Stevie-winner ReadSpeaker is a voice technology company providing text-to-speech for learning content with natural-sounding voices.

ReadSpeaker tools are a critical component of making content accessible, more comprehensible, and engaging. Their tools are cloud-based, so they can be accessed anywhere, anytime, for any content and on any device.

With ReadSpeaker embedded into a Learning Management System (LMS), a website, or learning content, the user can choose from 68 languages and over 245 voices. They can choose from a suite of reading and writing tools; personalize their reading speed, highlighting preferences, font, size, colors, and more; and select distraction-free “text-only” mode.

There are several solutions and certified plug-ins available to institutions of higher education—each meeting Learning Tools Interoperability standards for interoperability—and it can be customized depending on the application.

Moodle Text-to-Speech Plugin
In September 2022, ReadSpeaker released a text-to-speech plugin for Moodle, a free and open-source LMS, so that students could listen to content on the Moodle LMS with a single click of a button.

With ReadSpeaker in Moodle, all learners can access course content within the Moodle learning environment and have an equal learning experience. A student might need content in their LMS read back to them in another language, or more slowly (or even faster). They might have a learning disability or be vision impaired, or they may not be fluent in English. Sometimes students benefit from modal-modal learning, listening to and reading along with the text simultaneously.

One of the most significant reasons why ReadSpeaker is a vital addition to websites and learning content is helping to meet the needs for those needing assistance due to learning disabilities. Websites and content meeting Universal Design for Learning standards help all learners to be successful.

Disability services on campus can use ReadSpeaker to read exams to students with dyslexia or visual impairments, which ensures a level playing field and removes the inconsistencies of using human readers for exams.

VoiceLab
ReadSpeaker VoiceLab has opened an entirely new product class—custom digital voices—for nearly any industry vertical. VoiceLab has refined the process of creating custom digital voices—including how voices are processed, mapped, and digitized—to the point where the model can be replicated in any region, for any market, or for any language and audience.

By incorporating lexicon and context into voice solutions—ranging from voices for simple installations to enhanced human prosody for more sophisticated deployment—VoiceLab has provided voices and in some cases, custom voices for several global companies including Sonos, Strongmind, Vasco Translator M3, Soft Leaf Studios, and others.

Over the 20 years since ReadSpeaker's founding, education, inclusivity, and accessibility have been the core guiding principles of the company. They continue to support accessible initiatives in special education and have a larger goal to make the entire web an inclusive experience for all by using voice.

ReadSpeaker won a Silver Stevie^® Award for Best Solution for Special Needs Students in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner Appen is a global leader in data for the AI lifecycle, with over 25 years of experience in data sourcing, data annotation, and model evaluation by humans.

Appen leverages the expertise of over 1 million skilled contractors who speak over 235 languages in over 170 countries to give leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, healthcare, and governments the confidence and capabilities to launch innovative AI intelligence systems and products.

Enabling organizations to launch, update, and operate unbiased AI models, Appen demonstrates its commitment to creating AI for everyone through a variety of projects and partnerships focused on the diversity of languages and dialects. This includes Translators without Borders, the Inuktitut translation project, and African-American Vernacular English datasets.

By specializing in data for the AI lifecycle, Appen is enabling companies to execute, expand, and improve AI initiatives. Appen is trusted by the world’s leading businesses like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, and Adobe.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)  
As a part of Appen's commitment to inclusivity, the company partners with several Impact Sourcing organizations that help refugees, developing countries, or under-resourced communities earn a living. One example is a recent partnership with Mercy Corps Ventures, bringing microwork to those without access to traditional forms of banking through stablecoins.

Additionally, Appen improved its platform to be more transparent about pay for Appen Crowd workers by implementing a "Recommendation Engine" to provide guidance on pay. While paying a fair wage is a core value, the latest product improvement provides clients with a better-estimated wage per task, so the client can be confident the minimum wage is met. This process shows commitment to equity, inclusivity, and wellness of our Crowd, and the ability to provide work to unemployed/underemployed communities.

Appen’s partnerships with organizations like Translators Without Borders provide employees the chance to work on new and exciting projects to help improve the world for others.

Appen’s mission is to reduce bias in AI models. Businesses are now using AI to venture into previously unexplored territory, which leaves a greater possibility of inaccurate, incomplete training datasets to build AI models and an increased likelihood of biases.

Quality Data Essential for Quality AI
Human-in-the-loop data plays a crucial role in eliminating bias across AI applications. Biases of socioeconomic, demographic, and other origins are always an inherent risk when deploying AI models. Humans evolve over time and having a human in the loop to monitor the model as the data drifts becomes crucial for data science teams to continue to deploy safe, holistic, and inclusive models. Using human-in-the-loop datasets, Appen makes safer, more inclusive AI deployment and scaling a reality. 

To give businesses the insight they need to make informed decisions about their AI initiatives, Appen recently released its 2022 State of AI report. The sought-after 8th annual State of AI report is a cross-industry effort aimed at providing an overview of the status of AI and machine learning through input from businesses and their senior decision-makers and technical practitioners. Appen partnered with The Harris Poll to collect and analyze the survey data to ensure unbiased results. Appen’s 2022 report surveyed 504 participants across North America and Europe to understand AI adoption, the maturity of data management across the AI lifecycle, and the value placed on responsible AI.

The 2023 report reveals that, although AI adoption has slowed following the surge prompted by the global pandemic, companies are shifting their focus to ethics, data diversity, and maturing their use of AI. Appen’s research also found that sourcing quality data is the biggest hurdle to creating AI. To successfully build AI models, organizations need accurate and high-quality data, but business leaders and technologists are experiencing a significant gap in data accuracy. The report also dives into industry trends such as the increased reliance on synthetic data and the prioritization of ethics in AI projects.

With over 25+ years of experience putting together high-quality training data that strives to be free of unconscious bias, Appen’s robust synthetic datasets allow companies to break away from traditional AI data limitations and reduce human bias. Pairing this synthetic data in conjunction with authentic, historical data points ensures that datasets are robust, accurate, and realistic. These capabilities are making strides across several industries, such as automotive, financial services, retail, and healthcare.

Appen won a Bronze Stevie^® Award for Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year - Up to 2,500 Employees in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner Lucid Reality Labs is an immersive technology consulting, design, and development company creating immersive, extended-reality training and simulations for healthcare, MedTech, pharma, aerospace, and defense.

The company creates virtual reality simulation solutions with elements of gamification for training, education, and collaboration scenarios. Through these scenarios, users explore, interact, learn, and build skills as well as master procedures attached to the role in a risk-free, controlled environment.

They also offer mixed reality (MR) solutions that merge physical and digital worlds, people, and virtual beings, revealing new opportunities for human, computer, and environment interactions. This creates new forms of remote collaboration, operations improvement, reskilling, and upskilling of the workforce while promoting safety and creativity.

Their solutions transform the way people perceive information, play, learn, collaborate, shop, socialize, and explore the world. The goal is to create immersive solutions with a positive impact, by going the extra mile, focusing on team synergy, client collaborations, and deep tech expertise.

"Seeing the Problem"
"Seeing the Problem" The Extended Reality (XR) Ophthalmology Macular Disease Simulation is a new product that was developed in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Roche and launched in October 2021 in the Houses of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster, UK. 

This unique immersive tool was built to demonstrate age-related macular degeneration in real-time. It helps users experience and learn what it is like to live with these symptoms and face everyday life challenges.

The product aims to raise awareness and recognition of macular disease conditions among healthcare practitioners, patient associations, and the public to facilitate understanding, bring attention, and help prevent macular disease in its early stages.

The product was built using visual materials, medical specialists' insights, and patient feedback to ensure accurate condition representation. Developers used one of the most advanced MR headsets on the market for the experience, the Varjo XR-3. This specific headset is designed to offer a high level of visual fidelity and realism, making it suitable for various professional use cases such as training, simulation, design, and research.

In this experience, there is an eye-tracking function, making it impossible to avert from the symptoms and see-through capabilities that overlay the real-life objects and surroundings with the condition symptoms in real time (e.g., visual distortions, increased blurriness of printed words, and well-defined blind spot in their field of vision).

The main benefit of this product is that healthcare practitioners, medical students, and patient associations obtained an opportunity to experience the macular disease condition firsthand and thus better understand the condition and the patient experience.

"Seeing the Problem" The Extended Reality (XR) Ophthalmology Macular Disease Simulation presentation to the UK Members of Parliament drove active communication around the eye care topic and brought governors, professional associations, practitioners, and journalists into dialogue. The product is planned to be expanded globally, with the US presentation in the next few years.

Lucid Reality Labs won a Gold Stevie^® Award for Best Emerging Technology in the New Products & Services Categories in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner XpertPatient.com is a next-generation, personalized website experience designed to empower those new to a cancer diagnosis with easy-to-understand information and resources.

Founded in 2021, site creators aim to help individuals and families devastated by a cancer diagnosis achieve better treatment results. By guiding visitors through a personalized website experience, XpertPatient.com provides resources, educational material, and community for patients, making a complex and overwhelming life situation easier to navigate and understand.

While cancer research and treatments have seen incredible progress over the past decades, unfortunately, little advancement in the approach to patient education has occurred. Through partnerships with patients, caregivers, cancer experts, and health innovators, the website offers curated content through a proven customer experience design. AI functions and adult learning techniques are also integrated into the programs.

XpertPatient breaks down the complex world of cancer into a personalized education experience for each visitor. Not only is the content curated by cancer type and stage and sub-type if known, but the platform also offers visitors the opportunity to choose their preferred learning format: easy-to-read text, AI-powered audio over high-resolution medical illustrations, or curated videos from top institutions.

Developers feel that the real game-changer element delivered by XpertPatient.com is that the site allows visitors to compare, side by side, their FDA-approved treatment options. For example, how will the side effects compare? Pill vs infusion? Hair loss vs shaky hands? Understanding all the options and the associated side effects is important as patients work with their treatment team to find the best choice given their daily needs and goals.

Launching in 2022, their patient education experience today supports 90% of the diagnosed cancer community. In 2023, they have added more online Cancer Information Centers to their existing 13, getting closer to supporting 100% every day.

XpertPatient has the talent, expertise, technical foundation, and passion to continue to innovate and grow on behalf of patients and collaborators as their needs change, including patients with other chronic illnesses. This focused yet fluid model for design, development, and deployment sets XpertPatient up to help as many people as possible while achieving long-term business success.

XpertPatient.com won a Bronze Stevie^® Award for Startup of the Year - Consumer Services Industries in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Each year The American Business Awards®, the top business awards competition in the United States, attracts nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry nationwide.

In The 21st American Business Awards, more than 3,700 nominations were submitted for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Startup of the Year, Executive of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Thought Leader of the Year, and App of the Year, among others. 

Professionals and organizations enter the competition to demonstrate the progress and achievements they’ve made, to encourage their teams, to expand the reach of their brand, and to set themselves apart from others in their industry. 

Below are comments from a few of the winners in The 2023 American Business Awards competition, explaining in their own words what winning a Stevie® Award means to them and their organization.

“What Does Winning a Stevie Award Mean to You?”

Women’s Real Estate Investors Network (WREIN) won a Gold Stevie Award for Large Real Estate Company of the Year.

"It is a great accomplishment for both myself and my organization, the Women's Real Estate Investor's Network, to have won a Stevie Award this year. This recognition validates our efforts to empower women in the male-dominated real estate investing industry. It inspires us to continue creating opportunities for women to thrive as real estate investors."

Founded in 2018, WREIN is a learning and networking community for women real estate investors focused on helping women become financially confident and build multigenerational wealth.


Tivid TV Studios won a Silver Stevie Award for Startup of the Year among Business Services Industries.

“Tivid TV Studios is humbled to win this year's 2023 Silver Stevie Award for Startup Business of the Year. We take pride in contributing to our community, so this award honors them. It speaks volumes to have others recognize Tivid TV's efforts to create a more sustainable industry for professionals, corporations, and students alike. Thank you!”

Tivid TV Studios supplies the tools and creative space to aspiring filmmakers or content creators that lack any area of expertise or resource.


Matthew Caiola, Co-CEO, 5WPR, won a Silver Stevie Award for Communications, Investor Relations or PR Executive of the Year. 5WPR also won a Bronze Stevie Award for Public Relations Agency of the Year and a Gold Stevie Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in Consumer Products Marketing.

"It’s an honor to be named a Silver Stevie recipient in the Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year category for the 2023 American Business Awards. In my position, I always hope to lead by example to empower leaders both within my agency and the PR industry as a whole, to continue challenging themselves. This distinction reminds me that our hard work does not go unnoticed, and I owe an enormous part of my success to my team and the agency at large, for allowing me to guide them but also for the support they provide me."—Matthew Caiola, Co-CEO, 5WPR

5WPR is a full-service PR agency that partners with brands to help them define and achieve their strategic PR goals.


Dr. Tianyi (TJ) Jiang, CEO and Co-Founder, AvePoint, won a Silver Stevie Award for Best Entrepreneur in Computer Software among organizations with 500 or More Employees.

"It’s an honor to be named a Silver Stevie recipient in the Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year category for the 2023 American Business Awards. In my position, I always hope to lead by example to empower leaders both within my agency and the PR industry as a whole, to continue challenging themselves. This distinction reminds me that our hard work does not go unnoticed, and I owe an enormous part of my success to my team and the agency at large, for allowing me to guide them but also for the support they provide me."—Dr. Jiang, CEO and Co-Founder, AvePoint

AvePoint is an independent software vendor of SaaS solutions to migrate, manage, and protect data in Microsoft 365.


Thomas PR won a Silver Stevie Award for Achievement in Management in Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations.

“Thanks to the Stevie Awards team and judges! We are honored to win the prestigious Stevie Award for our PR work on behalf of swisstech at CES [Consumer Electronics Show]. The Thomas PR team worked long hours to achieve the results and this level of recognition is an amazing honor.” —Karen Thomas, President, Thomas Public Relations, Inc.

With over 15 years of experience, Thomas Public Relations specializes in technology, high-tech, consumer electronics, trade shows, apps, and internet companies.


Hornet Security Inc. won a Bronze Stevie Award for Best Business Technology Pivot.

“We are delighted to have won a Stevie Award: This prestigious recognition serves to validate and motivate the work and commitment invested by our worldwide team in developing, promoting, and supporting next-gen cybersecurity, backup, and security awareness services to exceed the needs of our partners and customers. Thank you for this honor!”

Hornet Security Inc. is an email cloud security provider, which secures companies and organizations of all sizes across the world.


Shaip won a Bronze Stevie Award for Startup of the Year among Business Services Industries.

“Winning a Stevie Award this year is an exceptional honor for our organization as it signifies recognition from industry peers for our relentless dedication to innovation, quality, and customer service. This award is not just a testament to our achievements, but it also underscores the collaborative spirit, hard work, and commitment of every team member. We believe it further motivates us to continue setting new standards in our industry and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”

Shaip provides high-quality data across multiple data types (i.e., text, audio, image, video) to companies looking to build unbiased and high-quality artificial intelligence/machine learning models.

The final entry deadline for The 22nd American Business Awards is February 7, 2024, but late entries will be accepted through March 6 with payment of a late fee.

More than 250 professionals worldwide will participate in the judging process beginning in February, through mid-April. All Stevie Award placements will be announced on April 27, prior to the June 13 awards banquet in New York. 

Stevie-winner Swing Education is an online staffing marketplace that connects substitute teachers with schools.

Founded in 2015 by former K-12 educators and administrators, Swing makes it easier for schools and districts to find reliable, qualified substitute teachers when they need them most.

With over 500,000 absence days filled to date, Swing is dedicated to improving the experience of finding substitute teachers, becoming a substitute, and keeping student learning on track. Swing serves more than 2,800 partner schools across California, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Washington D.C.

Understanding Both Sides in Substitute Teaching
Substitute teaching jobs are tough to recruit for, manage, and fill. One complication is that quite often a teacher's absence isn’t discovered until that morning when schools scramble to post an opening. This uncontrollable and unavoidable reality, coupled with the dramatic shortage of substitutes who are qualified and ready to go, is a significant problem.

On the other side of this coin—considering this problem from the substitute teacher’s perspective—are the challenges the substitute teacher faces. Substitutes may only find out at 7:00 am that there is a job opening; they may know very little about the school or the class or perhaps have never been a substitute in that particular school. They worry about how long it will take to get paid or how long the commitment will last.

The process of how to fill short-term or even long-term teacher absences with substitute teachers has barely changed in 50+ years—even the modern communication modes of emails, text messages, and robo-phone calls are not any more effective at solving the problem in the angst-driven and uncertain process of finding substitute teachers.

How it Works
The basics of how Swing works are as follows: Schools post a request in the Swing community that instantly notifies hundreds of substitutes that have been pre-approved and screened by Swing. Substitutes register for the job and the school accepts, or “assigns,” the substitute. The schools do not need to recruit or manage their own substitute pool, although Swing can easily work alongside existing substitute programs.

Swing handles the recruitment of substitutes in the region of its partners and manages the payroll so that substitutes do not need to wait weeks or months for payment from the district as contractors. The school’s platform tracks data so that it is easy to see which substitutes are a good fit, discover new substitutes, and track successful placements.

Swing brings a 21st-century solution to a 20th-century problem. Swing leverages social communities and technology to not only improve communication but also put power back into the hands of substitutes and the schools that need them. Instead of scrambling to find anyone who will answer the phone—or, for the substitute, being completely in the dark about if there is only one opening today or 10—now both stakeholders have power: schools have the power to match the best person for a particular need, and substitutes have the power to pick the best job for their day or week ahead.

Since being founded in 2018, Swing has 2,800 school partners and 4,000 substitutes in the community and has filled 500,000 absences for teachers.

Swing Education won a Silver Stevie^® Award for Best Human Capital Management or Talent Management Solution in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner Scenthound is a wellness-focused dog care franchise offering membership-based services for affordable and accessible routine care to keep dogs clean and healthy.

They use the latest tools and technology while implementing their own proprietary S.C.E.N.T. Check™ protocol (Skin, Coat, Ears, Nails, and Teeth), which offers a detailed assessment of each dog’s external health.

After many years in the pet care business, the founders spotted a gaping hole in the industry and a massively underserved market. Most dogs were not getting proper care due to many misconceptions about grooming. Scenthound is a membership-based, dog-wellness concept aiming to revolutionize the way people think about and access routine care for dogs.

Differentiated from traditional dog grooming that focuses on breed-specific styling, Scenthound provides a unique approach with its focus on routine and preventive care for dogs in five core areas: Skin, Coat, Ears, Nails, and Teeth (S.C.E.N.T.). Their Basic Hygiene service meets the essential care needs of every dog and allows them to capture the entire market of dogs, not just the 10% of popular breeds that need haircuts.

They also launched the Scenthound mobile app, which allows customers to book appointments, review their dog's monthly wellness check, and more. As part of the new app, they also announced a partnership with AskVet, a virtual vet service that allows members to chat with a vet 24/7.

Scenthound has established a subsidiary company, Scenthound Services, to focus on product development and innovation, offering a shampoo line to provide formulas that meet the hygiene needs of dogs.

In addition, they developed and implemented an Operations Performance Checklist, an audit tool to measure the impact of foundational departmental processes, cleanliness and maintenance of facilities, and team engagement. This helps them identify areas of opportunity and what to prioritize in future efforts.

Scenthound is establishing itself as the preeminent solution for routine and preventive dog care, perfectly positioned to take advantage of growing pet spending nationwide and emerging at the right time to foster rapid growth.

Scenthound won a Gold Stevie^® Award for Fastest Growing Company of the Year - Up to 100 Employees in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner Red Access secures the hybrid workplace with its agentless browsing security platform, introducing a nondisruptive way to protect devices and browsing sessions in and outside of the office.

Over the past decade, and recently accelerated by the rise of remote and hybrid work, enterprise IT has been transformed by the growing trend of “browserization,” where the browser has emerged as the modern worker’s primary gateway to the digital world.

While a variety of security products aimed at addressing these risks have emerged in recent years, they’ve thus far proven incomplete and rife with trade-offs.

The proliferation of web apps and devices, and the adoption of digital platforms in the workplace have fundamentally changed the steps enterprises must take to protect their employees, assets, and devices against today’s browser-based cyber threats. Hence a new approach to browsing security is required.

Founded by leading experts from the Israeli Cyber Community in 2021, Red Access helps companies secure all the browsing activities of their employees on any browser, web app, device, and cloud service, enabling a better user experience and easy management without hampering productivity and without the need to install a browser or an extension.

Co-Founders, Dor Zvi (CEO) and Tal Dery (CTO) both bring extensive knowledge in threat detection and response, malware analysis, and information security, having served many years in the Israel Defense Forces technology units followed by senior research and development positions at leading tech companies.

Their unique approach addresses hybrid work security by redefining browsing security, enabling zero-day protection, seamless user experience, and agnostic security to all web applications, browsers, devices, etc.

The platform provides a fully SaaS-based agentless solution, which does not require an agent installation or a new browser adoption, so users can work from their own devices and use the applications they are accustomed to working with.

Red Access represents the next stage of evolution in secure browsing, working toward a new gold standard of frictionless and agnostic browsing security—the secure web session.

Red Access won a Bronze Stevie Award for Best Tech Startup of the Year - Software in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards^®?

Stevie-winner Rootstock Software develops and implements Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software, which provides manufacturers with precise control over their key operational areas, such as inventory, order management, engineering, production planning, and financial management.

Rootstock offers the only Manufacturing Cloud ERP on the Salesforce Platform. As such, it has become the ERP solution of choice for those already using Salesforce or those planning to. By using Rootstock and Salesforce Sales Cloud together, manufacturers gain 360° visibility of their customers, supply chain, and production. They also gain the advantage of a common data platform, which eliminates the cumbersome process of data reconciliation. With everyone across the enterprise sharing a unified data set, manufacturing leaders can confidently rely on their business metrics to make decisions.

Together, Salesforce and Rootstock Software have evolved as powerful forces, closely partnered in the manufacturing industry. Salesforce delivers Manufacturing Cloud. With it, manufacturers have in-depth Sales and Service capabilities at the business level, but they also need operational capabilities. This is where Rootstock Software shines.

Manufacturing Cloud ERP Solution
Rootstock continually develops new capabilities to make manufacturers more efficient, profitable, and sustainable. A primary example was the launch of its Digital Supplier Collaboration capabilities to help manufacturers cope with supply chain disruptions. Central to this product update was the new supplier request-for-quote feature, which enables manufacturers to foster more resilient supply chains.

Facing continued market volatility, manufacturers need to be able to receive timely digital signals, so they can oversee their "plan-source-make-deliver" cycles. Rootstock provides such insights, enabling manufacturers to manage their supply chains, as well as source and collaborate with suppliers—all from within the Rootstock Manufacturing ERP solution. In essence, manufacturers have greater visibility to mitigate disruptions as they emerge.

Toward this end, manufacturers can collaborate more closely with suppliers to address global supply chain risks and coordinate strategies such as near-shoring. The way this process was handled in the past—using spreadsheets and email—is now modernized and brought into the digital age, so manufacturers stay agile.

Since Winning a Stevie Award
Since taking home their Stevie, Rootstock has made the following key announcements:

On May 2, 2023, Rootstock Software announced the launch of Enterprise Insights, their new analytics solution, with its Spring ’23 release, designed to provide manufacturers with a complete view of their business so they can chart a course toward profitability, efficiency, and value throughout their operations.

On May 17, 2023, Rootstock Software released its inaugural 2023 State of Manufacturing Technology Survey, which looked at what 508 manufacturing professionals who are director-level and above view as key challenges and technology priorities for their organizations. The findings reveal that despite inflation and other economic concerns, more than three-quarters of manufacturers (75.2%) have plans to boost their software spending over the next 12 months, with more than one-third (37.8%) planning on double-digit increases. Cloud ERP is a key strategic focus for this software investment, with two-thirds of respondents planning to upgrade their legacy ERP solutions.

On October 31, 2023, Rootstock Software announced the appointment of Robert Rostamizadeh to the newly formed position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In this role, Rostamizadeh will set the technological direction of the company, leading product development and software engineering. With over 15 years of experience in software engineering leadership, Rostamizadeh plans to institute a more agile development methodology with the goal to enhance product quality, increase transparency, and more efficiently deliver value to customers.

On November 2, 2023, Rootstock Software announced its vision for “The Manufacturing Signal Chain.” The Signal Chain strategy was conceived in partnership with manufacturers who need real-time digital signals across their organizations, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, to make better decisions that drive growth in an ongoing volatile market.

Manufacturers have always aimed to use streams of data to make business decisions—from sales, inventory, finance, and more. However, they utilize hundreds of enterprise systems and point solutions, so they often fall victim to adding more data to existing infrastructure without any overarching connection. Information becomes trapped in disjointed systems, data silos, and manual processes—failing to provide rapid, actionable insights. After recognizing this challenge, Rootstock established a Signal Chain approach that enables manufacturers to harness the power of their data within the context of today’s ever-changing supply and demand conditions.

Rootstock Software won a Gold Stevie Award for Best Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution in The 2023 American Business Awards^®.

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards^®?

Car Pros Automotive Group has grown from a used car lot with two employees to an automotive group with over 500 employees and seven stores in two states, selling over 2,000 cars per month. According to the CEO, Stevie Award-winner Matthew Phillips, MBA, the success of Car Pros is directly related to its mission of changing lives through a high-performance, value-led dealership culture.

From Lot to Leadership
Matthew is a passionate automotive retail executive, growing the company from a used car lot with two employees into a company with annual sales of $1 billion, while at the same time breaking multiple molds in a tradition-bound industry.

Automotive retailing tends to be dominated by men, hierarchy, and traditional internal combustion vehicles. As an LGBTQ+ person, Matthew believes in empowering people, particularly under-represented groups. His 20-year journey from “lot to leadership” provides a real-world perspective on how to build high-performance workplace cultures, informing his personal brand of metric-driven accountability based on industry experience, leadership, and continued education.

He holds MBAs from Cornell University, NY, and Queen’s University, Ontario; an MA in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a BA in Accounting from University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA. Matthew is also a graduate of the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Dealer Academy.

Not only is Matthew a maverick in showing the industry how it can evolve, but as a board member of the Washington State Dealers Association and of Kia’s National Dealer Council, he works from the inside to promote positive change and demonstrate that the franchised dealer system is ready to meet the needs of customers and communities now and in the future.

Powering Change
In the automotive industry, DE&I progress has been slow but steady: Hireology reports that while many dealerships say DE&I is an important issue, only 24% are aware of DE&I best practices at their dealerships — an indication of awareness but not enough action.

Matthew’s personal experience reflects this reality of evolving change toward inclusiveness and tolerance. He sees DE&I as the foundation of today’s high-performance retail operation and believes that diversity of experiences is mission critical to selling successfully: your customers are diverse, so your team better be as well.

“Inclusive leadership is about changing the paradigm,” says Matthew. “We sell cars by empowering people to sell cars. We were one of the first to provide insurance for domestic partners and adopt anti-discrimination policies. We’ve been at the forefront of training for inclusivity and have worked to make our dealerships welcoming places for everyone.” What has been most rewarding for Matthew, he says, is when his commitment to authenticity has given others the courage to be successful in their most authentic way.

Matthew continues to drive real change for the betterment of car buyers. He seeks to represent the future of automotive retail, shifting to meet the needs resulting from the adoption of technology, assessing economic realities, and broadening consumer expectations.

Car Pros Automotive Group CEO Matthew Phillips won a Silver Stevie Award for Maverick of the Year in The 2023 American Business Awards®. 

Interested in entering The 2024 American Business Awards®?