Donlen of Northbrook, Illinois, USA, received a Stevie® Award for Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program of the Year—Up to 2,500 Employees in the company awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards. (The American Business Awards are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and submit your 2012 ABA entries by the March 28 deadline.) Here we take a closer look at what steps fleet financer and management provider, Donlen is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As a global provider of fleet management solutions, the corporate awards winner was concerned with the following facts:

• Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are the leading cause of climate change;

• The commercial fleet industry currently manages nearly 3,000,000 vehicles, and one-third of GHG emissions in the United States come from the transportation sector; and

• The average fleet produces nearly 9,000 metric tons of GHG annually, which is equivalent to the GHG emissions produced by burning 1,012,373 gallons of gasoline.

In 2010, Donlen stepped forward as an industry leader and became a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), collaborating with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in a CGI Commitment to Action titled “Commercial Fleet 20% GHG Emissions Reduction,” and launching Fleets for Change, a fully independent website and robust reporting database.

Utilizing significant Donlen resources, Fleets for Change works with companies to help transform the environmental impact of the U.S. commercial fleet industry. This five-year commitment will help to reduce fleet emission levels by 20%, generating a reduction of more than 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Pledging Reductions
Any company that is committed to working to track and reduce GHG is welcome to join Fleets for Change. After joining, participants pledge reduction levels then upload their fuel usage and MPG data into a secure database. There, they can not only track their progress against their own goals, but anonymously benchmark against similar fleets with regard to vehicle type and/or class, industry, fleet size, and other criteria. (No company names or identifiers are ever disclosed to other participants.) Access to this cross-industry and fleet data is unprecedented in the fleet management industry.

Creating Change
The organization awards winner's commitment to creating meaningful industry change is easily recognizable through their Fleets for Change initiative:

• This is an industry-wide initiative open to any fleet that wishes to participate, whether or not they are a Donlen customer. Fleets for Change is a fully secure, independent site.

• There is no cost for a company to participate in Fleets for Change. Donlen is underwriting all associated costs of the site, database, reporting, and analysis.
  
  
• Donlen is committed to protecting the security of participant information: no individual data is identified or used for any purpose other than confidential reporting by Fleets for Change to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Best Practices
For companies needing assistance to identify their reduction goals and strategies, business award winner, Donlen offers best practices based on extensive experience helping their customers to develop and implement sustainability initiatives. For their customers, Donlen consultants provide performance metrics, benchmarking data, analytical support, facilitating discussions around lifecycle costs and cost reduction. These effective strategies, some of which are shared with Fleets for Change participants, help to measure and reduce fleet GHG.

Corporate award winner and CEO Gary Rappeport spearheads Donlen’s innovation and unparalleled success in the fleet industry. His focus on employee and customer satisfaction, corporate social responsibility, and environmental consciousness has put Donlen in the forefront of workplace excellence, and allowed Donlen to experience unprecedented growth under his leadership.

“The transportation industry is responsible for 28% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” stated Rappeport.“As a leader in the fleet management industry, it’s important that Donlen takes the initiative to help reduce commercial fleet GHG on a broader scale. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) offers us the ideal venue to address this critically important issue, and we're proud to collaborate with EDF to be part of the larger work of CGI.”

About Gary Rappeport:
Chief Executive Officer Gary Rappeport joined Donlen in 1986 and held a variety of roles prior to taking the leadership position in 1996. Named Executive of the Year-Services in The 2009 American Business Awards, Gary is committed to both employee and customer satisfaction, and developed the Donlen Service Success Chain in which annual goals are set and achievements benchmarked. Gary received a Bachelor's degree in Finance at the University of Florida and an MBA in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the World Presidents’ Organization, and serves as chairman of the American Automotive Leasing Association. Gary is on the Dean's Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin Business School. He is an active member of The Sierra Club and is diligently involved with Children's Oncology Services, Inc. Prior to joining Donlen, he held sales and management positions at NCR and HP.

About Donlen:
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ), Donlen (www.donlen.com), with headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois, is a global provider of fleet financing and management solutions. Since 1965, Donlen has offered its clients highly personalized and responsive customer service, and their workplace excellence has been recognized as one of Crain's Chicago Business "List of 20 Best Places to Work in Chicago" each year from 2009-2011, a Leader on "The Global Outsourcing 100®" list by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) for five of the last six years, a National Association for Business Resources "101 Best and Brightest Places to Work For in Chicago" each year from 2007-2011, the 2012 Gold Stevie® Award winner for Business Intelligence, and the 2012 Silver Stevie Award winner for Front Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

The entry deadline for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is quickly approaching – it’s Wednesday, March 28, 2012. You can start submitting your entries today here.

How the submission process works:

1. Request your entry kit. 
   Once emailed to you, the kit will be your guide on everything you'll need to know about how to prepare and submit your entries.
2. Review the 2012 ABA categories.
   Pick who you would like to recognize and why they should be recognized. We have categories highlighting organizations, teams, departments, and individuals, as well as:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards 
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

3. Submit your entries.
   Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

Benefits of submitting a business award entry:

1. More chances to win
   All Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will automatically be included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a public vote that will commence in July. The People's Choice Winners will be honored at the new tech awards ceremony in San Francisco on September 17. Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will have an opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie® Award, as voted by your peers, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as voted by your customers.
2. New award distinctions
   The American Business Awards banquets will showcase our three levels of award distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards. You can learn more about the new awards here.
3. Multiple awards banquets
   The 10th Annual corporate awards will have two awards ceremonies. We will hold our traditional banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and have a second ceremony in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th where we will announce our tech award winners.

Helpful resources to make your submission process easier:

1. Step-by-step video on how to submit entries
   Watch our helpful video tutorial on how to successfully enter submissions.
2. Review past winners' entries here.
   They're great models for how you should write your entries.
3. 7 tips on submitting winning entries
   Read our tips on how to submit winning entries.

If you have any questions regarding your ABA submissions, call us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll get back to you right away.

Not going to make the March 28th deadline? Don't worry, you can still submit entries through April 25 with a $35.00 late fee.   Click here to see the ABA's calendar.  

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards, has just published the third poll in our monthly poll series highlighting people, organizations, events, and products that have shaped our lives over the past decade.  We bring you these polls as part of our 10th anniversary celebration of the start of the Stevie Awards movement.

Our March poll asks, What’s the top new product or service of the past 10 years? After careful consideration, we've narrowed the choices to the following ten. Vote now for your choice on our Facebook page:

a) BlackBerry

b) Crest WhiteStrips

c) Crocs

d) Guitar Hero

e) iPad

f) iPhone

g) NetFlix

h) Skype

i)TiVO

j) Toyota Prius Hybrid

Results of our poll will be announced at the end of March.

Which do you think is the top new product or service of the past 10 years?

More than 1,000 votes were cast in response to February's poll question: Who was the top business leader of the past 10 years? As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, the Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards, has introduced a monthly poll series to help celebrate the people, organizations, events, and products that have shaped our lives throughout the past decade.

You voted Apple's Steve Jobs as the top business leader of the past decade, with 31% of all votes cast.

Other top business leaders included:

a) Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com - 5%

b) Richard Branson, Virgin Group - 5%

c) Sergey Brin/Larry Page, Google - 7%

d) Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway - 3%

e) Bill Gates, Microsoft - 23%

f) Naveen Jindal, Jindal Steel and Power - 2%

g) Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company - 2%

h) Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions - 4%

i) Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook - 20%

We will introduce March's poll question, What's the top product of the past ten years? on the Stevie Awards' Facebook page early next week.

Do you agree with the results? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Boeing, FedEx, Groupon, OnStar and Twitter Are Among Gold Stevie Winners

LAS VEGAS, NV – February 28, 2012 – Winners in the Sixth Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are vital to business success, were unveiled last night at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is the world’s leading sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards program.  For the first time, Stevie Awards were conferred in three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze.  Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards.

Zions First National Bank won three Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization in the competition. Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards are Avaya, Cloud9 Analytics, Direct Alliance, ING Direct USA, iolo Technologies, and PetRays Veterinary Telemedicine Consultants. Other notable gold winners included Boeing Commercial Airplanes, FedEx, Groupon, OnStar, Twitter, UPS, and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. 

Winners of the most Stevie Awards in all levels included John Hancock Signature Services with 14, DeVry University with 11, and Marriott Vacation Club International and Coloredge Los Angeles * New York with 10 each. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Winners in the third annual People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 250,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Apple Inc./Apple Stores, Amazon.com, eCornell, Finding Freedom Team, InterContinental Hotels Group, Photodex, SquareTrade, Rosetta Stone, India’s TATA Motors Ltd., and Vodafone Turkey.

The presentations were broadcast live by the Business TalkRadio Network (http://www.businesstalkradio.net), and the recording will be available online in the coming weeks.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business award shows including the prestigious International Business Awards.   More than 350 professionals from around the world attended the event. 

More than 1,000 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of almost 30% over 2011. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 93 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 38 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

More than 100 members of seven specialized judging committees determined Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, January 30 - February 10, 2012. 

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 www.stevieawards.com.

Sponsors and supporters of the 6^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Coloredge Los Angeles * New York, Competence Call Center, SDL and ValueSelling Associates.

We're expecting a record attendance - a sellout of 360 - for the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.   These are the world's top sales awards, contact center awards, and customer service awards.

This will be the historic first-ever ceremony at which Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced.  We've introduced Silver and Bronze Stevies this year as part of our celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Stevie Awards movement.  Henceforth all honorees in Stevie Awards programs will be Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie winners.

So who's coming to Las Vegas next week?  Here's the list of organizations that will be represented at the gala, as of this morning:

The Stevie® Awards is pleased to show you the first photo of the real Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards trophies which have been introduced as part of our 10th anniversary celebration of the start of the Stevie Awards movement. The new awards are manufactured by R.S. Owens in Chicago, the longtime manufacturer of the Stevie and other major awards including the Oscars and the Emmys. 

The Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be introduced at the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which recognize the achievements of call center, customer service, and sales professionals worldwide, on February 27 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  The business awards banquet, which will confer sales awards and customer service awards, will be the first Stevie Awards program in which Silver and Bronze winners will be named. (Tickets are still available; support your organization's good customer service and sales excellence by reserving a table today.) Henceforth, all honorees in Stevie Awards programs will be Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Finalists that receive the top scoring qualifying entry in each category will receive a Gold Stevie Award. Finalists that receive a final average score of at least 8.0 out of a possible 10 will be named Silver Stevie Award winners. All other Finalists will be designated as Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Gold Stevie winners will automatically receive a Gold Stevie trophy.  Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will automatically receive a Silver or Bronze medal and will have the option to purchase their Stevie trophy. With the introduction of our new corporate awards distinctions, there will no longer be Finalist certificates.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the new Silver and Bronze Stevie Award trophies!

For First Time, Nation’s Top Business Awards to  Be Presented at Ceremonies in Both New York and San Francisco

The Stevie® Awards today issued the call for entries for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the USA’s only all-encompassing business awards program, and invited all organizations nationwide to publicly recognize the achievements of their executives and employees by nominating them for a Stevie.

The entry deadline is March 28. Late entries will be accepted through April 25 with a late fee.  All individuals and organizations in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.   The 2012 awards will honor work since the beginning of 2011.   Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. 

Nominations are now being accepted in various category groups for  management awards, public relations awards, marketing awards, new product awards, human resources awards, information technology awards,  web site awards, and more. There are many new categories for 2012, including 18 new categories for smartphone and tablet apps, as well as the Best of the ABA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes that will awarded to the organizations that submit the best overall body of work to the competition.

For the first time, The American Business Awards will feature two awards banquets.  The first will take place on June 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City and will honor Stevie Award winners in traditional categories.  The second, a new event, will be held on September 17 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, California and will honor Stevie Award winners in all tech-related categories.

Also new in 2012, Stevie Awards will be conferred in three levels of distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  To date, only overall category winners have been recognized as Stevie winners.

“We are excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The American Business Awards and the Stevie Awards movement at a time when the American economy is rebounding,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. “Whether they’re multinational corporations and top executives or local businesses and hourly employees, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to be publicly honored for their hard work and achievements.”

The 2012 American Business Awards will include the Fourth Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, in which the general public will vote for their favorite new products and services of the year. Each new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards’ new product awards categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting.  Voting will open in early July and winners will be announced at the San Francisco ceremony on September 17.

The American Business Awards’ June event will be the culmination of the inaugural America Means Business, a celebration of entrepreneurship that will take place June 13-15 in New York City.  Created by the Stevie Awards to educate people about how to start and grow a business, America Means Business will feature inspirational keynotes, “How I Did It” case studies, one-to-one mentoring, an exhibition, and more.  America Means Business is now accepting proposals from speakers and attendee registrations at www.AmericaMeansBusiness-NYC.com.

2011 Stevie Awards were presented last June in The Ninth Annual American Business Awards to a diverse group of organizations including American Express OPEN,  Blackboard, EmpowHER Media, ESPN, Hewlett-Packard, Kwittken & Company, Millennial Media,  Overstock.com, Red Frog Events, and Tesla Motors, among others. 

To enter The 2012 American Business Awards, visit 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 www.StevieAwards.com/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. 

Sponsors and partners of The 2012 American Business Awards include American Support, Business TalkRadio Network, Citrix Online, Dynamics Research Corporation, iolo technologies, John Hancock Funds, LifeLock, PetRays, Primus Telecommunications Group, SoftPro, SDL and VerticalResponse.

We've published an 11-minute video about how to enter the 10th edition of the U.S.A.'s top business awards program, The American Business Awards.

Now in their 10th year, The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S.A, with award categories including management awards, marketing awards, PR awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, video awards, app awards, new product awards, and more. The entry deadline is March 28.

The short video covers:

• What the ABAs are, and their history
• The schedule for the 2012 ABAs
• How to review and select categories
• How to prepare and submit entries
• What’s new & different in 2012
• How the judging process works
• Best practices

If you plan to enter The 2012 American Business Awards, we highly recommend that you get and review the online entry kit in addition to watching this video which offers many helpful insights about the process of the awards program.

The following professionals are participating on the 7 final judging committees of the 2012 (6th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales and Customer Service, the world's premier customer service awards, contact center awards, and sales awards. Final judging began on January 30 and will run through mid February. Their average scores will determine the 2012 Stevie Award winners. This year's Stevie Awards winners will be announced at our annual awards ceremony at Caesar's Palace resort in Las Vegas, NV, on Monday February 27. Learn more about the event and reserve your table today. We thank our judges for their enthusiasm, time, and insights.

2012 Sales Department & Sales Team Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Raj Hajela, Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, Salesify, Redwood City, California, USA
Committee:
Chris Ancell, President-Business Markets Group, CenturyLink, Denver, Colorado, USA
Damian Artt, SVP WW Sales & Services at WindRiver (Intel), WindRiver, Alameda, California, USA
Bill Cheek, President-Wholesale Ops, CenturyLink, Monroe, Louisiana, USA
Amy Guarino, VP Business Development, Marketo, San Mateo, California, USA
Carlos Hidalgo, CEO, The Annuitas Group and Marketing Automation Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Susan Knox, VP of Sales, SAP, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA
Sudhir Kulkarni, SVP, Head of Sales, Sourcebits, Inc., Pleasanton, California, USA
Shane Lewis, Asst VP Sales, Sundance Vacations, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA
Stephen Lilly, VP, Business Development, Ziff Davis/B2B Focus, Inc., San Francisco, California, USA
Jay Mitchell, Managing Director, Motum, LLC, Irving, Texas, USA
Jill Rowley, Director of Strategic Accounts, Eloqua, San Francisco, California, USA
Tracey Solanas, VP Sales, GramercyOne, New York, New York, USA
Lucas Tennant, Senior Vice President, Sales, CompuPay, Inc, Miramar, Florida, USA

2012 Sales Individual & Solution Provider Final Judging Committee
Chair:
William Binch, SVP Sales, Marketo, San Mateo, California, USA
Committee:
Ahmed Al Hai, BRM Specialist, ADCO, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Matthew Androski, SVP Sales, BMC Software, Irvine, California, USA
Jeb Brooks, EVP, The Brooks Group, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
Gregory Brush, VP, Sales, InsideView, San Francisco, California, USA
Susan L. Cordts, CEO, Adaptive Technologies, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Michael Gear, Vice President, WW Sales & Field Operations, GoodData Corporation, San Francisco, California, USA
Derek Grant, SVP Sales, Pardot, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Donna Kent, SVP, Global Sales & Marketing, TeleVerde, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Keith Nealon, Chief Revenue Officer, M5 Networks, New York, New York, USA
Mark Roberge, VP Sales, Hubspot, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Julie Thomas, President & CEO, ValueSelling Associates, Santa Fe, California, USA
Diane Updyke, VP Sales, Crowd Factory, San Francisco, California, USA
Derrick Van Grol, VP Global Sales, IDI Billing Solutions, Victor, New York, USA
Ronald J. Whaley, Chief Revenue Officer, OSG Billing Services, Englewood, New Jersey, USA

2012 Sales Achievement Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Jason Copeland, Senior Manager, National Sales Group, SurePayroll, Inc., Glenview, Illinois, USA
Committee:
Johnny Anderson, VP, Bulldog Solutions, Austin, Texas, USA
Ryan Azus, Vice President, Worldwide Sales, RingCentral, San Mateo, California, USA
Scott deMoulin, President, Business Breakthroughs Elite Consulting, Grovetown, Georgia, USA
Phil Hansen, CEO, CLEARLINK, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Thomas Joyer, Senior Vice President, Sales & Client Services, Health Integrated, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Gene McNaughton, President, Elite Concepts, Inc., Ladera Ranch, California, USA
Carajane Moore, President, Hunt Big Sales, Fishers, Indiana, USA
Matt Morea, Senior Vice President, Business Breakthroughs Int'l, Grovetown, Georgia, USA
Mark Repkin, Vice President, The Certif-A-Gift Company, Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA
Tom Schaff, Managing Partner, Big Swift Kick, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Neal Tricarico, President, Ultimate Growth, Inc., Carlsbad, California, USA

2012 Customer Service/ Call Center Individual & Customer Service/ Call Center Team Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Carita Vallinkoski, Expansion Management, Competence Call Center AG, Vienna, Austria
Committee:
Dmitry Aristarkov, CEO, Call Center Guru, Moscow, Russia
Ela Banu, Customer Care & Services Manager, ING Bank, Bucharest, Romania
Sam Bruni, Senior Director of Customer Experience, BackCountry.com, Utah, USA
Pembe Candaner, Founder & President , Pro-To-Cool, Istanbul, Turkey
Susanne Feldt, Editor, TeleTalk, Hannover, Germany
Simone Fojut, Chief Editor, CallCenterProfi, Wiesbaden, Germany
Claudia Gabler, Chief Editor, Contact Management Magazine, Zollikofen, Switzerland
Barbara A. Glanz, CSP, CPAE, President, Barbara Glanz Communications, Inc., Sarasota, Florida, USA
Gerrit Goedkoop, VP Customer Care, UPC Broadband, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kubilay Guler, Asst. General Manager, FINANSBANK, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr Nils Hafner, Managing Director, Customer Competencies, Institut Dr. Hafner GmbH, Kreuzlingen am Bodense, Switzerland
Tunde Hubina, Customer Care Director, UPC DTH UPC DTH S.à r.l., Howald, Luxembourg
Manuel Jacquinet, Co-president/Publishing Direct, EnContact, MALPASO, Paris, France
Natalia Kabakova, Head of Customer Service, DHL Express Russia, Moscow, Russia
Meltem Karateke, President, IMI Conferences, Istanbul, Turkey
Demet Kockal, Operasyon Yönetmeni, ÇAGRI MERKEZLERI DERNEGI, Istanbul, Turkey
Elzbieta Krawczynska, Quality Specialist & Trainer, Bank Zachodni WBK, Poznan, Poland
Karin Lüttmerding, Customer Service Manager, FONIC GmbH, Munich, Germany
Marcello Maggioni, EVP-Customer Group, Sky Deutschland AG, Unterfoehring, Germany
Nicola Millard, Customer Experience Futurologist, British Telecommunications PLC, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Christoph Pause, Chief Editor, Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG, Freiburg, Germany
Elizaveta Rybinskaya, Customer Service Director, QUELLE RUSSIA, Moscow, Russia
Ann-Marie Stagg, Head of Direct Sales, The Co-operative Banking Group (UK), Sandbach, UK
Manfred Stockmann, President, Call Center Verband Deutschland e. V., Berlin, Germany
Olav Strawe, Publisher, TeleTalk, Emerald Hills, California, USA
Andrzej Szczepaniak, Asst. Director, Central Settlement Services , Bank Zachodni WBK, Poznan, Poland
Özge Tekalp, Director, Alternative Sales Channels, Türk Ekonomi Bankasi A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Vincent Vanden Bossche, Managing Director, Call Communications, Ottenburg, Belgium
Madalina Vilau, Managing Partner, Expo Media, Bucharest, Romania
Nicolette Wuring, Managing Director, Customer Management Services, RG Amstelveen, Netherlands
Oleg Zeldin, CEO, Apex Berg Contact Center Consulting, Moscow, Russia

2012 Customer Service/ Call Center Department Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Susan Cloutier, Operations Manager, Mayo Medical Laboratories, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Committee:
Kevin Cappel, Owner & CEO, Ledgersre Solutions, Winona, Minnesota, USA
Jackie Coffey, Director, BlueDirect Sales, Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA
Matthew Conant, Director, Customer Experience, Plato Learning, Inc., Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Dave Dreas, Marketing Director, Managing Member, Jeremy Scott Fitness, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Jeremy Scott, Jeremy Scott Fitness, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Richard Feinberg, Professor, Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Michael Haddow, Vice President of Customer Care Operations, QBF FIRST, Morrisville, North Carolina, USA
Anne Holland, RN, BSN, CCRP, President, Holland Research Consultants, LLC, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Dino Kasdagly, General Manager, Optum Insight-Division of United Health Group, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Keith Laughman, CEO, Med Fusion, Lewisville, Texas, USA
Frank Mettille, Senior Exercise Planner, Joint Task Force Civil Support-L3 Communications, Chesapeake, Virginia, USA
Craig Oslund, Vice President, Merchants Bank, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Sarah Oslund, Director of Communications, University of Minnesota-Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Paulette Pehling, Owner, Quality Overhead Door, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Dayne Petersen, Sr. Consultant, Benchmark Portal, Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Thomas K. Sawyer, Associate Professor, Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota, USA
Greg Sell, CEO, Selloxx, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Wei Shi, Sales Director, Digital China Holdings Limited, Beijing, China
Kirk Waldon, President, The Guardian Group, Overland Park, Kansas, USA
Cindy Wills, Vice President, Sales, Carpet One Hour & Home, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Guo (Peter) Zijiang, COO & GM Assistant, Wuhan Kindstar Diagnostics Co., Ltd, Wuhan, China

2012 Customer Service Achievement Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Cameron E. Hurst, Vice President, Assurant Solutions, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Committee:
Tom Coury, Chairman, Matrix Pointe Software, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Carmit DiAndrea, VP, Analytics & Client Services, Customer Relationship Metrics, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Kristyn Emenecker, VP Product Marketing, InContact, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Ryan Hollenbeck, SVP Marketing, Verint Systems, Roswell, California, USA
Cliff Hurst, CEO, Career Impact, Gilroy, California, USA
Gina Musick, VP, Distributed Computing Group Manager, TD Bank, Fort Pierce, Florida, USA
Marshall Ogen, SVP, J.LODGE, Marlton, New Jersey, USA
Gary Poch, Vice President, Equifax Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Andy Pritchard, President & CEO, ThoughtBurst, Inc., Carmel, California, USA
Chris Repholz, SVP, IntelliSource, Denver, Colorado, USA
Stuart Saunders, CEO and Co-Founder, Mobile Defense, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Julie Ann Skaggs, Director of Operations, Covance Market Access, San Diego, California, USA
David L. York, VP Sales, Genesys Telecommunications, Larkspur, Colorado, USA

2012 New Product & Service Final Judging Committee
Chair:
Ben Saren, Vice President, Marketing, Litle & Co, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
Committee:
David Beisel, Partner, NextView Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Matt Douglas, CEO. Punchbowl.com, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA
Melissa Dowler, Co-Founder, Long Haul Films, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Michael Dunn, CTO, Hearst interactive media, Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Andrew J. "Flip" Filipowski, Executive Chairman & CEO, SilkRoad technology, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA
Jane Henry, Owner, LOOMLAB, South Pasadena, California, USA
Tara Hunt, CEO & Co-founder, Buyosphere, Montreal, Canada
Aaron Irizarry, Experience Designer, Hewlett Packard, Murrieta, California, USA
Michael LeBarron, Senior UX Engineer, Rue La La, Rockland, Massachusetts, USA
Kaitlin Maud, Co-Founder, Rain or Shine Studio, Brighton, Massachusetts, USA
John McCurdy, VP Business Development, Invest Northern Ireland, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Kevin Mitchell, Senior Director of Programming, National Amusements, Norwood, Massachusetts, USA
Beth Monaghan, Principal, InkHouse Media + Marketing, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Randy Parker, President, SMBapps, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Jen Reddy, VP, Global Marketing, Communispace, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Evan I. Schwartz, Director of Storytelling, INNOSIGHT, Lexington, Massachusetts, USA
Rusty Williams, Co-Founder, Troopla, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA