Employee Recognition Leader Terryberry Acquires Social Recognition Platform Provider MeritShare

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Dec. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Global employee reward and recognition leader Terryberry proudly announces the acquisition of MeritShare of Seattle, a strategic move designed to help Terryberry continue to advance their very successful human resources-based initiatives and product lines that address employee satisfaction and engagement.  

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131204/CL27059LOGO )

MeritShare was founded in July 2012 by entrepreneurs Travis Pearl and Kevin Nakao. MeritShare quickly garnered media attention from publications like VentureBeat, Recruiter.com, and Geekwire for their innovative software platform and mission make employee recognition fun, simple, and social.  New York Times best selling author and Forbes columnist Kevin Kruse named Pearl and Nakao to his list of "101 Top Engagement Experts" in his book "Employee Engagement for Everyone."   MeritShare was also one of the first companies to come out of the 9Mile Labs enterprise accelerator program started by former Microsoft, HP, Adobe, and Gartner executives.

Terryberry's acquisition of MeritShare will support their objectives for growth as they continue to lead the industry in social-media style employee recognition platforms.

"In a short amount of time since their launch, MeritShare has succeeded in making strides to advance the concept of social-media style recognition," explains Mike Byam, Managing Partner at Terryberry.  "MeritShare's mission of providing recognition in an innovative and fun way really compliments Terryberry's business."   

"We started MeritShare because recognition is one of the most under-utilized, but powerful tools anyone can use to motivate people," says Kevin Nakao, CEO and Co-Founder of MeritShare.   CTO and Co-founder of MeritShare, Travis Pearl adds, "We proved that peer recognition works and we are very happy Terryberry will help MeritShare customers take their recognition program to the next level."

MeritShare's customers will have access to upgrade to Terryberry's highly innovative and robust Give a WOW platform which provides many additional features and benefits like a branded interface, single sign-on, integrated service awards, and more award options.  The acquisition will also provide MeritShare's customers with access to Terryberry's comprehensive line of employee recognition programs, global support system, local customer service, and expanded selection of employee recognition products.   

"We are pleased to bring MeritShare's customers into the Terryberry family, and we are excited about how Terryberry's mission supports the original vision of MeritShare of making work better through effective recognition," Byam states.

About Terryberry
Terryberry serves more than 25,000 clients throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Family-owned for four generations, Terryberry specializes in employee appreciation and employee recognition gifts, products and services to keep employees engaged and motivated and companies growing in positive directions. For more information, please visit http://www.terryberry.com.

CONTACT: 1 800 253 0882

SOURCE Terryberry