CARE.  CARE fights poverty for all by focusing on girls and women with programs that bring lasting change to whole communities

For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners, visit www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

The 14th Annual American Business Awards, the top business awards program in the U.S.A., will be presented on Monday, June 20 at 7:00 pm ET at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.   The presentations will be broadcast live.

Download the awards presentations program book here.

Close to 500 executives from across America will attend. The event is a sellout: no new ticket orders will be accepted, although organizations that have already purchased tickets may purchase additional tickets through tomorrow (June 15).

We changed the format of the ABA presentations this year.  In the past we announced the finalists about a month before the awards banquet, and didn’t reveal the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® placements until the gala.  At the event, only Gold Stevie winners were called to the stage to accept their awards and make a speech.  This year we decided to pre-announce the Stevie winners (winners were announced on May 2), and to invite all Stevie-winning organizations that attend the gala to come to the stage to accept their awards.  While Monday's event won’t hold as much suspense as past ABA presentations, we think the new format will be more enjoyable for all Stevie winners. 

Monday's event will feature a silent auction to benefit CARE.  CARE fights poverty for all by focusing on girls and women with programs that bring lasting change to whole communities. 

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. – large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development.  More than 3,400 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

Here is the list of organizations that will attend The 2016 American Business Awards.

4Life Research Sandy UT
97th Floor  Lehi  UT
Active Leadership, LLC  New York NY
Ad Exchange Group Irvine CA
Ad*vantage Printing Inc  Kew Gardens NY
AGS Health New York NY
Alexium International Greer SC
Alliance for Downtown New York New York NY
Allianz Global Assistance Richmond VA
American Standard  Piscataway  NJ
AMN Healthcare San Diego CA
Amobee  San Diego  CA
AT&T  Dallas  TX
BDNA Mountain View CA
Black Oak Casino Resort Tuolumne CA
BlackDoctor.org  Chicago  IL
BluePay Processing Naperville IL
Blueshift Labs San Francisco CA
BMO Capital Markets Chicago IL
BrainStorm, Inc.  American Fork UT
C-4 Analytics  Saugus MA
Callidus Software  Dublin  CA
Capital One Investing  Seattle WA
Capstrat  Raleigh  NC
Carbonite Inc. Lewiston ME
Cartus Corporation  Danbury  CT
CAS  Columbus  OH
Cast & Crew Burbank CA
Ceridian  Minneapolis  MN
Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission  Charleston SC
Christmas in Hollywood Hollywood CA
Cigna  Bloomfield  CT
Cisco Systems  San Jose  CA
Cisco Systems Inc. Research Triangle Park NC
ClearSlide  San Francisco  CA
Coastal Risk Consulting Plantation FL
College Works Painting  Irvine  CA
ConforMIS  Inc.  Bedford  MA
Cricket Wireless  Atlanta  GA
Curriculum Associates North Billerica MA
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport  DFW Airport  TX
Davies Santa Barbara CA
Delhaize America Salisbury NC
Deluxe Corporation  Shoreview  MN
DHL Doral FL
Diligent Corporation New York NY
Donlen Fleet Leasing And Management Northbrook IL
Echelon Design Inc Gilberts IL
EffectiveUI  Denver CO
Effex Management Solutions Houston TX
Elemica Wayne PA
ezCater  Boston  MA
Fazoli's Italian Restaurants  Lexington KY
Fiksu Boston MA
First GREEN Bank Mount Dora FL
Fluor Enterprises Inc Dallas TX
Forter  San Francisco CA
Foxwoods Resort Casino Mashantucket CT
Future Energy Solutions Ft. Laudersdale FL
GTT Communications Inc. McLean VA
GuideWell Connect Jacksonville FL
HCSS Sugar Land TX
Henry Repeating Arms Bayonne NJ
ICON Clinical Research  LLC  North Wales  PA
Ignite Sales Dallas TX
Independent Security Evaluators (ISE)  Baltimore  MD
Integral Ad Science  New York  NY
Isagenix International Gilbert AZ
iText Software Corp. Cambridge MA
Ixia  Calabasas  CA
Karma Agency  Philadelphia  PA
Kia Motors America  Irvine CA
L4 Digital Seattle WA
Lakeshore Recycling Systems  Morton Grove  IL
LanguageLine Solutions  Monterey  California
LCG  Ltd. & H.E.L.P.® Legal Plan   Philadelphia PA
Lion Agency  Miami FL
Lockheed Martin Bethesda MD
M&M Electric Service  Inc. Gastonia  NC
Managed Maintenance Inc. Boca Raton FL
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Orlando FL
Meals on Wheels America  Arlington  VA
MediaBrix New York NY
Mendoza Media LLC Montclair NJ
Merkle  Columbia  MD
MetLife  New York NY
MicroHealth LLC Vienna VA
Minacs Marketing Solutions Milwaukee WI
Momentum Worldwide  New York  NY
MONAT Global Doral FL
Monitronics Security Farmers Branch TX
mroads LLC.  Dallas  TX
MSLGROUP  Los Angeles  CA
National Association of Convenience Stores Alexandria VA
NCR Small Business  Alpharetta  GA
Northstar Travel Group  Secaucus  NJ
Novus Global Solutions LLC  North Brunswick  NJ
Nutrisystem  Fort Washington  PA
Opmantek  Charlotte  NC
OptumRx Irvine CA
Opus Capital Markets Consultants a Wipro Limited Company Chicago IL
Palm Beach County Schools West Palm Beach FL
Panasonic Automotive  Peachtree City  GA
Peapod  Skokie  IL
Pearson English Business Solutions  Brisbane  CA
Philadelphia Insurance Companies Bala Cynwyd PA
Popular Ink McKinney TX
Prevedere Columbus OH
Prositions  Inc.  Urbandale  IA
QLess Inc.  Pasadena  CA
Qmatic Atlanta GA
Regal Beloit Inc. Florence KY
Rhea Lana's Franchise Systems  Inc.  Conway  AR
RiseSmart  San Jose  CA
Sentient Interactive  Morristown  NJ
Shinola Detroit MI
Signet Interactive Houston TX
SocialCode New York NY
SoftPro  Raleigh  NC
Southwest Michigan First Kalamazoo MI
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital  Boston  MA
Squarespace  New York  NY
Studio 11 Design  Dallas  TX
Swiss Post Solutions New York NY
Tata Consultancy Services New York  NY
Technica Communications Ojai CA
Thomson Reuters  New York  NY
Timberland Stratham NH
TMG (The Members Group)  Des Moines  IA
TomTom Inc Burlington MA
TopSpot Internet Marketing  Houston  TX
TouchCommerce Agoura Hills CA
TransPerfect  New York  NY
TriNet  San Leandro  CA
USHEALTH Advisors LLC Grapevine TX
Ve Interactive Boston MA
VirtusaPolaris  Westborough  MA
W Magazine New York NY
WalletHub Washington DC
Waxman  Bedford Heights  OH
Wells Fargo Treasury Management San Francisco CA
Wheels Inc. Des Plaines IL
Workiva Inc. Ames IA
Worldwide Clinical Trials King of Prussia PA

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on June 20 in New York City

Liaison Technologies and West Unified Communications are the top winners in the 2016 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 14th year.

The nationwide public vote was conducted last month, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of product categories. More than 26,000 votes were cast.  To win, a category’s leading vote-getter had to receive at least 100 votes.

Liaison Technologies, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based provider of integration and data management solutions, and West Unified Communications, the Omaha, Nebraska-based telecommunications group, both won People’s Choice Stevie Awards in two categories. LIMU LEAN BURN garnered the most votes of any nominee.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The American Business Awards’ gala event on Monday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be presented their awards that evening. More than 400 executives from across the U.S.A. are expected to attend.

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

The winners of the 2016 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are:

Business-to-Business Products: ClearSlide Mail
Business-to-Business Services: iTalent Digital Transformation Service
Computer Hardware: Link by Fasetto
Consumer Electronics: TomTom Spark GPS Fitness Watch
Consumer Products & Services: LIMU LEAN BURN
Content Solution: West Unified Communications’ Webcast Pro
Education – Cloud/Virtual: Study.com Video Lessons
Education – Enterprise Solution: SchoolMint
Education – Other: Youth Digital’s Server Design 1
Education – Personalized Learning: Epiphany Learning K-12 Learning Relationships Management (LRM) Solution
Financial Services: The Caregiver Mortgage
Health & Pharmaceutical: Beltone Legend 17 – Custom
Other Products/Services: Gorilla Safety’s Fleet and Safety Management Mobile App
Software - Big Data:  Progress® DataDirect
Software –  Cloud Application/Service: Infor CloudSuite Facilities Management
Software – Cloud Backup/Storage: Hedvig Distributed Storage Platform
Software – Cloud Infrastructure/Platform: Liasian Alloy Platform
Software – Collaboration/Social: Zoom’s Collaboration Product Suite
Software –  Content Management: Progress® Sitefinity^TM
Software – Ecommerce: Elavon’s Commerce SDK
Software – Financial Management: Host Analytics’ Cloud-Based Financial Modeling
Software –  Governance/Risk: Simility’s Fraud Prevention
Software – Human Capital Management: mroads Paññã
Software – Integration Solution: Liaison ALLOY Platform
Software –  Learning/Workforce Development: Brainshark for Coaching
Software –  Marketing/Public Relations: West Unified Communications' Webcast Essentials
Software –  Mobile: CD2 Mobile Platform with Enhanced Gamification
Software – Project/Systems Management: Epicor ERP 10.1
Software—Security Solution: SecureAuth’s SecureAuth IdP
Software –  Social Business: TouchCommerce TouchSocial
Software– Other: Qmatic Orchestra 6
Telecommunications – Product: Ooma Telo
Telecommunications – Service: Broadview Networks' MyOfficeSuite

The 13th annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, is accepting nominations through June 15. This is the final entry deadline this year. The IBAs attract nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

Today we will highlight the IT Awards categories. These categories pertain to all information technology, software and web development professionals.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1, 2015

b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominee's chief achievements since January 1, 2015

c. Optional (but highly recommended): a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

The categories:

H01. Information Technology Department of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize everyone who works in technology functions in your organization, regardless of function, location, seniority or position.

H02. Information Technology Team of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize some subset of your entire IT organization, such as a specific web maintenance, software development or infrastructure planning team, for example. The team may be multidisciplinary, may stretch across multiple organizations (your own organization, client organizations and agency or vendor organizations, for example) and may be a permanent team or a temporary team that was assembled for a specific task or assignment.

H03. Information Technology Executive of the Year

Enter this category to recognize the achievements of individual IT executives at the VP level or above.

Past Stevie Award winners in the Information Technology categories include:

• Dubai Statistics Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: DSC IT Department- IT Department of the Year
• Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA USA: IT Database Droids: Innovative Operational Excellence- IT Team of the Year
• TangoMe, Mountain View, CA USA: Guy Fighel, Director of Engineering, Platform Infrastructure- IT Executive of the Year
• …and more!

 

All Female Entrepreneurs, Executives and Employees Worldwide are Eligible

The Stevie^® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2016 (13^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 85 categories including, among others, Best Entrepreneur, Best Executive, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run, anywhere in the world, are eligible to be nominated.

The early-bird entry deadline is July 20 and includes reduced entry fees. The final entry deadline is August 24, but late entries will be accepted through September 21 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on October 5. The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on November 18, 2016.    

Most categories require the payment of an entry fee for the submission of a nomination. Several categories, such as most honoring women in the non-profit and governmental sectors, and the Startup of the Year categories, do not have a fee.

Susan LaPlante-Dube and Maureen Condon, principals at Precision Marketing Group and 2015 Gold Stevie Award winners, commented on the impact of their win.

“Being recognized as one of the first-ever Women-Run Workplace of the Year winners was truly an honor. We’ve worked hard to balance our commitment to being responsive to our clients with our vision of maintaining a flexible, supportive work environment for our team. It’s important to us that our employees are engaged and challenged every day—and winning this Gold Stevie Award was a great testament to the team and the way the company culture allows employees to have  rich, fulfilling personal lives."

Other winners of the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business include, among others: 

•     Debbie Madden, CEO, Stride, New York, NY
•     Stephanie Mitelman, President, Founder and Inventor, Senseez Pillows, Montréal, QC, Canada
•     Brittany Stresing, Prosthetist / Orthotist and President, LimBionics, Durham, NC
•     Gorkem Özkan, HR Director, Calik Energy, Ankara, Turkey
•     Carrie Rich, CEO and Co-founder, Global Good Fund, Arlington, VA
•     Kerri Evans, Senior Director, DHL Express (Canada), Ltd, Brampton, ON, Canada
•     María Esteve, Managing Director, LLORENTE & CUENCA in Colombia and Madrid, Spain
•     Heather Magaha, Senior VP and National Client Services Manager, Wells Fargo, San Francisco, CA
•     Dream it. Code. Win it., New York, NY
•     Family Development Foundation, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
•     Ooredoo, Doha, Qatar
•     Virtual Legal Pty Ltd, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

The 2015 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. The 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations.

The 13th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year, is currently accepting entries through Wednesday, June 15. This is the final entry deadline this year.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

Today we will highlight the Creative Awards Categories, which includes all creative management, copywriting, art direction, editorial, audio-visual production, animation, illustration, photography, etc., functions.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a, An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1 2015

b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominee's chief achievements since January 1 2015

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

 D01. Advertising or Design Agency of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize everyone who works at your advertising, marketing or design agency, regardless of of their function, location, seniority or position.

D02. Creative Department of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize everyone who works in creative functions in your organization, regardless of function, location, seniority or position.

D03. Creative Team of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize some subset of your entire creative organization, such as a specific animation, video, event-production, or client-creative team, for example.  The team may be multidisciplinary, may stretch across multiple organizations (your own organization, client organizations, and agency or vendor organizations, for example), and may be a permanent team or a temporary team that was assembled only for a specific task or assignment.

D04. Creative Executive of the Year
Enter this category to recognize the achievements of individual creative executives at the VP level or above.

Past winners of the Creative Awards include:

• ClearPeople Ltd, London, United Kingdom- Advertising/Design Agency of the Year
• Plasenta Conversation Agency, Istanbul, Turkey: Plasenta Conversation Agency Creative Department- Creative Department of the Year
• Hanaroadcom, Seoul, South Korea: Jung Hieh Shon, President, Hanaroadcom-
  Creative Executive of the Year

…and more!

The Stevie® Awards have announced the twelve executives who will chair the specialized judging committees for the 13th Annual International Business Awards, the premier business awards competition around the world.

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

Winners in this year's International Business Awards will be announced on
August 11. Judging will take place in June and July. Winners will be celebrated at an awards banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21. 

Here are this year's judging committee chairs.

COMPANY/ORGANIZATION

Chair:
Ronald Tse, Founder
Ribose Inc., Hong Kong, China

Ronald is the founder of Ribose, an award-winning, secure, cloud-collaboration platform trusted by regulated industries and users with heightened security needs. Interested in solving real-world problems elegantly and efficiently using computation, Ronald currently serves on CSA’s International Standardization Council, technical committees at CalConnect, as well as the ISO/IEC’s JTC1/SC27.

Ronald graduated from Brown University in Providence, RI, USA, with Bachelor's Degrees in Computer Science and Biology and a Master's Degree in Computer Science.

CUSTOMER SERVICE/SUPPORT

Chair:
Amy Downs, Chief Customer Success & Happiness Officer
Lifesize, Austin, Texas

It's not every day that you see a business leader whose professional title includes the words “customer happiness.” But for Amy Downs, Chief Customer Success and Happiness Officer at Lifesize, there are simply no better words to describe her critical role at the company.

Amy joined Lifesize in 2014 to evangelize the importance of its customers throughout the organization, a core value she calls “Customer Obsession.” Amy’s role is to ensure that everyone who interacts with the company has a smile on their face. From customer success, support, service, training, community, and renewals, Amy drives the strategy and execution of programs that provide world-class experiences for Lifesize customers and partners to bring successful video collaboration to their companies. For example, introducing Net Promoter to Lifesize now propels the voices of its customers and partners into all areas of its business and is driving great organizational improvements.

Prior to joining Lifesize, Amy led Voxeo’s industry-leading customer success, support, and service organizations and oversaw all post-sales interaction with customers. She previously led professional services at Fiserv Corporation.  Amy has a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, specializing in MIS, from the University of Florida.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Chair:
Gerald Hüsch, CEO
Global Leadership School, Berlin, Germany

In addition to being Founder and CEO of the Global Leadership School in Berlin, Gerald Hüsch is a Founding Member and CEO of the German Society for Stress Diagnostics & Prevention GmbH, and is also a Senator in the German Senat der Wirtschaft. Gerald has been training and guiding executives from the upper and middle management of multi-national corporations for 20 years. He is regarded as a visionary expert and the pioneer of an Evidence Based Leadership & Collaboration System, a world-class collection of tools and methods that encourage ideal collaborative and leadership behaviors throughout an entire organization. His many years of work experience have enabled Gerald to establish an entirely new system that is extremely powerful while easy to use. The aim is to achieve outstanding performance–and to avoid managerial blunders such as those seen recently in the automotive industry.

In addition to his credentials as a certified coach and trainer, Gerald is also a contributing author to “Human Resource Management–The Human Face” by Dr. Parveen Prasad und Sekhar Seshan.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Chair:
Thomas B. Cross, CEO
TECHtionary, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Tom has decades of experience in startups and is a consulting advisor with leading providers and venture capital companies in market planning, marketing and development, hardware/software design and development, project management, intellectual property in telecommunications, information technology, conferencing, teletraining, telecommuting, groupware, networks, call centers, internet, artificial intelligence, and more. He has managed the successful development of more than 10 software, hardware, and Internet products to market and received industry awards for this work. He has authored 13 books, and has written, produced, and directed 15 commercial videos. He has also created thousands of online e-learning tutorials on intelligent buildings, WiFi, WiMax, IPTV, telecommuting, VoIP-SIP security, artificial intelligence, and voice/data networking.

“The International Business Awards is the leading independent evaluation of companies’ business strategies, customer engagement, and benefits to a global society,” Tom told us. “I believe this competition represents the opportunity for companies to align and focus their goals for a greater purpose as it is not just the challenge of the competition, but also the ability of a company and its people to collaborate together.”

Twitter - https://twitter.com/techtionary

MANAGEMENT

Chair:
Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Managing Director
Business DNA, Pretoria, South Africa

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell is a globally acclaimed specialist in improving employee efficiency. She has assisted organizations in the mining, manufacturing, and hospitality industries to improve their business results through enhanced communication and customer service. She is recognized for her knowledge in communicating to operational employees and training leadership to communicate effectively with their teams; and for her experience in change communication, communication with shift workers, and communication in crisis situations.

Amanda frequently participates in radio programs on women in management and has had several articles published on this topic.

She holds a Doctorate in Communication Science from the University of South Africa, is an Accredited Business Communicator with the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators), and is a Certified Public Relations Officer with the Public Relations Institute of South Africa. She is a Fellow of the IABC.

MARKETING

Co- Chair:
Julie Toma, General Manager–Marketing and Communications
Sonic Clinical Services, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Julie Toma is the General Manager–Marketing and Communications at Sonic Clinical Services, a fully owned subsidiary of Sonic Healthcare, which is in the ASX Top 50. Julie has a background in healthcare, marketing, and management consulting with experience on global strategic planning teams, Asia Pacific marketing strategy, and new product and service development for leading corporations including Cochlear Limited, Kimberly-Clark, and BD. 

Julie is currently a non-executive Board Director for CareWest and is the Chair of the Australian Marketing Institute NSW Committee. Julie is an Australian Marketing Institute Marketing Awards for Excellence Judge and is also a member of the Cancer Australia Research Grant Advisory Committee. 

Julie has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biomedical) Degree from the University of Technology, Sydney, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Co-Chair:
Professor Han Sangpil, Department of Advertising and Public Relations
College of Communications and Social Science, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea

Since 2002, Han Sangpil has been Professor at the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Hanyang University. He joined the department as an Assistant Professor in 1991, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1997. In addition to being Head of Department at various times between 1993 and 2002, Professor Han was Associate Dean of the College of Communications and Social Science from1999 to 2002.  Outside of his academic role, Professor Han has also been Director at the Hanyang University Broadcasting Station, and earlier was the Director of Internet Hanyang.

In addition to his impressive academic achievements, Professor Han is a member of the American Academy of Advertising, and was president of the Korean Academy of Advertising from 2010 to 2011. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Korean Service Marketing Association, the Korean Academy of Marketing, and the Korean Academy of Customer Satisfaction.  He is also an enthusiastic supporter of the MBC Children’s Football Foundation.

Professor Han received a BA (Honors) from Hanyang University in 1985, having completed his military service.  In 1987, he received an MS in Advertising and Public Relations, going on to earn his Ph.D. in Communications in 1990, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

NEW PRODUCT & PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Chair:
Moussa Habib, Under-Secretary-General
Jordan Engineers Association, Amman, Jordan

Since 2014, Dr. Habib has held the position of Under-Secretary-General, Professional Development and Scientific Affairs, at Jordan Engineers Association. From 2010 until 2014, he was the Assistant Director General, Chief Capacity Management Officer at the Istishari Hospital in Amman, Jordan. Before that, he was Acting Dean of Engineering, Director of the Nanotechnology Program, and Associate Professor of Electronics, at Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan.

Dr. Habib has worked as a technical consultant to a number of engineering firms in the areas of Speech, Imaging, IT, and Biomedical Engineering. He has written over 100 publications and articles in peer-reviewed journals and for international conferences. From 2011 to 2013, he was the Vice President of the IEEE Jordan Chapter. Dr. Habib has been the Chair or Co-chair for a number of international conferences in the area of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is actively involved in a number of community service committees, including Rakhaa’ Noble Invest, the English Language Olympics, and JEA Consulting Committee.

Dr. Habib holds a Master’s Degree in Science and Doctorate in Medical Electronics from Dalhousie University, Canada.

PR/IR/CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Chair:
Dr. Elke Neujahr, Managing Director
comm:up Kommunikation und Management GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany

Dr. Elke Neujahr has been an Acting Partner of comm:up since 2004. The agency provides consulting services for the corporate communications of globally operating companies and organizations. Its main consulting areas are change management, coaching for top executives, media training, crisis management, and communications and corporate reputation topics. 

Elke is a communications expert and has completed trainer and coach-the-coach training.  She has 11 years of experience at companies such as Continental AG, BEB Erdgas GmbH, and as the Head of Publicity and Public Relations at Hanover Airport. She has worked at public relations agencies since 1992 and for 10 years was an Acting Partner and the CEO of ECC Kohtes Klewes (now KetchumPLEON) and its holdings (650 employees).

On being appointed Chair of the Corporate Communications/Investor Relations/Public Relations Awards Judging Committee, Elke commented: “Communication is essential for a good reputation. With The International Business Awards we are able to honor best practice approaches that underline the leading role of communications in our increasingly global world.”

CREATIVE: LIVE EVENTS

Chair:
Kristin Marcell, Vice President
SmartMark Communications, Langhorne, Pennsylvania, USA

Focused on ensuring high-quality deliverables and results, Kristin is responsible for managing all aspects of PR and marketing for clients at SmartMark Communications. Prior to joining SmartMark, Kristin gained experience at a large, global public relations firm based in Washington D.C., where she provided communications counsel and service to a number of clients, including several high-profile energy and environment organizations, utilities, and corporations.

Previously, Kristin was the Communications Director of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and directed the agency’s communications program, as well as serving as its official spokesperson. Kristin was also the Director of External Affairs for the U.S. House Committee on Resources, General Electric’s Political Action Committee Manager in their Washington, D.C. corporate office, and she served as a legislative staffer to two former congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

CREATIVE: PUBLICATIONS

Chair:
Tore Claesson, Director
TIO Agency, Beijing, China

Tore’s background at agencies such as Ogilvy, based in Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong in Asia, and Anderson & Lembke McCann based in Amsterdam in Europe, in addition to his many years in New York, means that TIO has a leader that knows the ins and out of cross-culture communication better than just about anybody on this small planet.

“I think I’ve learned more from judging the Stevie Awards than from any book on creativity!” Tore told us recently. Tore sees judging as an opportunity to peek into other professionals’ brains. As he puts it: “To see how others have solved certain business and creative problems is invaluable. It’s like a secret peek behind the curtain.”

You can read and see more of Tore’s adventures in China on his blog.

CREATIVE: VIDEO

Chair:
Begüm Susar, Consumer Engagement Services Manager
Nestlé, Istanbul, Turkey

Begüm has a diverse background in both the financial services and food-and-beverage sectors. After 6 years in the banking industry with various responsibilities, she is now Consumer Engagement Services Manager at Nestlé Turkey.

In the early years of her career, she worked at creative, media planning, and PR agencies. Then, she moved to the marketing communications department of an international bank. She gained experience in credit cards marketing, digital banking marketing, customer management, and finally in the digital marketing and design department, where she worked as an Assistant Vice President. 

From 2005-2009, Begüm studied Economics at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. She also studied in the Netherlands for 6 months with the Erasmus Program.

CREATIVE: WEBSITES/APPS

Chair:
Simon Hardy, VP Brand Experience
FCV Interactive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Simon Hardy leads FCV’s Design, Brand, and Content teams, creating solutions that engage customers and deliver results. An award-winning creative director, designer, and copywriter with international experience across digital, print, and TV for brands including Starbucks, Nike, lululemon athletica, and EA Sports, Simon also serves on the Digital Design Advisory Board at Vancouver Film School.

Simon previously worked at Blast Radius and TBWA\Worldwide.  He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Buckinghamshire New University in the United Kingdom.

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

The final entry deadline is June 8, but late entries will be accepted through July 20 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR

Other Stevie Awards programs such as The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards offer one human resource individual category, but the Stevie Awards for Great Employers now offers 15 categories for HR professionals.

Today we will highlight the HR Individual categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

These categories recognize the achievements of individual professionals since the beginning of 2015.

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated individual's achievement since the beginning of 2015.  Focus on achievements since that date.  Make reference, where appropriate, to supporting materials attached to your entry that support your claims.

b.  Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief accomplishments of the nominated individual since the beginning of 2015.

c.  Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, work samples, internal or external reviews, or employee feedback, for example. 

C01     People-Focused CEO of the Year   
Recognizing the top organizational executives who best demonstrate a commitment to making their organizations great employers.

C02     Chief Human Resources Officer of the Year        
Recognizing the achievements of organizations' top human resources executives.

C03     Chief Happiness Officer of the Year          
Recognizing the achievements of executives who focus on the happiness and wellbeing of organizations' employees.

C04     Chief Learning Officer of the Year
Recognizing the achievements of executives who focus on the training and skills- and knowledge-advancement of organizations' employees.

C05     Human Resources Executive of the Year  
Recognizing the achievements of HR executives at the VP level or higher.

C06     Benefits or Payroll Professional of the Year         
Recognizing the achievements of individual professionals in benefits or payroll administration.

C07     Compliance & Safety Professional of the Year     
Recognizing the achievements of individual professionals in the design and delivery of compliance and workplace safety programs.

C08     Employee Relations Professional of the Year       
Recognizing the achievements of individual employee relations professionals.

C09     Human Resources IT Professional of the Year     
Recognizing the achievements of individual professionals in HR systems development, installation, and maintenance.

C10     Human Resources Professional of the Year          
Recognizing the achievements of non-executive HR professionals.

C11     Internal Communications Professional of the Year         
Recognizing the achievements of individuals who specialize in internal communications.

C12     Learning or Training Professional of the Year    
Recognizing the achievements of individual professionals in training or corporate learning.

C13     Onboarding Professional of the Year        
Recognizing the achievements of individual professionals who work in new employee orientation and assimilation.

C14     Recruiting or Talent Acquisition Professional of the Year         
Recognizing the achievements of individual recruiters.

C15     Technical Recruiting Professional of the Year     
Recognizing the achievements of individual technical recruiters.

Winners in the third annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, the only awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, will be honored this Friday, May 27 in Sydney, Australia.  

For the first time at the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards gala, the awards presentations will be broadcast live.  Watch the ceremony on Friday, May 27 on Livestream via the Stevie Awards’ Facebook page at 7:40 pm / 19:40 local time (9:40 am GMT, 5:40 am ET).

You'll be able to watch the presentations on Facebook only if you're on a desktop device, however.  To watch the event on your mobile device, watch it here.

Won't be awake as the ceremony is taking place? Don't fret -- the Livestream will be saved to watch later on the webpages linked above.

The Stevie Awards are considered to be the world's premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace over the past 14 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards. 

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 17 nations including Australia, China, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Qatar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the U.S.A., and Vietnam. More than 600 nominations about innovative achievements in the 22-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

This year’s top overall winner, with five Gold, eight Silver, and six Bronze Stevie Award wins is Telkom Indonesia.

Atomic 212 of Australia has won eight Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization this year. Telkom Indonesia and The Spaceship (Australia) are runners up, each with five Gold Stevie wins. Winners of two Gold Stevies include KoROAD (South Korea), PT PETROKIMIA GRESIK (Indonesia), Singapore Airlines, Songpa Gu Office (South Korea) Strategic Public Relations Group (Hong Kong), and WardrobeTrendsFashion (Singapore).

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the list of Stevie Award winners are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

The Stevie® Awards today announced Grand Stevie Award winners in The 14^th Annual American Business Awards competition. Winners will be presented with their Grand Stevie trophies at the ABAs’ gala banquet on June 20 in New York.

CallidusCloud, the Dublin, CA based software developer, received the Grand Stevie for organization of the year, for earning the most award points (76) in The 2016 American Business Awards. Other top ABA Grand Stevie winners include TopSpot Internet Marketing (Houston, TX) for interactive agency of the year (17 points), Merkle (Columbia, MD) for marketing agency of the year (16), and MWW (East Rutherford, NJ) for public relations agency of the year (17.5). This is the fourth year in a row that MWW has won this award.

The Grand Stevie Awards were granted to the organizations that submitted the best body of entries to The American Business Awards this year, in their own name or in the names of one or more clients, with a Gold Stevie Award win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win counting for 1.5 points. The organizations with the most points won.

Besides CallidusCloud, TopSpot Internet Marketing, Merkle, and MWW, Grand Stevies were also awarded to the 10 other organizations with the most points in the 2016 competition. There were a few ties this year.  The other winners are:

1. Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA (52 points)
2. Tied at 27 points: Jeunesse Global (Orlando, FL) and Lakeshore Recycling Systems (Morton Grove, IL)
3. Accenture, Chicago, IL (22)
4. Isagenix International, Gilbert, AZ (20)
5. Tied at 18.5 points: Cigna (Bloomfield, CT) and John Hancock (Boston, MA)
6.  Tied at 17.5 points: AT&T (Dallas, TX) and New American Funding (Tustin, CA)
7. SoftPro, Raleigh, NC (17)

The American Business Awards honor an all-inclusive spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, product developers, marketers and web development teams. More than 3,400 entries were submitted to The 2016 American Business Awards and more than 250 executives nationwide participated in judging.

Stevie Awards are conferred in five levels of distinction: Grand, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and People’s Choice. More than 400 executives and their guests are expected to attend the June 20 awards gala at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

For a complete list of all 2016 American Business Awards’ Stevie Award winners visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

This is the first year in which Stevie winners in The American Business Awards are announced before the awards gala. In the ABAs’ first 13 years, finalists were announced in advance of the awards gala, but the Stevie winners weren’t revealed until the night of the presentations.

We were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Ir. Tony Roland Silitonga, MBM, MBA, DBAcan, a regular judge for the Stevie Awards, most recently for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, His family informed us that he had passed away on April 15 after battling lung disease and diabetes, and our thoughts are with them at this time.

It also caused us to look more closely at the illustrious career of a man we had come to see as a good friend of the Stevie Awards.

Tony was a judge who took his responsibilities seriously, and last fall he received a prize for his contribution to judging the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  He and his wife attended our 12th annual awards dinner on Friday, November 13, 2015, in New York City, and we were honored to have met him and to have been able to thank him in person for his generous contribution to the important process of judging our Stevie Awards.

(Tony is featured in the center of the above photo. This picture was taken during his trip to the United States last October/November, and this is how we will remember him: a happy and outgoing man.)

Tony had a distinguished career: he had been on the Board of Trustees of the Indonesian Institute for Corporate Directorship since October 2012. The IICD is a not-for-profit organization founded by ten highly reputable Indonesian Business Schools and preeminent individuals.  Tony had been a lecturer to Post Graduates at universities such as De La Salle University-The Philippines, Swiss German University, Universitas Indonesia (UI), Universitas Gajah Mada (UGM), Universitas Brawijaya, and Universitas Sriwiijaya. From 2010, Tony had also been Chairman of The Board of Management of the Forestry Research Institute for Public Policy, Economic, and Community Development (FORESPECT), a Research company on Forestry Development, and Eco Green activities

Tony had more than 30 years of professional experience across different countries and industries, and had worked with different multinationals including IBM, ARCO Oil & Gas (now BP Indonesia), Standard Chartered Bank (The Philippines), Merrill Lynch (USA), China Development Industrial Bank (Taiwan), Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA/BPPN), and Indonesian Institute for Corporate Directorships. He was also a founder member of the Indonesian Finance Association, Forestry Research Program on Education & Cultural Transformation, and Sentra Pemimpin Asia, a John Maxwell Leadership Company.

Tony graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology in Petroleum Engineering. He obtained his Master in Business Management (MBM) in Finance and Strategic Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Makati, Philippines, and his MBA in finance from Columbia Business School, New York, USA.

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

The final entry deadline is June 8, but late entries will be accepted through July 20 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR

Other Stevie Awards programs such as The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards offer human resources categories, but The Stevie Awards recognized the need for more specific HR awards categories. Today we will highlight the New Product & Services categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers.This is the first time these categories are availble for HR-related products and services.

REQUEST THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The New Product & Services categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers will recognize software, training programs or media, and curated training platforms. See entry requirements and all of the categories offered below.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated product or service: its benefits, features, functions, and sales results to date.

b.  Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief benefits, features, and functions of the nominated product or service.

c.  Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, or images, for example. 

SOFTWARE

F01      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New
F02      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New Version
F03      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution - New
F04      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution – New Version
F05      Attendance Tracking Solution - New
F06      Attendance Tracking Solution - New Version
F07      Benefits Management Solution - New
F08      Benefits Management Solution - New Version
F09      Compensation Management Solution - New
F10      Compensation Management Solution - New Version
F11      Course Authoring Solution - New
F12      Course Authoring Solution - New Version
F13      Employee Engagement Solution - New
F14      Employee Engagement Solution - New Version
F15      Employee Recognition Solution - New
F16      Employee Recognition Solution - New Version
F17      Employee Scheduling Solution - New
F18      Employee Scheduling Solution - New Version
F19      HR Reporting Solution - New
F20      HR Reporting Solution - New Version
F21      Human Capital Management Solution - New
F22      Human Capital Management Solution - New Version
F23      Human Resource Information System - New
F24      Human Resource Information System - New Version
F25      Human Resource Management System - New
F26      Human Resource Management System - New Version
F27      Job Board Solution - New
F28      Job Board Solution - New Version
F29      Learning Management Solution - New
F30      Learning Management Solution - New Version
F31      Onboarding Solution - New
F32      Onboarding Solution - New Version
F33      Payroll Management Solution - New
F34      Payroll Management Solution - New Version
F35      Performance Appraisal Solution - New
F36      Performance Appraisal Solution - New Version
F37      Performance Management Solution - New
F38      Performance Management Solution - New Version
F39      Self-Service HR Solution - New
F40      Self-Service HR Solution - New Version
F41      Talent Management Solution - New
F42      Talent Management Solution - New Version
F43      Time and Expense Solution - New
F44      Time and Expense Solution - New Version
F45      Workforce Management Solution - New
F46      Workforce Management Solution - New Version

TRAINING PROGRAMS OR MEDIA

May be blended, instructor-led, microlearning, video or web-based. 

F50      Brand Training
F51      Compliance Training
F52      Consumer Education Training
F53      Diversity or Sensitivity Training
F54      Interpersonal Skills Training
F55      Leadership Training
F56      Literacy Training
F57      Managerial Training
F58      New Hire Training
F59      Problem-Solving Training
F60      Product Training
F61      Professional or Legal Training
F62      Quality Training
F63      Safety Training
F64      Sales Training
F65      Skills Training
F66      Systems Training
F67      Technical Training
F68      Other

CURATED TRAINING PLATFORM OF THE YEAR

F70      Consumer
F71      Industrial/Technical
F72      Managerial/Professional
F73      Technology
F74      Other

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, today announced the winners of three Grand Stevie Award trophies in its third annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.  The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only awards to recognize innovation in the workplace throughout the entire 22-nation Asia-Pacific region.  All organizations in the region are eligible to submit nominations.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the various categories were announced on April 20.  Those awards were determined by the average scores of more than 50 executives worldwide earlier this year. 

All awards will be presented to winners during a gala event at the Westin Hotel in Sydney, Australia on Friday, May 27.  Tickets for the event are now on sale. 

The three Grand Stevie Award winners announced today are:

• Telkom Indonesia, winner of the Grand Stevie for Organization of the Year for the second year in a row. The leading telecommunications and network services provider in Indonesia won the most award points in the competition this year – 36 – earned for five Gold, eight Silver, and six Bronze Stevie wins in a variety of categories for innovation.  Each Gold win earns three points, each Silver win two points, and each Bronze 1.5 points for the Grand Stevie-winner calculation.
• The Korean Ministry of the Interior won a Grand Stevie for submitting the highest-rated nomination in the competition this year: the story of its innovative community relations campaign to spur continuous reform in local finance. The MInistry communicated with many different stakeholders through various media and digital content.
• BRiN of Sydney, Australia, which submitted the highest-scoring nomination from the host nation of this year’s awards ceremony: the story of the creation of the world’s first 24-hour small business TV channel.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 17 nations including Australia, China, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Qatar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the U.S.A., and Vietnam. More than 600 nominations about innovative achievements in the 22-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

“We are very pleased with the results of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, with the growth in the number of entries and the depth and breadth of the stories of business innovation that we received,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “We are very much looking forward to greeting and celebrating this year’s winners in Sydney on 27 May.”

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, 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.

 

Max Ash is the 11-year-old "chief creator" of MAX'IS Creations, the Boston-based company whose motto is "The world would be better if we could play with our food!^TM"  Max just became the youngest-ever winner of a Stevie® Award when he won the Gold Stevie for Product Developer of the Year in The 14th Annual American Business Awards.  (Winners were announced on Monday, May 2.) 

Here is Max's story, just as he presented it to the ABA judges, some of the most accomplished people in the world of business.

"I have lots of ideas. But, The Mug With A Hoop!^TM is my best so far. In 2nd grade art class my teacher told us to make a mug.  I like sports and hot chocolate so I put a hoop on my mug for tossing marshmallows into hot cocoa.  I pitched my idea at Babson College and was named a top ten finalist in an innovation contest at Fenway Park. I ran a successful crowdfunding campaign, found a sourcing partner to allow large scale manufacturing overseas, and launched on the market in 2014.  Now, with LOTS of help from my mom, dad and brother Sam, MAX’IS Creations has become a profitable family business!

"In the last year, my team and I launched a multi-sport product line that now includes The Mug With A Glove! ^TM, The Mug With A Goalpost! ^TM, The Soccer Mug With A Goal! ^TM, and The Hockey Mug With A Net!^TM   We sold over 27,500 mugs in 2015 (that’s over $665,000 in retail sales across channels) bringing the total retail sales to over $1 Million since first launching on the market in June of 2014.  Based on industry norms, that’s a LOT of mugs!  

"My mugs created a whole new market. Adults like my mugs because they make them feel like kids again.  And kids like my mugs because they’re fun. My mugs are sold at places like Nordstrom, The Grommet, Uncommongoods, Hammacher Schlemmer, and the Basketball Hall of Fame! The Mug With A Hoop! ^TM is currently a top selling mug on Amazon.

"Lots of other great things happened in 2015. I got my first patent (at age 10) with additional design and utility patents pending.  I signed my first licensing deal with Typo/Cotton On who quickly sold through the Basketball Mug!  And I entered into a partnership with Boelter Brands, a major licensed drinkware company to bring MAX’IS Creations licensed mugs to market.  An NCAA March Madness program is currently underway with NBA, MLB, MLS, NFL, NHL mugs coming next!

"In the past year, me and my mugs have been featured in places like The Boston Globe, CNN Money and Gift Shop Magazine, with product placements on Real Simple, Woman’s Day and Buzzfeed.  A Vat-19 video of my mug went viral with over 4 million views! Queen Latifah featured me on her show and my basketball and hockey mugs made separate appearances on The Today Show!  

"I happen to have dyslexia, a language-based learning disability often linked to creativity. Kids like me see the world differently and the world is lucky that we do! 1 in 5 kids in the U.S. struggles with learning and attention issues related to reading, writing, math, organization and attention. People with learning and attention issues can thrive when they get the support they need. That’s why I donate five percent of the profits from the sale of my mugs to dyslexia-related charities and nonprofits like Understood.org, which are dedicated to empowering parents of kids like me.

"In the last year I shared the stage with people like Daymond John, John Legend and others to showcase the creative advantage of people with dyslexia.  We recently updated my packaging to feature Understood.org as a public service announcement for this great resource.  Since January 2015 I have donated thousands of dollars to dyslexia-related causes and over 1000 mugs to charity.  Being honored by the Stevie Awards will help people see that kids like me are smart and can achieve success with the right supports. Imagine what other good ideas our world will have when ALL kids who think and learn differently are understood!

Congratulations Max, we look forward to presenting your Gold Stevie Award to you on June 20 at The American Business Awards gala in New York.

Simon Hardy, Vice President Brand Experience at FCV Interactive in Vancouver, Canada, has been named as the Chair of the Website & Apps Judging Committee of The 2016 (13th Annual) International Business Awards. FCV won a Gold Stevie Award in the Website Categories of The 2015 International Business Awards for their redesign of the Calgary Transit website.

The 2016 International Business Awards will be accepting entries through June 15, but enter by May 11 to avoid a late entry fee. REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

We asked Simon about being named Chair, what winning the Gold Stevie Award in 2015 had meant to FCV, and what new developments he thought would most affect how companies do business in the future.

On being named Chair of The 2016 International Business Awards Judging Committee for the Website & App Awards categories, Simon observed: “This is a great honor, not only for me, but also for FCV. As we expand across Canada and into the US, it’s really exciting to be a part of The International Business Awards, recognizing work that has genuinely made a difference to an organization or an industry, and–most importantly–resulted in a better user experience.”

A Fantastic Validation

Representatives of FCV attended the 2015 International Business Awards in Toronto last October. On winning the Stevie Award for Best Website in the Transportation category, Simon commented: “We’re very proud of the Gold Stevie Award we won for our work with Calgary Transit. It was fantastic validation for a site that has transformed the digital experience for one of Canada’s most complex public transportation networks. But as a user-focused transformation agency, it also shone a spotlight on the wider range of work we’re doing in public transportation, travel and tourism, and digital government services across North America.”


Calgary Transit provides over 100 million trips every year to riders across the Canadian city. Its website had been out of date, difficult to use, and lacking in the important features that customers expect: mobile compatibility, accessibility, real-time updates, and trip planning. Calgary Transit approached FCV to design a responsive, customer-focused, future-proof website that would serve the connected riders’ every need.

Information at the Users’ Fingertips
FCV successfully delivered a mobile-friendly, customer-centric, scalable website that streamlined user tasks and integrated all transit services into one site. Features included: WCAG 2.0 (AA) accessibility, real-time service updates, improved information architecture, and responsive design.

FCV Interactive’s award-winning website for Calgary Transit launched in 2014 and transformed how riders obtained transit information. They can now access a responsively designed website via phone, tablet, and desktop. Real-time transit information is now at the fingertips of almost 20,000 daily mobile transit users.

The Future of Web Development

As an expert in this field, we asked Simon for his thoughts on what new developments in social media and web development businesses should be looking out for.

“The last year has seen a wide adoption of tools like Sketch and InVision, helping our teams to rapidly prototype, test, and iterate.” he told us. “For private and public sector organizations, this agile approach means we can transform user and brand experiences into something more powerful and meaningful much faster.”

Looking into the future, Simon added: “As more and more clients see the power of truly serving their users’ needs in order to meet business goals, I think we’re going to see some really exciting and unexpected solutions.”



Improving Digital Services

According to Simon, his job has changed over the years, but for the better. “My job used to be all about persuading people to do things,” he explained. “But over the last 10 years, as we’ve all become more and more empowered, it’s evolved into helping people to do things. Working to constantly improve private and public sector digital services with faster access to more relevant data is incredibly exciting.”

In short, Simon told us: “At FCV, the goal that motivates us across every project is always the same: to create a user-focused experience that makes life better.”

About Simon Hardy:
Simon Hardy is Vice President Brand Experience at FCV Interactive. He leads FCV’s Design, Brand, and Content teams, creating solutions that engage customers and deliver results.

Simon is an award-winning creative director, designer, and copywriter with international experience across digital, print, and TV for brands including Starbucks, Nike, lululemon athletica, and EA Sports.  He also serves on the Digital Design Advisory Board at Vancouver Film School.

About FCV Interactive:
FCV Interactive is a user-focused transformation agency. Every day, FCV redesigns organizations and creates digital services that people love. With over a decade of expertise working with public and private sector clients, FCV delivers experiences that make life better. To learn more, visit fcvinteractive.com.

People’s Choice Stevie Awards Voting Open Through June 3

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, today opened public voting at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, an annual feature of its American Business Awards.

All, worldwide, are welcome to vote for their favorite new products and services in 38 categories, from consumer products and services to B2B software solutions.  Voting will close on June 3, and the top vote-getter in each category will be presented with a crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award trophy in New York on June 20 at The 14^th American Business Awards gala.

All new product and service nominees in The 2016 American Business Awards were eligible to be included in people’s choice voting. 

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. – large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development.  More than 3,400 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the peer-review judging were announced yesterday.  For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced yesterday, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

2016 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Monday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.  Tickets are now on sale.  The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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.

Winners to be Celebrated in New York on June 20
(see summary of major winners by major MSA below)

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, today announced the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners in The 14th Annual American Business Awards^SM.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. – large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development.  More than 3,400 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

2016 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Monday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.  Tickets are now on sale.  The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

CallidusCloud (Dublin, CA) is the leader among Stevie Award winners, with 40 wins in a wide range of categories, including six Gold.  CallidusCloud is sure to be among the winners of the Grand Stevie Award trophies, the top overall winners in this year’s ABAs, who will be announced next week.

Winners of four Gold Stevies include CAS (Columbus, OH), Jeunesse Global (Orlando, FL), and MWW (East Rutherford, NJ). 

Notable Stevie winners include:

• 11-year-old Max Ash of MAX'IS Creations (Boston, MA), winner of the Gold Stevie for Product Developer of the Year and the youngest-ever Stevie winner
• TiVo's BOLT, Silver Stevie winner for Best New Consumer Electronics Product. Last week TiVo announced that it would be acquired by Rovi
• Lakeshore Recycling Systems (Morton Grove, IL), winner of 14 Stevies
• TextRecruit (San Jose, CA), winner of three Gold Stevies including B2B Startup of the Year

For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced today, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

This is the first year in which Stevie winners in The American Business Awards are announced before the awards gala.  In the ABAs’ first 13 years, finalists were announced in advance of the awards gala, but the Stevie winners weren’t revealed until the night of the presentations.   

Every new product or service nominated in The 2016 American Business Awards will automatically be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a worldwide public vote. Voting will open tomorrow and conclude on June 3.  People’s Choice Stevie winners will be announced the week of June 6, and will be honored during the June 20 presentations.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. 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.

 

Key Stevie winners in some major metropolitan statistical area include, among others:

Atlanta: Arketi Group, Liaison Technologies (Alpharetta), CATMEDIA, Citi Retail Services, MessageGears, One Vision Productions, LLC (Clarkston), Panasonic Automotive Systems (Peachtree City), and QASymphony

Austin: AgileCraft, Dell (Round Rock), Epicor Software Corp, Magnitude Software, mindWireless, and Workplace Answers

Boston: Centage Corporation (Natick), Curriculum Associates (North Billerica), Enquiron, Fiksu, Fleetmatics (Waltham), Globoforce (Southborough) Harvard Business Publishing, HubSpot (Cambridge), John Hancock, MAX'IS Creations, Inc., PAREXEL International (Waltham), Progress (Bedford), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Ve Interactive, VirtusaPolaris (Westborough), and ZipCar (Cambridge)

Chicago: Accenture , Applied Systems (University Park), BMO Capital Markets, Empire Today (Northlake), Endurance (Northbrook), Lakeshore Recycling Systems (Morton Grove), Peapod (Skokie), SIM Partners, and Wheels, Inc. (Des Plaines)

Dallas: ACTIVE Network, AT&T, Monitronics Security (Farmers Branch), Omnitracs, LLC, Texas Wesleyan University (Fort Worth), and USHEALTH Advisors (Grapevine)

Denver & Boulder: EffectiveUI (Denver), Level 3 Communications (Broomfield), SolidFire (Boulder), and Theresa Bradley-Banta Real Estate Consultancy (Denver)

Detroit: Critical Signal Technologies (Novi), Farbman Group (Southfield), George P. Johnson (Auburn Hills), Great Expressions Dental Centers (Bloomfield Hills), and Shinola (Detroit)

Houston: Effex Management Solutions, Gorilla Safety, PROS, Inc., Signet Interactive, and TopSpot Internet Marketing

Los Angeles: Christmas in Hollywood (Hollywood), Dollar Shave Club (Venice), Ixia (Calabasas), j2 Global® Cloud Services (Hollywood), PMK*BNC (Los Angeles), and ZipRecruiter (Santa Monica)

Miami: Coastal Risk Consulting (Plantation), DCR Workforce (Boca Raton), Future Energy Solutions (Ft. Lauderdale), Lion Agency (Miami), MONAT Global (Doral), ScribeAmerica (Ft. Lauderdale), and TEAM Enterprises (Ft. Lauderdale)

Minneapolis: Ceridian, Deluxe Corporation (Shoreview), Renters Warehouse (Minnetonka), RiverSource Annuities, and RiverSource Life Insurance Company

New York: Broadstreet, Datapipe, Inc. (Jersey City, NJ), Diligent Corporation, Fidelity Investments (Jersey City, NJ), Hudson Group (East Rutherford, NJ), Kaplan Test Prep, Makovsky & Co, MASS Communications, Momentum Worldwide, MWW (East Rutherford, NJ), ProSight Specialty Insurance (Morristown, NJ), Radware (Mahwah, NJ), Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (Mahwah, NJ), SocialCode, Squarespace, Swiss Post Solutions, Thomson Reuters, TouchBistro, TransPerfect, VertaMedia LLC, and W Magazine

Philadelphia: Broadview Networks (King of Prussia), GetResponse Inc. (Wilmington, DE), Karma Agency, LCG, Ltd. & H.E.L.P.® Legal Plan (Bala Cynwyd), Nutrisystem (Fort Washington), and Worldwide Clinical Trials (King of Prussia)

Phoenix: Allbound (Scottsdale), Beyond20, Casino Arizona (Scottsdale), Digital Air Strike (Scottsdale), Isagenix International (Gilbert), The James Agency (Scottsdale), KEO Marketing Inc., Talking Stick Resort (Scottsdale), and Yeager Marketing

Salt Lake City: 4Life Research (Sandy), 97th Floor (Lehi), IHG, Morinda, Inc. (American Fork), SnappConner PR (South Jordan), and USANA Health Sciences

San Diego: AMN Healthcare, Amobee, The Control Group, PACIFIC, Qualcomm, Red Door Interactive, and RippleNami, Inc. (Cardiff)

San Jose: Cisco Systems, Electric Cloud, EMC, Malwarebytes, PayPal, RiseSmart, TextRecruit, TiVo Inc., and Zoom Video Communications, Inc.

San Francisco: Blueshift Labs, ClearSlide, CoreOS, Demandbase, DocuSign, Godfrey Q, Grow Marketing, Scality, SquareTrade, STRV, Teridion, and Wells Fargo Treasury Management

Seattle: Avalara, Capital One Investing, Microsoft Corporation (Redmond), Talking Rain Beverage Company, and T-Mobile US, Inc. (Bellevue)

Silicon Valley: Actiontec Electronics (Sunnyvale), BDNA (Mountain View), Clinovo (Sunnyvale), Cloudinary (Palo Alto), Host Analytics (Redwood City), Intuit (Mountain View), Jasper (Santa Clara), Nexenta Systems, Inc., (Santa Clara), RiskSense (Sunnyvale), Robin Systems (Milpitas), Simility (Palo Alto), SnapLogic (San Mateo), Tanis Communications (Mountain View), Tintri (Mountain View), TriNet (San Leandro), Vendavo (Mountain View), and WebAction, Inc. (Palo Alto)

Washington, DC: Applied Predictive Technologies (Arlington, VA), Bloomberg BNA Software (Arlington, VA), Clarabridge (Reston, VA), CSC (Falls Church, VA), Cvent (Tysons Corner, VA), Deltek (Herndon, VA), GTT Communications (McLean, VA), ICMA-RC, Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, MD), Meals on Wheels America (Arlington, VA), Merkle (Columbia, MD), Milk Processor Education Program, Neocate (Rockville, MD), Transurban USA (Alexandria, VA), U.S. Green Building Council, and Vistaprint Digital Services (Silver Spring, MD)

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

Other Stevie Awards programs such as The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards have human resources categories, but The Stevie Awards recognized the need for more specified HR awards categories. Today we will highlight the HR Achievements categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. No other competition offers these category varieties.

The early-bird entry deadline with reduced entry fees is Wednesday, May 4.

The final entry deadline is June 8, but late entries will be accepted through July 20 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR

REQUEST THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

HR Achievement categories:

These categories recognize specific achievements - individual, team, or organizational - since the beginning of 2015.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:
a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated achievement(s).  Describe for the judges the genesis, development, deployment, and results of the achievement(s) to date.

1. Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief features and results of the nominated achievement(s).
2. Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, work samples, internal or external reviews, or employee feedback, for example. 

B01     Achievement in Benefits Design and Administration       
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to benefits design and/or administration since the beginning of 2015.

B02     Achievement in Compensation Design and Administration       
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to compensation program design and/or administration since the beginning of 2015.

B03     Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion    
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to workplace or workforce diversity and/or inclusion since the beginning of 2015.

B04     Achievement in Employee Engagement    
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to employee engagement or motivation since the beginning of 2015.

B05     Achievement in Employee Relations          
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to employee relations since the beginning of 2015.

B06     Achievement in HR Technology     
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to the design, development, deployment, and/or administration of HR-related systems or technologies since the beginning of 2015.

B07     Achievement in Human Resources Administration         
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to the administration of an organization's total HR organization since the beginning of 2015.

B08     Achievement in Internal Communications
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to internal communications programs or campaigns since the beginning of 2015.

B09     Achievement in New Employee Onboarding        
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to the onboarding, assimilation, and training of new employees since the beginning of 2015.

B10     Achievement in Recruitment          
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to an organization's new-employee or executive recruitment efforts since the beginning of 2015.

B11     Achievement in Workforce Development and Learning 
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to workforce learning or training since the beginning of 2015.

B12     Achievement in Workplace Design
Recognizing the design of workplaces that promote engagement, productivity, and employee wellbeing.   There is no eligibility timeframe for this category - it doesn't matter when the workplace's current design or configuration was established.

1. for up to 10 employees
   b. for up to 100 employees
   c. for more than 100 employees - single location
   d. for more than 100 employees - multiple locations        

B13     Achievement in Workplace Health & Wellbeing  
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to an organization's efforts to promote and protect workforce health and wellbeing since the beginning of 2015.

B14     Achievement in Workplace Safety & Compliance           
Recognizing notable single achievements, or a series of achievements, related to an organization's programs to promote workforce compliance and workplace safety since the beginning of 2015.

Richa Ramola is Vice President Human Resources at Radius Global Solutions in Mumbai, India. As one of the more active judges in the 2016 Asia Pacific Stevie Awards, she contributed to judging submissions in the Company, Management, HR, Customer Service, and Creative Awards categories.

See the full list of Asia-Pacific Stevie-winners here.  

We asked Richa about the judging process, what she thought about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, and what most interested her about her own work.

Judging the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, Richa told us, had been an enriching experience. “I have enjoyed judging each entry for the awards. There is so much learning and so much innovation that has been shared by the participants, and that gives us insight to intelligent processes and work being done across a variety of organizations in different countries.”

Apply here if you would like to be considered as a judge for the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

As someone who judged entries in multiple categories this year, we asked Richa for her overall impression of entries to the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.  “I can see organizations competing amongst each other for this coveted award, and there are so many more entries this year,” she commented. “The competition is getting tougher!”

This year, the judges were divided into committees by category group and by language.  The judges who participate in the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have their own competition: two of them will win a pair of tickets to attend the Awards Presentations in Sydney, Australia, at the end of May.  Richa is hoping she will be one of this year’s contenders. “Sydney is such a beautiful city and I would love to visit it! And being part of the Awards Ceremony would make it all the more exciting,” she told us.

Richa works in the Mumbai office of Radius Global Solutions, which has its corporate headquarters in Ambler, Pennsylvania, USA. The company is hoping to expand into the Asia Pacific region in the near future.

As Vice President Human Relations at Radius, Richa loves her work. “People are our most valued assets, and our HR department has a very important role to play in creating a strong culture where our employees enjoy coming to work each day,” she explained. “Developing our people and seeing them grow in their work makes me happy and inspires me to continue to build a culture where people love to work and want to grow.”

About Richa Ramola:

Richa is currently the Vice President HR for Radius Global Solutions' India site. Prior to this role, she had 19 years of experience across well-known organizations such as ITC Hotels, SITEL, and IBM. She has work experience across functions including Customer Service, Operations, Quality, Training, and Human Resources.

In her current role, Richa is responsible for leading HR strategy for the India site and executing it successfully. She acts as a business partner to the organization’s senior management, sharing best practices, HR support, guidance, and advice with the India leadership. She manages all HR activities across the site, developing, implementing, and communicating HR practices, policies and programs.

About Radius Global Solutions:

Radius Global Solutions, headquartered near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is a leading provider of accounts receivable, customer relations, and revenue cycle management solutions. Radius was established on the principle of innovation. The company attracts the best people, empowers them with a progressive business culture, and enables them with next-generation technology. Radius is at the forefront of compliance. Its commitment to meeting the challenges of an ever-changing regulatory environment provides tangible and measurable benefits to its clients. With more than a century of experience in the industry, the Radius team has the knowledge and expertise to provide reliable, consistent service. Radius delivers the results its clients expect and deserve. For more information go to www.radiusgs.com/

With The 13^th Annual International Business Awards entry deadline being just a few weeks away, today we will highlight the new awards categories this year.

A variety of new categories are introduced for the 2016 competition including Technology PR Campaign / Program of the Year, and Re-Branding / Brand Renovation of the Year. The 34 Company of the Year categories have each been split into three categories, based on company size (small, medium-size, and large). See more about each category below.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The final entry deadline is May 11. Late entries will be accepted through June 15 with payment of a late fee. These are the world's premier business awards, each year attacting nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE

New for 2016:

The Technology PR Campaign / Program of the Year category entails:

• Technology: campaign/programs in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns. 

The Marketing Re-branding / Brand Renovation of the Year category entails:

• Re-Branding / Brand Renovation of the Year: for campaigns that recreated or repositioned an existing brand. 

Company of the Year:

May be for-profit or non-profit, public or private, large or small.  Each of these industry categories now has three sub-categories:

• Small (≤ 50 employees and turnover ≤ €10 m / $11 million)
• Medium-size (≤ 250 employees and turnover ≤ €50 m / $55 million)
• Large (> 250 employees and turnover > €50 m / $55 million)

B01.    Accounting
B02.    Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
B03.    Aerospace & Defense
B04.    Automotive & Transport Equipment
B05.    Banking
B06.    Business or Professional Services
B07.    Chemicals
B08.    Computer Hardware
B09.    Computer Software
B10.    Computer Services
B11.    Conglomerates
B12.    Consumer Products - Durables
B13.    Consumer Products - Non-Durables
B14.    Diversified Services
B15.    Electronics
B16.    Energy
B17.    Financial Services
B18.    Food & Beverage
B19.    Health Products & Services
B20.    Hospitality & Leisure
B21.    Insurance
B22.    Internet/New Media
B23.    Legal
B24.    Manufacturing
...and more.

An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

• Management Awards 
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards 
• Human Resources Awards 
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards 
• New Product Awards 
• Public Relations Awards 
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

Honorees for Innovation in Business to Be Recognized in Sydney on 27 May

Winners in the third annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, the only awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, were announced today.  The list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners is available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Stevie Awards are considered to be the world's premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace over the past 14 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards. 

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 17 nations including Australia, China, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Qatar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the U.S.A., and Vietnam. More than 600 nominations about innovative achievements in the 22-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

This year’s top overall winner, with five Gold, eight Silver, and six Bronze Stevie Award wins is Telkom Indonesia.

Atomic 212 of Australia has won eight Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization this year. Telkom Indonesia and The Spaceship (Australia) are runners up, each with five Gold Stevie wins. Winners of two Gold Stevies include KoROAD (South Korea), PT PETROKIMIA GRESIK (Indonesia), Singapore Airlines, Songpa Gu Office (South Korea) Strategic Public Relations Group (Hong Kong), and WardrobeTrendsFashion (Singapore).

Stevie winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet at Westin Sydney Hotel in Sydney, Australia on Friday, 27 May.  Tickets for the event are now on sale.

More than 50 executives around the world participated in the judging to determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the list of Stevie Award winners are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, 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.

The Stevie Awards are delighted to announce the eight distinguished professionals who will chair the judging committees of The 2016 (3rd annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only business awards program to recognize achivement in innovation in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region.

The eight committee chair selections are based on the categories that will be judged and the language in which nominations were submitted. Judging chairs helped to form their committees, each of which will be comprised of 5-20 other executives. 

Winners in this year's Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards will be announced on
April 20. Judging took place through April 17. Winners will be celebrated at an awards banquet in Sydney, Australia on May 27.  Tickets are on sale now.

Here are this year's final judging committee chairs.

APPS/WEBSITES/LIVE EVENTS/ANNUAL REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS

CHAIR:
Margaret Manning, OBE, CEO and Founder
Adelphi Digital Consulting Group, Singapore

Margaret Manning is the CEO and Founder of Adelphi Digital, a U.K. digital consulting company trading mostly in Asia Pacific. It was set up through an MBI of the Singapore and Australia offices of Reading Room, one of the UK’s largest digital agencies.  The company now has offices in Australia, Thailand, and Singapore and works with clients from the USA, the Middle East, and across the Asia Pacific region. Clients range from large multinationals such as Fuji Xerox and BHP Billiton to boutique brands such as Banyan Tree and Anantara.

Outside of work, Margaret Manning adores red wine, and is a self-confessed geek.  Her fascination with programming and gaming started at University, and now manifests as a deep and unbreakable bond with her iPad.  Margaret’s lifelong pursuit of online gaming, a degree in psychology (specializing in artificial intelligence), and a management-consultancy background with PwC, have together led Margaret to a special interest in online communications. She particularly enjoys exploring how new forms of communication are changing the way business works in fundamental ways and sees the increasing acceptance of agile business is one clear example that the old ways are changing.

In June 2015, Margaret received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to export to Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region. She remains committed to helping SMEs from any region to expand both nationally and internationally.   In Margaret’s own words: “I was lucky enough to have great mentors over the years and it’s a favor I would like to pay back to young business leaders.”

COMPANY/MANAGEMENT/HUMAN RESOURCES

CHAIR:
Kuldej Sinthawanarong, CEO
JARKEN, Bangkok, Thailand

Kuldej Sinthawanarong is CEO of JARKEN group of companies, a multi-disciplinary design and professional business. Over the last fifteen years, Kuldej and his team have grown JARKEN into an international, multiple award-winning consultancy through his core competency in creativity and top-notch design expertise. JARKEN is now one of Thailand’s top architectural, interior design, and branding agencies. The firm aims to become the first ever design-driven organization to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Kuldej has maintained an unwavering attitude toward the design and construction of buildings during his career in construction and architecture. While his later projects may show more refinement than his earlier projects, he clearly authored both as they are based on the same design concepts. His consistency and dedication are admirable in the ever-changing fashion trends of modern architecture. He now shares this passion with his staff as he expands his creative business into the marketing and branding professional service industry.

Kuldej loves his work, adores his family, and feels very lucky to have such a great team around him. He told us: “Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try, and once you have achieved your success, it should be seen.”

CUSTOMER SERVICE

CHAIR:
Stephen Gill, President
Stephen Gill Associates, Bang Kruai, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Stephen Gill is an experienced, award-winning international business development consultant and company director with a strong engineering background, having gained much of his experience at senior management or board level.  His active involvement in Asia began more than a decade ago when he was brought in to turn around a struggling joint-venture company in Shanghai.  He has experienced at first-hand the highs and lows of doing business in China and, more recently, in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific.  Stephen now spreads his time equally between Asia Pacific and Europe, with bases in Bangkok, and Nottingham, UK. 

With a focus on helping individuals to excel, and organizations to grow and thrive, Stephen is a trusted advisor, mentor and strategist to executives and businesses.  Stephen is a high-profile figure in the refrigeration engineering field, serving as President of the Institute of Refrigeration. As a refrigeration expert consultant, Stephen has worked on many prestigious projects around the globe.  He is known for providing energy-efficient, sustainable cooling solutions that are practical and affordable.  Stephen won two Gold Stevies at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Shanghai for a refrigeration industry awareness poster campaign. These posters have since been translated into 8 languages. 

Stephen is a regular contributor to business and technical magazines and books, as well as a conference speaker.  He has an MBA from Loughborough University and an LLM (Business Law) from De Montfort University.

Stephen is honored to have been appointed Chair of the Customer Service Judging Committee. As he told us: “The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards bring focus to the sheer passion, energy, professionalism, and fun of doing business in the region.”

MARKETING/CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

CHAIR:
Jimmy Lam, Group Chief Creative Officer
LEO Digital Network, Shanghai, China

In January 2016, Jimmy joined the LEO Digital Network as Group Chief Creative Officer. He also started Jimmy+Amber Communications, a hot shop creating media-neutral ideas integrated with technology to provide creative business solutions to brands and products, as a member company of the group.

From 2012 to 2015, Jimmy was Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for DDB China Group, where he took the group's acclaimed creative achievements to an even higher level. In the same year, Jimmy was honored at the China Communications Leadership Forum as one of the 20 most influential marketing communications leaders, for his contribution in setting high creative standard as well as nurturing young talent for the industry.  In 2014, Jimmy was honored by the China 4As as Ad Person of the Year. In 2015, Jimmy was a Direct Lions jury member at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, and was Jury President of Brand Content & Entertainment and Sports Marketing for the 2015 Cristal International Awards.

Since 2005, Jimmy has been appointed as President of the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival, and is one of the four founders of the LongXi International Chinese Creative Awards, and Chief Editor of the Longyin Review Magazine. Between 1995-1999, Jimmy took a sabbatical to get his fix as a TV commercial film director. As one of the most awarded creative directors from Hong Kong, Jimmy was the first Hong Kong creative invited to judge at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.  Jimmy started his career as a Chinese-language copywriter, rising through the ranks in seven international advertising agencies in Hong Kong and China to become Asia Pacific Executive Creative Director, Greater China Chairman, and Creative Advisor to Dentsu Inc. in Tokyo. Author of three Chinese language books on advertising, Jimmy is frequently invited to speak at industry forums and universities in China and Hong Kong, and to be their curriculum advisor.

Jimmy graduated from the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1976 and has been named one of 40 most distinguished alumni by the School of Communication. Jimmy was born in Hong Kong and is currently based in Shanghai.

NEW PRODUCT & PRODUCT MANAGEMENT/INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CHAIR:
Danny Maher, CEO
Opmantek, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

Danny Maher is the CEO of Opmantek, a multi award-winning Australian Software Company operating in the field of Infrastructure Management and IT Audit. Danny is an industry-recognized, professional commercializer of innovation with over 25 years experience in the IT industry in technical, sales and marketing, management, and executive roles. 

Opmantek products are used by over 90,000 organizations across 130 countries worldwide. With a new software implementation occurring every 6 minutes, Opmantek is one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in the world. Opmantek was named Australian ICT Exporter of the year in 2014 and has been the Queensland ICT exporter of the year for the past 2 years. Danny won the Gold Stevie for Australian Executive of the Year in the 2015 Asia Pacific Stevie awards.

Danny is a passionate supporter of the IT industry, serves on a number of Boards, and is an Angel Investor.  He was the only executive investor in the NetStar Group - alongside VC’s Allen and Buckeridge and Baring Private Equity Partners - where he founded the managed service business in Sydney, growing it to service customers in 42 countries across the globe. During this time Danny traveled extensively through Asia, designing and establishing new businesses and partnerships. NetStar was acquired by Logicalis in January 2011. Danny has held executive management and senior engineering roles for companies including IKON in Washington, DC, U.S.A., UBS Warburg in London, U.K., ICL in the U.K., and The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia.

Danny enjoys the beach, restaurants, and is an owner of a number of successful racehorses with the Gai Waterhouse stable. 

KOREAN JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Beom-Seok Seo, Ph.D., Professor of Advertising & PR
Se-Myung University, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea

Beom-Seok Seo has been Professor of Advertising & PR at Se-Myung University since 1995, and began his academic career as a Lecturer in Advertising & PR at Chung-Ang and Kyung-Hee Universities in 1985.

In addition to being Chair of the Korean Judging Committee in the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, Seo has also been Chief Judge for the Best Product of the Year Awards for the Kyungin Daily for the past 9 years; and for the Maeil Advertising Awards, run by the Maeil Economic Daily, for the past 12 years.  He has been a member of several academic and professional boards and committees, and has published numerous books on advertising, including most recently “The History of Korea Advertising” in 2015

Between 1997 and 2010, Seo was a consultant to a range of companies including Welcomm Publicis Advertising Agency, Seoul City Marketing, Media Bank Co. Ltd., Daehan Pulp Co. Ltd., and Dawoo Cables.  From 1981 to 1990, Seo was Deputy Manager, Advertising and Director of Marketing at LG Chemical Ltd.    He has a Ph.D. in Advertising from Kyung-Hee University and an M.A. in Advertising & PR from Chung-Ang University.

JAPANESE JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Hideki Saito, Director
Contemporary-Tech, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Hideki Saito is a director at Contemporary-Tech Inc. Working exclusively in temporary staffing since 1970, he has become one of the most experienced individuals in the industry in Japan. His approach to matching both skills and personality in order to improve staff retention and work enjoyment has been a welcome contribution to society.

齋藤秀樹は、株）コンテンポラリーテック社長で、1970年代から人材派遣一筋に歩んできた業界の生き字引的存在。人と会社を単にスキルから結び付けるのではなく、相性（あいしょう）面からもマッチングを提案し、気持ちよく働ける場所を提供することで社会に貢献している。

CHINESE JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Dr. Richard Huzhaoyang, Senior Editor
China Advertising, Shanghai, China

Dr. Richard Huzhaoyang is a Senior Editor at China Advertising. With more than 18 years experience working in telecom engineering, media, and marketing, Richard has run projects for Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, and Dutch Satellite TV, and has more than 2,000 apps published on the CMAC platform.  During the Beijing Olympics, Richard contributed to programming for CCTV and Dutch National TV. He continues to work for Korea KBS and MOT, and carries out research for the video industry through the Global Communication Research Institute. Richard has a Ph.D. from Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

胡朝阳:

通信、媒体、营销专家；

上海交通大学博士；

全球传播研究院研究员；

中国广告高级编审；

博士师从全球顶级传播营销大师美国南卡罗莱纳大学广告与公共关系系主任R.W.教授，业始于跨国公司WPP，强于项目运作，有全球资源和运作视野，曾完成“上海大众代理评估”、“华中车展策划执行”、“荷兰国家电视台奥运节目策划”、“台湾南宝品牌策划”、“可口可乐世博宣传推广策划”、“家在苏州整体策划”、“法制公园”、”江苏园艺博览会”、影视节目策划等一系列重大项目，富有责任心和开拓精神，精通英语，有很强的策划、管理和组织能力，曾访问过二十多个国家，有开阔的国际视野，熟悉本土化操作，有极强市场开拓能力和沟通能力，在业界有超强的人脉关系，参与国家重大项目多项，成果丰硕。

We invite you to meet The 2016 American Business Awards Management Awards judging chair and committee.

Now through the end of April, the professionals listed below will determine the Stevie Award winners in more than 40 categories for executives, management teams, and more. See the full list of categories they will be reviewing at the end of the post.

It's not too late to submit your 2016 American Business Awards nominations - the entry deadline was extended to April 19. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2016 awards honor achievements since the beginning of 2015.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Meet the judging chair and committee:

Chair:

Jay Starkman, CEO
Engage PEO, Hollywood, Florida, USA

In 2011, after more than two decades marked by substantial achievement within and outside the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry, Jay set out to build a new kind of PEO where quality service would be the driving focus of everything. That PEO is Engage. Today, Engage is one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.

Before forming Engage, Jay was president and CEO of AlphaStaff, a PEO, which he grew from a small player to a top-five industry leader. Jay sold the company in 2008 to a private equity group. Prior to AlphaStaff, Jay was president and CEO of OneChem, a software application provider to the chemical industry.  He also was managing partner of his own successful law firm, which specialized, in employment and commercial law. Among his numerous leadership awards, Jay most recently received the Gold Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year in the 2015 American Business Awards, and the Gold Award for Chief Executive Officer of the Year in the 2015 Golden Bridge Awards.

Jay is a previous member of the board of directors of the Employee Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC), the accrediting body for the PEO industry; and the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO).

Committee:

Christine Barney, CEO
rbb Communications, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Christine Barney is CEO of rbb Communications, a four-time national Agency of the Year winner and Champion of Breakout Brands (TM). Barney develops marketing/communications programs for brands including DHL Express, Hilton, Mrs. Butterworths and Thomson Reuters. Barneys employee-driven workplace philosophy makes the firm a repeated best-place-to-work company.

Dr. Kevin Chen, President & CEO
Business Methods Corporation, Randolph, New Jersey, USA
Dr. Kevin S. Chen is currently the President / CEO of Business Methods Corporation (A Management Consulting and Promotional Marketing/Advertising Specialties firm). Dr. Chen is currently the First Vice-Chair of the Better Business Bureau of New Jersey and a member of several academic business advisory councils. He also teaches Master and Doctoral level courses at several colleges.

Drew Dippolito, President
Active Leadership, LLC, New York, New York, USA
Drew Dippolito is the founder of Active Leadership LLC - a recent start-up focused on leadership development and the acquisition, development and retention of talent. The Management Feedback System is our flagship product. Drew was VP-HR at Deutsche Post DHL - one of the largest 15 employers in the world. Drew has an MBA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Monica Eaton-Cardone, COO & Co-Founder
Chargebacks911, Clearwater, Florida, USA|Monica Eaton-Cardone is an author, speaker, and international entrepreneur. She specializes in creating agile, innovative products and technology systems to help merchants minimize risk and optimize profitability. Currently, Monica serves as COO of one of her recent business developments, Chargebacks911, a chargeback prevention and friendly fraud remediation firm.

Carlos Hakim, President
CLH Corporation, Miami, Florida, USA
Dr. Carlos Hakim is a neuroscientist and biomedical engineer who is dedicated to the study of the hydraulic aspects of the cranial cavity. He has co-developed micro-implantable devices for the treatment of hydrocephalus and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, a treatable type of dementia, which is frequently misdiagnosed as Alzheimers Disease. His company is presently working towards a better understanding of these medical problems as well as developing more advanced systems for their treatment.

Danita Harn, CEO & Founder
Harn and Associates Back Office Solutions, Woodstock, Georgia, USA
Danita Harn, founder and CEO of Harn And Associates, has many years of experience in business across various market verticals from the gaming industry to SaaS and Commercial Real Estate. She has an extensive portfolio of hands-on experience and expertise in both ongoing operations management and rapid corporate growth. Danita served in executive positions tasked with financial turn-around tactics within a complex professional employer organization and a gaming casino. She was also the owner of 3 small companies simultaneously.

Gilvy Hernandez, Customer Service Training Coordinator
DHL Express Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
+10 years of Customer Service Experience in Retail / Contact Center / Customer Care environments and +5 years experience in staff training. Focused in continuous improvement and also in developing my team so they can unlock their maximum potential and keep growing personal and profesionally. Truly passionate about being centered in our customers and working as one to exceed their expectations.

Jared Kaplan, President & CEO
OppLoans, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Prior to joining Opportunity Financial as President & CEO, Jared was Executive Vice President at Insureon, the leading online agency for small business insurance. As the #2 executive at the company, he has played a number of senior operating roles including the development of its product platform and online marketing initiatives. He has also served as the company's CFO during this rapid growth phase.

Ralph Labarta, Chief Technology Officer
Engage PEO, Tampa, Florida, USA
In his role as Engage PEO’s Chief Technology Officer, Ralph oversees the company’s technology and process innovation, including all customer-facing technology services. Ralph is a highly experienced senior technology executive. He has led technology operations and strategy and major product development initiatives for a national PEO as well as for leading companies in the chemical and energy industries.

Rob Leggat, Senior Vice President
Goddard Gunster, Washington, D.C., USA
Rob Leggat is a senior strategist for Goddard Gunster. Throughout his more than thirty-year career, Rob has managed communication and public policy campaigns for companies like General Motors Asia Pacific, and Walmart International. Prior to joining Goddard Gunster, Rob oversaw all areas of corporate communication, government and public affairs, crisis communication, and strategic philanthropy for Walmart’s fifteen international markets as vice president of Walmart International corporate affairs.

Martha Lera, Principal
Lera Consulting Group, Inc., Miami, Florida, USA
Ms. Lera is the Principal of LCG, Inc., established in 1997. Martha has over twenty years experience of coaching organizations and individuals to reach peak performance and new altitudes. She holds a M.S. HRD, is a certified iPEC coach and served as a faculty member at FIU. Leras clients include but are not limited to Royal Caribbean Cruises, Embraer, Ryder Systems, Master Card, Santander, Marine Harvest, Komatsu, etc.

Stuart Lindeman, President & CEO
Mission Health Communities, Tampa, Florida, USA
Mr. Lindeman is President and Chief Executive Officer of Mission Health. Prior, he was a Senior Vice President for Revera Health Systems, where he was responsible for overall financial, clinical, operational management and direct P&L oversight for the U.S. division of Revera Inc., a 1.2 billion dollar Canadian-owned healthcare company that is a leading provider of senior care and has been in operation for over 50 years. Mr. Lindeman brings 27 years of senior housing experience to Mission.

Lloyd Lofton, President
7 Figure Sales Tools, Marietta, Georgia, USA
Lloyd is a successful business leader with 30+ years of sales experience. He has led large sales distributions that produced $50 million or more a year in sales, and recruiting efforts that resulted in hiring over 2,000 sales professionals in one year. He has trained hundreds of managers, from field sales to executive-level leaders.

Jeremy Moore, Principal, Senior Client Manager
Mercer, Kingwood, Texas, USA
Jeremy Moore is a Principal and Sr. Client Manager for Mercer based in Houston, Texas. His primary role is business development for Mercer by providing clients with solutions to their complex needs. Jeremy brings his experience of over 20 years of sales leadership in the human resource solutions and business process consulting fields.

Judi Niedercorn, CEO
SysTactics, McLean, Virginia, USA
Over 30 years in technical, infrastructure and operations consulting in the Washington DC area to multi-million dollar commercial and Government organizations. Also engaged in rural economic development, consulting, and community organization. Film Producer. Stevie Award in 2001. B.S. degree from Ohio University.

Doug Nyberg, Senior Manager, Sales Excellence
Herman Miller, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Extensive background is sales and sales leadership with the last decade focused on Sales Process and Sales Productivity.

 

Richard Ramlall, President & Principal
Ramlall Partners LLC, Ashburn, Virginia, USA
Ramlall Partners LLC provides investor relations, financial and regulatory advice & due diligence (including FCPA Compliance & Monitoring), corporate development, and strategic planning services to public and private organizations. Operational Expertise as a former/current C-Level Executive and Board Member and past winner of several ABA national and international awards.

Margaret Roth, CMO, SVP of Performance Technologies
Yet Analytics/EdTechWomen, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
At Yet Analytics, a software company that builds a data analytics platform that puts the power of connected data into the hands of decision makers, Margaret focuses on development and design of connected environments. She is a Johns Hopkins University graduate, working to develop leadership opportunities for women in tech.

Rachel Sapoznik, President & CEO
Sapoznik Insurance, North Miami Beach, Florida, USA
Rachel Sapoznik is the CEO of Sapoznik Insurance, an industry leader in employee benefit and wellness solutions serving clients nationwide since 1987. She is recognized as a leading healthcare reform expert and a voice for corporate wellness. She recently authored a book, A Passion for Wellness, Healthy Employees, Healthy Bottom Line, which was on Amazon's new releases best seller list for four straight weeks.

Steve Scott, President/GM and SVP of Operations
CoAdvantage, Inc., McDonough, Georgia, USA
Steve Scott serves as President/GM Central Region & SVP of Operations for CoAdvantage. His responsibilities include all aspects of operations, inclusive of six sigma methodology and continuous process improvement.Scott holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance, is a Certified Project Manager and is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Sushrut Shrotri, Managing Partner
Novus Global Solutions, Novus Films, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA
Sushrut has over 21 years of consulting experience spread over 4 continents and 12 countries. He specializes in ERP, Analytics' launching successful ventures and reviving sick companies. Sushrut launched Novus Global Solutions in 2010, a unique consulting firm that delivers onsite consulting cheaper than offshore with an operating model that boasts a paperless and plastic free model. Sushrut also launched Novus Films in 2015 which has been nominated for 12 awards for its first documentary Unfathomable Reality.

Denise Stefan, National Account Partner Head, PEO Vertical
Aetna, Tampa, Florida, USA

 

Tiffany Stiller, Vice President Carrier Relations
Management Development Solutions, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Tiffany Stiller has been with the Carrier Relations team at BenefitMall since 1999, and was named Vice President of Carrier Relations in 2004. In her current role, Stiller is responsible for negotiating carrier contracts and maintaining strong relationships with BenefitMall's carrier partners nationwide. She is also heavily involved with new product design and implementation.

Glen Waldman, Founding & Managing Partner
Heller Waldman, P.L., Coconut Grove, Florida, USA
With more than 25 years of experience, Glen Waldman has built his boutique law firm to focus on the trial of complex business, commercial and probate litigation matters in areas such as contracts, fraud, fraudulent transfers, partnership disputes, will contests, construction and real estate, insurance, trademark infringement and banking.

Chris Zoloth, Director, Customer Experience Optimization - Service
IHG, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
I'm accountable for IHG's contact center customer service experience strategy. I lead a team of highly experienced process and curriculum developers, who are responsible for the guest contact process design and training curriculum development. I also direct IHG's Contact Center Quality Assurance Team, Customer Care Executive Liaison Team, Guest Relocation Support Team, Insurance and the Customer Care Hotel Liaison Team.

Management categories include:

A35. Management Team of the Year
  a. Business Products Industries
  b. Business Services Industries
  c. Consumer Products Industries
  d. Consumer Services Industries

Executive of the Year (e.g. CEO, President, COO) 
A01.    Accounting
A02.    Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
A03.    Aerospace & Defense    
A04.    Automotive & Transport Equipment
A05.    Banking
A06.    Business Services
A07.    Chemicals
A08.    Computer Hardware
A09.    Computer Software
  a. Up to 500 Employees
  b. More Than 500 Employees
A10.    Computer Services
A11.    Conglomerates
A12.    Consumer Products - Durables
A13.    Consumer Products - Non-Durables
A14.    Diversified Services
A15.    Electronics
A16.    Energy
A17.    Financial Services
A18.    Food & Beverage
A19.    Health Products & Services
A20.    Hospitality & Leisure
A21.    Insurance
A22.    Internet/New Media
A23.    Legal
A24.    Manufacturing
A25.    Materials & Construction
A26.    Media & Entertainment
A27.    Metals & Mining
A28.    Non-Profit or Government Organizations
A29.    Real Estate
A30.    Retail
A31.    Pharmaceuticals
A32.    Telecommunications
A33.    Transportation
A34.    Utilities

A36. Maverick of the Year: recognizing the individual who's affected the most positive change on his or her company and/or industry since the beginning of 2015
  a. Business Products Industries
  b. Business Services Industries
  c. Consumer Products
  d. Consumer Services

A37. Tech Innovator of the Year (recognizing the individual who's contributed most to innovation, within their organization and/or industry, in the U.S.A. since the beginning of 2015)

A38. Woman of the Year: recognizing the achievements of women in the workplace since the beginning of 2015