April 27 Final Entry Deadline for Ninth Annual Program

The Stevie® Awards today named the ten executives who will chair and form specialized final judging committees for its Ninth Annual American Business Awards.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. - public and private, large and small, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to The American Business Awards.  April 27 is the final entry deadline this year. Details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/.

The ten committee selections are based on the categories that will be judged.  The appointments are as follows:

• Company/Organization Awards: Christopher Cabrera, Founder & CEO, Xactly Corporation, San Jose, CA

• Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, and Public Relations Awards: Kenneth D. Makovsky, President, Makovsky + Company, New York, NY

• Creative Awards: Suraya Bliss, Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Communication, Walmart, Bentonville, AR

• Customer Service Awards: Art Gairo, Senior VP Operations, Broadview Networks, Rye Brook, NY

• Human Resources Awards: Jim Gillece, Senior Vice President of Human Capital Management, Chief People Officer, Allied Barton Security Services, Conshohocken, PA

• Information Technology Awards: Sheri Thureen, Vice President Enterprise Business Transformation, CSC, Marlton, NJ

• Management Awards: Reggie Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Cvent, McLean, VA

• Marketing Awards: Ivan Koon, CEO, YouSendIt, Campbell, CA

• New Product Awards & Product Management: Noah T. Rowles, CEO, iolo technologies, LLC, Los Angeles, CA

• Support Awards: Todd Crowder, Director of Customer Care, Vision Solutions Inc., Irvine, CA

Finalists in the 2011 American Business Awards will be determined in preliminary judging to be conducted in April and May by volunteer professionals nationwide.  Final judging, to be conducted by panels to be formed by the newly appointed committee chairs, will take place from late May through early June.  In total more than 150 executives will participate in this year’s judging process.  The 2011 awards will be announced on June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City and will honor achievements since the beginning of 2010.

“The executives who will chair the final judging committees for The 2011 ABAs are all winners of 2010 Stevie Awards and are leaders within their industries,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. “Having a deep involvement and understanding of their respective industries and changing landscapes, these individuals possess the insight to recognize success factors for this year’s candidates.”

To enter The 2011 American Business Awards, visit: http://www.stevieawards.com/aba.

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

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Eighth Annual International Business Awards Announces 2011 Call for Entries

The Stevie® Awards today issued the call for entries for the Eighth Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition which last year attracted nominations from more than 40 nations.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to the IBAs. The early-bird entry deadline, offering discounted entry fees, is 12 April. The final entry deadline is 11 May. Late entries will be accepted through 8 June, and results will be announced in early July. Entry details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba.

The Stevie Award trophy, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, is one of the world's most coveted prizes. Stevies are conferred upon top-scoring nominations in each category, as chosen by an international judging panel of more than 150 business leaders.

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

For a full list of categories visit: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/171_695_3021.cfm.

"The International Business Awards are the preeminent indicator of achievement in the global business community," said Michael Gallagher, president of The Stevie Awards. "Each year we celebrate the achievements of individuals and organizations who are making a positive difference for their customers, their shareholders, their employees, and their communities."

2011 honorees will be celebrated at the 8^th annual awards banquet on Tuesday, 11 October at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, hosted under the patronage of H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi, Minister for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates.

The 7th Annual International Business Awards were presented in September 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. Honorees included Accenture, Bank of Montreal, Cisco, Coca-Cola Icecek, Edelman in Indonesia, Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics, and Thomson Reuters, among others. 2010 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2633_20484.cfm.

To request an entry kit for The 2011 International Business Awards, visit www.stevieawards.com/iba.

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

Sponsors of The 2011 International Business Awards include IIR Exhibitions, the Korea Business Communications Association, Netezza Corporation, and Smart Reader Worldwide.

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We've pleased to introduce the new mobile homepage for the Stevie Awards, the world's premier business awards.  Please try it now – go to www.stevieawards.com on your smartphone.

From now on, most everyone around the world who visits a web page on the stevieawards.com domain on their smartphone will be greeted in their native language with a general introduction to the Stevie Awards that offers the opportunity to receive more information by email about one of our four awards programs, including

The American Business Awards

The International Business Awards

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

The languages included in the first edition of our new mobile homepage include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.  We’ll be adding other languages in time.

What do you think of our new mobile homepage?

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March 31 is the final entry deadline for The 2011 (9th annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A.  Late entries will be accepted through April 27 with payment of a late fee.

If you haven't yet reviewed the 2011 entry kit, you'll find it online here. We also recommend that you watch the video How to Enter The 2011 American Business Awards.

The ABAs have categories to recognize achievement in all facets of the American workplace, from the executive suite to the shop floor.  Types of categories include:

• Overall Company/Organization Awards
• Management Awards
• Corporate Communications & Public Relations Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Products Awards (and Product Development categories)
• Support Awards
• Web Sites, Blogs, Annual Reports, Videos, Live Events, and other types of media

2011 Finalists will be announced in mid-May, and this year's Stevie® Award winners will be announced at the 9th annual awards banquet at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Monday, June 20. Finalists are not required to attend to win.

The ABAs are one of four Stevie Awards competitions.  While the ABAs are open to all organizations operating in the U.S.A., the other three programs are open to entries from all organizations worldwide.  The other competitions are The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

If you have questions about The American Business Awards or any of the other Stevie Awards competitions, please contact us:

The Stevie Awards
info@stevieawards.com
+1 703-547-8389

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Josef von Rickenbach, Chairman & CEO of PAREXEL International Corporation, with global headquarters located in Waltham, Massachusetts U.S.A., was named Executive of the Year in North America in the management awards categories of The 2010 International Business Awards.  Here we profile his company and what it has achieved in nearly three decades.

Founded in 1982 by Joseph von Rickenbach, PAREXEL supports pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical-device companies throughout the world in the successful development and launch of products.  Over the past 29 years the company has helped bring some of the most important treatments of our time to the patients who need them. PAREXEL has supported nearly all of the 50 top-selling drugs on the market, and has marked several firsts throughout its history, including helping to achieve one of the fastest drug-development times to date for an HIV/protease inhibitor.

 

Recently, PAREXEL has achieved marketing approval for among the first biosimilar drugs worldwide, helping to advance new versions of innovator biopharmaceutical products following patent expiry.

On a Mission
Under Mr. von Rickenbach’s leadership, PAREXEL’s mission has been clear: to prevent and cure disease. “We have maintained a clear focus on combining the strength of our expertise, experience, and innovation to advance the success of the biopharmaceutical industry in achieving this,” he said.

A proof point of this mission is PAREXEL’s work with biopharmaceutical companies to improve development success rates for oncology drugs. In 2009 the company announced it had reached a milestone in managing oncology-based clinical trials over the last five years. The trials involved over 175,000 patients in hundreds of programs across 80 countries—a critical achievement given that approximately 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year worldwide.

A Vision for Global Drug Development
Mr. von Rickenbach foresaw that pharmaceutical companies with separate national operations needed service providers that combined an international presence with the technology capabilities that would help develop and commercialize drugs for burgeoning international markets. By investing in this vision, PAREXEL has acted as an effective catalyst in this trend.

Today, PAREXEL has helped biopharmaceutical companies transcend national boundaries by providing access to a wide array of geographies for clinical development programs, and offering technologies that facilitate global trials and reduce associated time and cost.

A New Level of Strategic Partnership
Working with PAREXEL's management team, Mr. von Rickenbach has transformed the business in recent years to deliver a new level of strategic partnership.  

In 2009 PAREXEL established The Expert Office™, signaling a new level of strategic partnering that provides a single point of contact for clients to more quickly access PAREXEL’s worldwide expertise.  This service aligns the company’s leading medical, therapeutic-area, regulatory, and clinical operations experts with their counterparts at biopharmaceutical companies. This consolidation of knowledge helps biopharmaceutical companies make faster, better-informed development and commercialization decisions and accelerate clinical research.

International Recognition
After receiving the Stevie Award, Mr. von Rickenbach said: “I am honored to be recognized by the judges of The International Business Awards.  I am proud of PAREXEL’s achievements, including the continued commitment of our employees worldwide to deliver on our goal to be a premier partner to the biopharmaceutical industry."

In addition to the recognition of Mr. von Rickenbach, the eClinical Suite from Perceptive Informatics, a subsidiary of PAREXEL, was named in The International Business Awards as Distinguished Honoree in the category of Best New Product or Service of the Year:  Computer Software—New Version.  This honor recognized PAREXEL’s focus on innovation and continuous investment in the next generation of technologies to accelerate clinical development.

About Josef von Rickenbach
Josef von Rickenbach has taken PAREXEL from pioneering beginnings as one of the first clinical research organizations in the early 1980s to its place today as one of the top three public biopharmaceutical services providers. As Chairman and CEO of PAREXEL, Mr. von Rickenbach was one of the first to define the clinical research service sector. To make clinical development more effective for clients, he conceived a multidisciplinary and systems-oriented approach to outsourced clinical development, bringing efficiencies, scalability, and standardization to the process.

Mr. von Rickenbach has led PAREXEL through its IPO, multiple public offerings, and over 30 acquisitions to expand its portfolio in order to meet changing client needs and market demand. Under his leadership, PAREXEL has evolved to provide a broad range of services to the biopharmaceutical industry, including integrated clinical development, regulatory affairs consulting, commercialization services, and technologies that expedite time-to-market. Mr. von Rickenbach’s extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical services industries puts him at the forefront of drug development and management. He began his career with Schering-Plough and also held positions with ENSECO (formerly ERCO). 

Mr. von Rickenbach has served as Chair of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO), and is a longstanding member of the ACRO Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Healthcare Institute. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Economics from the School of Business at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.

About PAREXEL
PAREXEL International Corporation is a leading global biopharmaceutical services organization, providing a broad range of knowledge-based contract research, medical communications, and consulting services to the worldwide pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. For more information about PAREXEL visit www.PAREXEL.com.  

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A Portion of Proceeds From All 2011 Business Award Programs to Benefit Fight Against Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa

The Stevie Awards, organizers of the world's premier business awards, today named Camfed, a non-profit organization that aims to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa, as the sole non-profit beneficiary of its programs this year.

As the beneficiary of the Stevie Awards, Camfed will receive a portion of every ticket sold for each of the four Stevie Awards shows in 2011 including The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. 

Camfed (http://www.camfed.org) is an organization dedicated to fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change in their communities. With more than 90 percent of Camfed's operating budget going directly to programs in Africa, the organization benefits millions of girls in Africa. For example, they have improved the school environment for 1,065,710 children, provided scholarships for 42,184 girls to go to high school, trained 4,068 teacher mentors and helped 769 young women go to college.

"We are honored to have the support of a national organization like The Stevie Awards and the global business community," said Kristin Harrison, Camfed's Strategic Communications Manager. "With additional funding and increased awareness of Camfed, we will be able to put more children in Africa on the path to success and extend our fight against poverty and AIDS."

In addition to the monetary contribution, Camfed will receive $50,000 worth of advertising and editorial coverage on the Stevie Awards web sites and email newsletter. The Stevie Awards (www.stevieawards.com) recognize outstanding performance in the workplace worldwide, and communicate with hundreds of thousands of business professionals each year.

"For our beneficiary this year, we wanted to select an organization with a mission to provide brighter futures for tomorrow's generation of potential leaders," said Michael Gallagher, president of The Stevie Awards. "Camfed's mission to stop the spread of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa not only supports education and health, but also facilitates the start of small businesses on a continent that needs them vitally."

About The Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com. 

About Camfed
Camfed fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. Our goal: To improve the lives of two million children by 2013. For more information please visit: http://www.camfed.org. 

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Excelling in sales and customer service is essential for success in business, and the Fifth Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which were presented last night at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, recognized organizations and individuals for their recent achievements in these disciplines. 

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is the world's leading sales awards, customer service awards, and call center awards program. The awards were presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world's leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards. 

Winners of multiple Stevie Awards this year include Bulldog Solutions, CIGNA Government Services, Marsh U.S. Consumer, Overstock.com, Rosetta Stone, salesforce.com, Canada's SMART Technologies, and SuiteAmerica Corporate Housing. Other notable Stevie Award winners include Apple, L.L. Bean, the United Kingdom's T-Mobile, and Zappos.com. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.stevieawards.com/sales. 

Finalists and Stevie Award winners in the competition were determined by more than 125 judges over a three-month period.

Winners in the Second Annual People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 177,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Archipelago Learning, Macy's, Marriott Vacation Club, PetRays, and India's TATA Motors Ltd.

The event, attended by more than 200 executives from the U.S.A. and several other nations, benefited Camfed (www.camfed.org), which supports the education of girls and women in Africa.

More than 800 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted to this year's competition, an increase of more than 60% over 2010. There were 25 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; as well as 40 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Global Sales Leader of the Year to Sales Training Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year. New this year were categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

The Business TalkRadio Network will broadcast the awards presentations from 8:00 pm ET on Thursday, February 24 across the U.S.A. The broadcast may be heard worldwide on their web simulcast, at http://www.businesstalkradio.net. 

About The Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com.

Sponsors of the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, the Business TalkRadio Network, Competence Call Center, Infogroup, the Sales Management Association, and ValueSelling Associates.

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Today we conducted a live webinar entitled "How to Enter The American Business Awards," and a video of that recording is now available.

Now in their ninth year, The American Business Awards are the leading business awards program in the U.S.A, with category groups including management awards, marketing awards, PR awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, video awards, and more. The entry deadline is March 31.

The hour-long video covers

• What the ABAs are, and their history
• The schedule for the 2011 ABAs
• How to review and select categories
• How to prepare and submit entries
• How the judging process works
• Best practices
• What’s new & different in 2011

If you plan to enter The 2011 American Business Awards we recommend highly that you first get and review the online entry kit, but this video offers a lot of helpful detail about the process of the awards program.

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As the U.S. economy rebounds, employees and executives are working harder than ever before. In order to shine a spotlight on the organizations, individuals and teams that strive for excellence in the workplace each day, the Stevie® Awards today officially issued the call for entries for its Ninth Annual American Business Awards.  (I say "officially" because entries have been coming in since October.)

The American Business Awards are the only all-encompassing awards program that honors outstanding performances in the American workplace. All organizations operating in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is March 31 and late entries will be accepted through April 27 with a late fee. The 2011 awards will honor work since the beginning of 2010, and the awards will be announced on June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/.

Nominations are accepted in various category groups including management awards, public relations awards, marketing awards, new product awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, and more. New categories in 2011 include Executive of the Year - Health Products & Services and Best New Product or Service of the Year - Health Products & Services, and more than 40 new Marketing Campaign of the Year categories.

"The American Business Awards offer individuals and organizations the recognition they deserve for achievements in the workplace," said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. "Each year our judges recognize organizations large and small, from the world's most famous companies to mom-and-pop startups, and I think 2011 is going to offer many stories of remarkable and inspiring achievement."

The 2011 American Business Awards will include the third edition of the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products(SM), in which the general public can vote for their favorite new products and services of the year. Each new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards will automatically be included in people's choice voting. Voting opens in May and winners of the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products will be honored at the June awards dinner in New York.

The Eighth Annual American Business Awards were presented last June to a diverse group of organizations including Accenture, adidas, Apple Inc., Boost Mobile, Ford Motor Company, Hilton Hotels, Nu Skin Enterprises, the Rubicon Project and The Timberland Company among others. For a list of winners and finalists of the 2010 awards visit: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/awards/403_2183_20410.cfm.  

To request an entry kit for The 2011 American Business Awards, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/.

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Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher interviewed Wendi Goldsmith, founder and president of The Bioengineering Group on January 27 in a webinar presented by the School of Management at George Mason University. Check out the video on YouTube.

Wendi is a multiple Stevie Award winner for Executive of the Year, Company of the Year, and more.  She talked about how and why she started the business, the obstacles she overcame, how she learned to become both an entrepreneur and a manager, and the lessons she would share with would-be business creators and managers.