Final judging concluded on Wednesday for the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top customer service awards and sales awards. More than 260 professionals around the world participated in the preliminary and final judging process this year - a record number - and we thank all of the people who participated for their time, their interest, and their insights.
Two weeks ago in this space we acknowledged the 129 executives who participated in the preliminary judging process, which determined this year's Finalists. Now it's time we thank the members of the seven specialized final judging committees, whose scores have determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements that will be announced at our gala awards banquet on Friday, February 21 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. (Get your tickets here.)
All judges are also acknowledged on the awards' website, will be listed in the official program book that will be distributed at the awards gala and online, and will receive a certificate of appreciation, suitable for framing.
Interested in participating in the 2015 judging process? Learn more here.
The members of the seven final judging committees were as follows.
Customer Service & Contact Center Achievement Categories Final Judges
Chair: George Orr, Vice President of Client Services at kCura in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Committee:
Steve Ankenbrandt, Cofounder & President
Milyli Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA
Bruce Blank, Director of Litigation Support
Foley & Lardner LLP, Westminster, Colorado, USA
Ye Chen, Founder
NexLP, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Ruth Diehl, Assistant Vice President
Harris Bank, Elmhurst, Illinois, USA
Anthony Digate, Senior Account Executive
SalesForce, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Jeff Gilles, Director, Product Solutions Group
Content Analyst Company, Reston, Virginia, USA
Tanya Glaser, Litigation Support Case Manager
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Joann Kay, Customer Care Director
GraduationSource, Port Chester, New York, USA
Jim LeMere, Director Customer Contact Center
Great Wolf Resorts, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Kit Mackie, Founder
NexLP, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Alicia Orr, Corporate Bookkeeper
Waterton Associates, Elmhurst, Illinois, USA
Walter Pynas, COO
George Jon Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA
John Sanchez, Executive Vice President
Advanced Discovery, LLC, San Francisco, California, USA
Taffi Schurz, Vice President, Quality Assurance
LDiscovery, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Michael Senko, Partner
Wolf & Co LLP, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, USA
Christopher Terzich, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking
Standard Bank & Trust Company, Lyons, Illinois, USA
Customer Service and Contact Center Individual Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Sanjeev Garg, Global Head of Customer Care, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit at TATA Motors in Mumbai, India
Committee:
Sumanth Badiga, Managing Director
Jasper Industries Limited, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Atul Bahel, Marketing Manager
Shell India Markets Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Bhavana Bindra, Vice President, Automotive Business
Cummins India Limited, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Angela Blevins, Vice President Customer Care
Bluegreen Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Saibal Choudhuri, Global Account Manager
Shell India Markets Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Anurag Gupta, Director
DGM-India, New Delhi, India
Phillip Horvath, Senior Vice President, Professional Services
Merchant Partners, Redmond, Washington, USA
Manish Jar, Group Managing Director
Sewells Group, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Shridhar P Joshi, Consultant Advisor
TATA Motors, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Achal Mehra, Director
Mahua Resorts Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Sanjay Passi, President & CEO
Pasco Motors, New Delhi, India
Mathew Sebastian, Managing Director
Strategic Learning Solutions Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Premanand Shenoy, Managing Director
Prerana Motors Private Limited, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Vipul Tandon, Vice President, Distribution Business
Cummins India Limited, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Customer Service Department Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Kelly Thomas, Assistant Vice President, Client Relations at OppenheimerFunds, Inc., in Englewood, Colorado, USA
Committee:
Colleen Bolton, Client Officer
National Quality Review, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Glen Colthup, Senior Director
SRS|Acquiom LLC, Denver, Colorado, USA
Andrea Daigle, Marketing Director
HindmanSanchez, Arvada, Colorado, USA
Bethany Demeter, Sales Analyst
Inspirato, Littleton, Colorado, USA
Russ DiBlasi, Vice President, Operations & Customer Care
Zions Bancorporation, Houston, Texas, USA
Vickie Friece, Vice President, Operations & Customer Care
Zions Bancorporation, Kanab, Utah, USA
Eric Head, Senior Director of Sales
Foresee, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Adam Ihrig, Business Analyst, Chase Customer Service Real Time Solutions-Card
JPMorgan Chase, Heathrow, Florida, USA
Scott Kozak, Founding Partner/CEO
KozakandAssociates, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, USA
Jason Morris, Release Manager
SRS|Acquiom LLC, Denver, Colorado, USA
Joann Orefice, Director-Human Resources
Ticketmaster, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA
Jacque Plair, Director, Network & Corporate Services
IHG, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Tonya Plumer, Sales Assistant
Strategic Benefit Services, Rensselaer, New York, USA
Steven Puckett, Vice President, Retirement Plans
Strategic Benefit Services, Rensselaer, New York, USA
Soli Schwarz, Business Analyst
JPMorgan Chase, Heathrow, Florida, USA
Afton Semon, Director Customer Service-Support Service
Franklin Templeton, Rancho Cordova, Georgia, USA
Mike Twedt, Director Finance
Miller Heiman, Aurora, Colorado, USA
Vincent Vanden Bossche, Managing Director
Call Communications, Ottenburg, Belgium
Customer Service and Contact Center Team Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Ben Herkenhoff, Customer Interaction Center Manager at Outsell, LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Committee:
Teresa Allen, Owner
Common Sense Solutions, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Ken Amormino, Director of Call Center Operations
Time Warner Cable, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Dmitry Aristarkhov, Executive Vice President
National Association of Contact Centers, Moscow, Russia
Leah Bowes, Senior Director, Customer Experience
PaySimple, Denver, Colorado, USA
Laura Fredrickson, Director of Marketing
NIC Technologies, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Peggy Heafey, Director, Intermediary Partner Care
Marriott Global Sales & Customer Care, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Tunde Hubina, Customer Care Director
UPC DTH S.á r.l., Luxembourg
Molly Kapoor, Head of Marketing
Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Meltem Karateke, President
IMI Conferences, Istanbul, Turkey
Raymond Lohr, Customer Experience Program Manager
Kabel Deutschland, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Steve Mackie, Group Manager, Workforce Management
Target Corporation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Mary Poynter, Senior Director Managed Services
Contact At Once!, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Randy Selleck, Senior Director, EPS Call Center Operations
Assurant Solutions, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Emily Truslow, Annuity Customer Service Manager
Securian Financial Group, St Paul, Minnesota, USA
Sales Achievement and Sales Individual Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Becky Johns, Vice President of MarketBridge in Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Committee:
James Brodo, Senior Vice President, Marketing
Richardson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Nicky Brooker, Vice President
MasterCard, Purchase, New York, USA
Jason Brusa, Director, Partnership Brand Marketing
Capital One, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Jamie Clark, National Sales Coach
Forrest Performance Group, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Dean Cowell, Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy
Citi, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Fred Cremo, National Practice Leader
Humana, Tampa, Florida, USA
David deBuys, Associate Director
CEB, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Vincent DiCaro, Vice President, Development & Communication
National Fatherhood Initiative, Germantown, Maryland, USA
Christine Fludd, Loyalty Marketing Manager
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, USA
Kristi Kehr, Area Catering Sales Manager
Panera, LLC, York, Pennsylvania, USA
Howard Lewis, President
Family Heritage Life Insurance, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Kore McBride, Owner
Miss Fit, Encinitas, California, USA
April Mock, Manager, CEM & Loyalty
Panera, LLC, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Andrew Pyper, Senior Business Leader, US Merchant Marketing
MasterCard Worldwide, Purchase, New York, USA
Vicki Rollins, Vice President, Sales Operations
Angoss Software Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Matthew Smith, Program Manager
Qualcomm, Encinitas, California, USA
Melissa Steward, Vice President, Marketing
National Fatherhood Initiative, Germantown, Maryland, USA
Jason Stroot, Strategic Partner Lead
Google Inc, New York, New York, USA
Cindy Wen, Marketing Specialist-Credit & Gift Card Marketing
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, USA
Jaffer Zaidi, Head of Retail Partnerships
Google Inc, New York, New York, USA
Sales Team and Sales Department Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Mike Ortegon, Director of Global Sales Operations at HomeAway.com in Austin, Texas, USA
Committee:
Jeanne Conger, Certified Forrest PG Instructor
Forrest Performance Group, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Michael Conley, Director Operations Mid Atlantic
Wyndham Vacation Ownership, N Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA
Daniel DiBona, Sales Manager
Elephant Insurance, Glen Allen, Virginia, USA
Robert Gillespie, Executive Vice President, Corporate Director Employee Development & Training
New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Linden Ingram, Executive Vice President
Imparta Inc., Austin, Texas, USA
Fred Kessler, Founder
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, Colorado, USA
Scott MacGregor, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
FloTech, Middletown, Connecticut, USA
Jason Mathias, Vice President of Sales Operations
Living Social, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Rowena Maxwell, Senior Principle-Customer Sales & Service
Accenture, London, United Kingdom
Gene McNaughton, President
Elite Concepts, Inc., Ladera Ranch, California, USA
Julie Thomas, President & CEO
ValueSelling, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA
Solution Provider and New Product and Service Categories Final Judging Committee
Chair: Ansa Sekharan, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Support at Informatica Corporation in Redwood City, California, USA
Committee:
Jamal Ayyad, Vice President-Service Delivery
SurePayroll, Inc., Glenview, Illinois, USA
Deepak Chawla, Senior Director Global Technical Services
Nutanix, San Jose, California, USA
Andrew Curtis, Manager, Product Specialists
iCIMS, Hazlet, New Jersey, USA
Churchill Dass Prince, Founder & CEO
Sales Intellect Company, Chennai, India
David Fong, Vice President, Marketing
Accounting 4 Solutions, Inc, Los Angeles, California, USA
J Israel Greene, Director of Managed Services
Gorilla Group, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Jimmy Griffith, Director, Quality Assurance
Assurant Solutions, Forth Worth, Texas, USA
Julie Holmes, Product Manager
InsightSoftware.com, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA
Scott James, Program Manager, Member Advisory Center
Arizona State Retirement System, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Eric Johnson, Senior Vice President & CIO
Informatica, Global Customer Support & Maintenance Renewals, Redwood City, California, USA
Jesintha Rajaratnam, Managing Partner
Joje India Consultants/Finance & HR, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
Mark Repkin, Chief Revenue Officer
iPromo.com, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Rahul Sheth, Lead Strategy and Marketing
CRMnext, Noida, India
David Vasquez, Customer Care Executive
Ally Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Carla Zachman, Director, Talent Acquisition and Talent Management
Insight Software, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA
