Wednesday, April 25, is the final entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the top business awards competition in the U.S.A. If you haven't yet received your 2012 entry kit, you can download it online here and you will receive it right away. 

The 2012 ABAs have a range of categories to recognize achievements in all facets of the workplace; types of business awards categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards.

All ABA entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

If you have questions regarding the submission process, we have several resources including a step-by-step video on how to submit entries, past winners' entries for your review, and  7 tips on submitting winning entries to help you make the most out of your entries.

2012 Finalists will be announced mid-May and the 10th Annual winners will be announced at one of our two awards banquets. We will hold our traditional banquet on June 18th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City and have a second ceremony in San Francisco on September 17th at the Julia Morgan Ballroom where we will announce our tech awards winners. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

Need help with your 2012 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.

April 25 Final Entry Deadline for Tenth Annual Program

The Stevie® Awards today named the 10 executives who will chair and form specialized final judging committees for its 10th Annual American Business Awards.

All organizations and individuals 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.  Details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.  The final entry deadline is April 25.

The 10 committee selections are based on the categories that will be judged.  The appointments are as follows:

Company/Organization Awards: Doron Reuveni, CEO & Co-founder of uTest, Southborough, MA

Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, and Public Relations Awards: Alison Graves, WW Influencer Relations, Printing of Hewlett Packard Company, Escondido, CA

Creative Awards: Stafford Kendall, Principal of Covalent Logic, Baton Rouge, LA

Customer Service Awards: Anita Samojednik, VP Customer Operations of TheLadders, New York, NY

Human Resources Awards: John Hovnanian, Senior VP of Human Resources & Chief Talent Officer of Williams Lea, New York, NY

 

Support Awards: Jerry Weinberger, Senior Director, Customer Service and Retention of Webs, Inc., Silver Spring, MD

Information Technology Awards: Elizabeth Redding, President of Tellago, Schaumburg, IL

Management Awards: Therese Tucker, CEO of BlackLine Systems, Los Angeles, CA

Marketing Awards: Charles Kirby Wadsworth, VP of Global Marketing of F5 Networks, Seattle, WA

 New Product Awards & Product Management: Mike Oeth, CEO of OnSIP Business VoIP, New York, NY

“The executives who will chair the final judging committees for the 2012 ABAs are all past Stevie Award winners and are leaders of 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 nominees.”

Finalists in The 2012 American Business Awards will be determined in preliminary judging to be conducted through May 6 by volunteer professionals nationwide. Final judging, to be conducted by panels that will be formed by the newly appointed committee chairs, will take place from late May through early June.  In total, more than 200 executives across the U.S.A. will participate in the judging process to determine 2012 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

ABA Stevie Award winners will be announced at two award banquets: the first will take place on June 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York; and 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.

For more information on The 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, Callidus Software, Citrix Online, Dynamic Research Corporation, iolo technologies, John Hancock Funds, LifeLock, PetRays, Primus Telecommunications Group, SoftPro, and VerticalResponse.

The final entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A., is Wednesday, April 25, 2012.    

To begin your submission process, you should:

1. Request an entry kit. 
The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2012 ABA categories.
The American Business Awards honors all facets of workplace, our award categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards. See all of our business award categories.

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

If you have questions regarding the submission process, we have several resources including a step-by-step video on how to submit entries, past winners' entries for your review, and  7 tips on submitting winning entries to help you make the most out of your entries.

2012 Finalists will be announced mid-May and the 10th Annual winners will be announced at one of our two awards banquets. We will hold our traditional banquet on June 18th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City and have a second ceremony in San Francisco on September 17th at the Julia Morgan Ballroom where we will announce our tech awards winners. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

If you have any questions about the 2012 submission process, email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

Therese Tucker, CEO and Founder of BlackLine Systems, won the Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year  in The 2011 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. Therese will chair the committee for final judging of the management awards categories in The 2012 American Business Awards. (The final entry deadline for the 2012 ABAs is April 25, request your entry kit now.)

We asked Therese to share some tips with us on how managers can improve their end of year financial close processes.

What are your top 3 tips for senior managers looking to improve and streamline their account reconciliation and financial close processes?

1. Technology can automate repetitive, boring job functions and give your accounting staff more time to analyze and focus on strategic initiatives. 

2. Get organized: The best of tools won’t clean up a mess for you. 

3. Get executive sponsorship/buy-in early: Make sure that your CFO supports the initiative by understanding that a better process will give him/her confidence in the results. This will help garner the necessary time and resources to make meaningful changes and improvements.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
Another plane crash, in Siberia.  Regulations can be onerous, but as a frequent traveler I’m thankful that I mostly take the safety of flying for granted!

Do you have a favorite app?
The Sudoku app on my iPad.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I would be either a yoga teacher or a chef.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Honesty, intelligence, and heart.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
As the business keeps growing, the job keeps changing.  Being CEO of a company with five people is very different than having 105 employees and almost 500 customers. It stays interesting!

About Therese Tucker, CEO and Founder, BlackLine Systems:
After 25 years at SunGard Treasury Systems where she served as Chief Technology Officer and head of development for SunGuard's Global Trader system, Therese Tucker was ready for a new business venture using emerging technology. Wanting to combine her two talents, technology innovation and finance, Therese started BlackLine in 2001 to address the technology needs of financial organizations. Therese successfully launched BlackLine by developing an automated solution for account reconciliations which tapped into a previously un-served market. In recent years, Therese has led the company’s shift to a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model which has allowed to company to experience revenue growth of more than 50% in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In addition to her automated solution, Therese has developed other software including Tax Answer Scenarios, a tax planning product that has been marketed to over 1,000 tax preparers and CPAs annually since 1998.

About BlackLine Systems:
Founded in 2001, BlackLine Systems was the first to develop and offer a commercially available Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation solution.  BlackLine provides quick-to-implement, scalable, and easy-to-use applications that automate the entire financial close process to help improve financial controls for companies of all sizes.  BlackLine software applications complement existing Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. BlackLine offers clients its enterprise-class software in a simple and secure OnDemand/SaaS platform.  With a proven track record and a commitment to customer success, BlackLine seeks to reduce the burden the financial close places on accounting and finance professionals.  For more information, please visit www.blackline.com.

Today is the entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. If you haven't yet entered this year, the web site will be open all night to accept your entries. Request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away. Can't make today's deadline? Don't worry, we'll continue to accept entries through April 25 with a late fee of $35.00 per entry.

The American Business Awards honors all facets of workplace, our award categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards. See all of our business award categories.

All ABA entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

If you have any questions regarding the submission process, we have several helpful resources including a step-by-step video on how to submit entries,  past winners' entries for your review, and  7 tips on submitting winning entries to help you make the most out of your entries.

As always, don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to prepare and submit entries. You can reach us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll get back to you right away.

The entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 28, 2012.

The submission process is easy. To start, you should:

1. Request an entry kit. The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2012 ABA categories. The ABAs have several categories that honor organizations, departments, teams, individuals and much more. Our awards categories include:

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

See all business award categories.

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

If you have any trouble selecting categories or submitting entries, you can contact us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com.

Late entries will still be accepted through the final entry deadline of April 25 with a late fee of $35.00 per entry. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and 2012 ABA winners will be announced at one of our two awards ceremonies. Our traditional banquet will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and our second ceremony where we will honor our tech awards winners will be held in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

March 28 is the entry deadline for The 2012 (10th annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. 

If you haven't downloaded the 2012 entry kit, you can find it online here. We also recommend that you watch the video How to Enter The 2012 American Business Awards for step-by-step instructions on how to successfully submit entries.

The ABAs have categories to recognize achievement in all facets of the American workplace, including awards for individuals, teams, departments, and organizations. Types of award categories include:

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

See all ABA categories here.

Entries submitted after March 28, through the final deadline of April 25, will be assessed a late fee in addition to any entry fee. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and the 10th Annual business awards winners will be announced at one of our 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 awards winners. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

Need help answering  your ABA submission questions?  Email us at help@stevieawards.com  or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.

We've created a video called "How to Participate in America Means Business." You can watch it here.

The video is a recording of our March 13 webinar of the same name. America Means Business is a new event by the Stevie Awards about how to start and create a business. It will take place in New York June 13-15, and there are opportunities for your organization to speak, exhibit, and sponsor.

We're particularly looking for speakers on topics such as:

• Getting started in business, and all that that entails
• How to raise money to start a business
• How and when to hire staff
• Management issues related to business start-ups and growth
• Technology issues that should concern entrepreneurs
• How to use social media and other web media to grow a business and a brand
• The importance of branding and marketing and how to develop a marketing plan
• Why public relations and publicity should be on a start-up’s priority list
• How to develop a sales plan and supercharge a sales effort
• How and why startups should excel in customer service
• How to develop and follow a product development and management plan

Watch the video to learn how to participate.

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.