HDI Announces Industry Award Winners at HDI 2012 Conference & Expo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- HDI, a global association for IT service and technical support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry, today announced the successful wrap-up of the twenty-second HDI Annual Conference & Expo, which took place April 24–27, 2012, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando, FL. The HDI 2013 Conference & Expo will be held April 16–19, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV.

"This year's lineup of keynote speakers, conference speakers, and exhibitors at the HDI 2012 Conference & Expo was amazing! The success of this year's event demonstrates the critical importance of our industry," said Michelle Frilow, director of conferences and events at HDI. Targeted to meet the needs of the entire IT service and technical support industry, the event attracted more than 2,200 individuals from thirty-three countries, including Brazil, Japan, Poland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, India, Canada, Ireland, and the United States.

"Each year, HDI has the difficult task of choosing the 'best of the best' of the IT industry professionals from the list of award nominees. This year proved to be no exception, and we are incredibly proud of our award recipients. Congratulations to all of our winners! We wish you much continued success," said Craig Baxter, HDI's global brand director.

HDI's industry awards, presented each year at the HDI Annual Conference & Expo, reward individuals and teams for excellence. HDI's award lineup includes the HDI Analyst of the Year and Manager of the Year Awards, sponsored by Robert Half Technology; the HDI Team Excellence Award, honoring internal and external teams; and the Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, HDI was proud to add the HDI Desktop Support Technician of the Year Award to list of awards.

The 2012 HDI award winners include:

• HDI Analyst of the Year – Tiffany Mills, Emblem Health
  
  At Emblem Health, Tiffany is the team lead and senior support center analyst, supporting approximately 6,000 users daily and handling password resets, VPN connectivity, printers, wireless, website, BlackBerrys, various application issues, and more. Tiffany's greatest passion is in making people laugh; outside of work, she writes her own comedy sketches and participates in other people's comedy shows, in addition to performing her own standup routine at various venues. She strongly believes in relieving the stress with the customer first so she can tackle the issues at hand thereafter. One of Tiffany's key phrases when ending a call with a customer is, "When in doubt, boot it out!"
  
  Tiffany represented the New York City local chapter and the Northeast region. Award nominees compete at the local and regional levels, sitting for final interviews and evaluations at the annual conference. To qualify for the award, candidates must demonstrate a commitment to excellence in a range of key competencies.
  
• HDI Desktop Support Technician of the Year – Susan Lawrence, Baker Hughes
  
  Susan Lawrence joined the Baker Hughes IT Support Team in 2004, bringing to the mix more than fifteen years of experience in the IT industry. Susan is a valued leader on her team and is a SME on the IT Project FAST Team. She is currently pursuing her BA in business management, and is expected to graduate this year.
  
  Susan represented the Houston local chapter and the Central region. Award nominees compete at the local and regional levels, sitting for final interviews and evaluations at the annual conference. To qualify for the award, candidates must demonstrate a commitment to excellence in a range of key competencies.
  
• HDI Manager of the Year – Mike Mercer, Southwest Airlines
  
  Mike began his involvement in the call center/support industry when he joined Southwest Airlines in 1975. Mike has held a number of positions in reservations, including reservations agent and the Reservations Center's assistant manager and manager. In 1996, Mike was instrumental in establishing a central technical support desk for Southwest Airlines. The support desk provides technical support to both Southwest and AirTran, totaling over 45,000 employees and contractors.
  
  In addition to Mike's involvement with reservations and the central support desk, Mike managed the projects, asset management, and shipping and receiving teams. Mike has been in leadership at Southwest Airlines since 1981.
  
  Award nominees undergo a rigorous evaluation process and are judged on a number of criteria, including innovation, customer focus, leadership, communication, ethics, and professionalism.

The HDI Team Excellence Award honors world-class support organizations that have enhanced the image of the industry by achieving the highest standards of excellence in customer support and service delivery. Both the internal and external categories are judged on people, process, procedures, technology, and resources.

• Team Excellence Award, External – Eze Castle Integration
  
  Eze Castle Integration is the leading provider of technology, IT services, and consulting in the hedge fund and alternative investment industries. Since its founding in 1995, Eze Castle has built a differentiated business by focusing exclusively on the growing hedge fund market. Today, the company has over 350 employees located in twelve offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Eze Castle offers a broad portfolio of technology and IT services focused on servicing its 600+ investment firm clients.
  
  The company has developed vertical-specific IT solutions, including infrastructure design and management (both in Eze Private Cloud and on-premises), telecommunications, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, archiving, storage, and Internet services. These solutions are complemented by a service organization that delivers outsourced IT support, including a 24x7x365 help desk, project and technology management services, consulting services, and more.
  
• Team Excellence Award, Internal – PepsiCo
  
  PepsiCo is the world's second largest food and beverage business, and the largest in North America, with a wide portfolio of enjoyable, convenient, and affordable products and billion-dollar brands, including Pepsi, Lay's, Tropicana, Quaker, and Gatorade.
  
  The PepsiCo Support Center team consistently exceeds the 75–80 percent first call resolution rate by leveraging administrative rights in the environment, keeping the knowledge base up to date, using the latest in remote-control software, and ensuring that all staff members have sufficient technical expertise. The group attributes much of its success to the people and the culture.

The Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award, which was created in honor of HDI's founder, recognizes individuals for their contributions, enthusiasm, and tireless efforts to advance the service and technical support industry. This award, in its fifth year, honors a great leader who has made lasting contributions to the IT service and technical support industry.

• Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award – George Spalding, Pink Elephant
  
  Throughout his career, George Spalding has brought strategic vision and leadership to the IT service and technical support industry. Most people who know him, know him as the King of All Things ITIL and one of the authors of ITIL v3, but his commitment to improving the IT service management industry has made him a sought-after speaker throughout the IT world.
  
  A self-proclaimed uber-geek, he has a deep understanding of the nerd side of the industry. In fact, he has trained more than 10,000 IT professionals on the inner workings and profound mysteries of Microsoft Windows, in addition to Novell and Cisco. And his irreverent blend of quick wit and high-tech humor make him a joy to listen to, even when he's making fun of the world he lives in. He's never at a loss for words and he shares his knowledge with anyone that will listen. Today, he is doing just that as an executive vice president at Pink Elephant.

For more information about HDI, visit www.ThinkHDI.com, call 800.248.5667, or email us at [email protected].

About Emblem Health
EmblemHealth is committed to providing affordable, quality health coverage in ways that respect and respond to people's fundamental needs. We pursue our mission by providing a choice of products and networks so members have access to the medical care they need at prices they can afford, by improving the health of members through wellness programs that foster prevention and healthier living, and by using technology to ease access to information and services.

To ensure we live up to our mission and achieve our goals, we embrace values that guide our behavior and provide a framework for our actions.

About Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes Incorporated creates value from oil and gas reservoirs with high-performance drilling, evaluation, completions, production technology and services, integrated operations, and reservoir consulting. Our solutions are designed to lower costs, reduce risk, or improve productivity for the global oil and gas industry.

Baker Hughes was formed in 1987 with the merger of Baker International and Hughes Tool Company -- both founded over 100 years ago when R.C. Baker and Howard Hughes, Sr. conceived ground-breaking inventions that revolutionized the fledgling petroleum era. Since those earliest advancements, we've never stopped searching for solutions to conquer the next frontier.

About Southwest Airlines
With forty years of service, Southwest Airlines Co., a low-fare major domestic airline, continues to differentiate itself from other low-fare carriers, offering a reliable product with exemplary customer service. Southwest was incorporated in Texas and commenced customer service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities: Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Today, Southwest is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, serving seventy-three cities in thirty-eight states. On May 2, 2011, Southwest completed the acquisition of AirTran Holdings, Inc., and now operates AirTran Airways as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Southwest has among the lowest cost structures in the domestic airline industry, consistently offers the lowest and simplest fares, and has one of the best overall customer service records. LUV is our stock exchange symbol, selected to represent our home at Dallas Love Field, as well as the theme of our employee and customer relationships. Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of performance, people, and planet.

About Eze Castle Integration
Founded in 1995, Eze Castle Integration is the market leader in IT services, technology, and consulting for hedge funds and alternative investment firms. Over 600 hedge funds, managing more than $300 billion in assets, entrust their technology operations to us, and for good reason. We employ the industry's best and brightest technology professionals. Our business processes are mature and our premier customer service is tailored to match the unique requirements of our hedge fund clients. Plus, we have launched over 1,000 hedge funds and have a deep partner network that ensures clients gain preferred access to the industry's best solutions.

We offer the industry's broadest portfolio of hedge fund-specific solutions and services including outsourced IT, managed services and private cloud computing, professional services, project and technology management, telecommunications, network infrastructure design and management, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, archiving, storage, and Internet services. Our Eze Private Cloud Services provide hedge funds and investment firms with seamless access to technology and business applications they require to effectively and efficiently run their businesses.

About Robert Half Technology
With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at www.rht.com. Follow Robert Half Technology at www.twitter.com/RobertHalfTech.

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com. 

About Pink Elephant
Founded in 1980, Pink Elephant is the leader in providing IT service management best practice services. Operating in many locations around the world, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, Pink Elephant is the world's number-one supplier of ITIL and ITSM conferences, education, and consulting services. For more information, visit www.pinkelephant.com.

About HDI
HDI is a global IT service and technical support membership association and the industry's premier certification and training body. Guided by an international panel of industry experts and practitioners, HDI is the leading resource for IT service and technical support emerging trends and best practices. HDI provides members with a vast repository of resources, networking opportunities, and the largest industry event, the HDI Annual Conference & Expo. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, HDI offers training in multiple languages and countries. For more information, visit www.ThinkHDI.com or call +1 719.268.0174. HDI is part of UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media LLC.

About UBM TechWeb
UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses -- media solutions, marketing services, and professional information -- UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications, and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web and digital professionals, software and game developers, government decision makers, telecom providers and business executives) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands include global face-to-face events, such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks, such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets. Visit www.techweb.com for more information.

Contact
Melanie Adamich
UBM TechWeb, HDI
719 785 5391 
[email protected]

SOURCE HDI