Member Article

Winners of the Change Ambassadors Awards 2013 announced

Last week Bdaily previewed an awards ceremony for employees who have facilitated major change for their business. Microsoft Dynamics has now announced the winners of the Change Ambassadors Awards.

Managed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the awards took place at an exclusive ceremony at the Landmark Hotel in London, where the finalists were addressed by a wealth of leading business experts.

Hosted by Alasdair Ross, Global Product Director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, the finalists were treated to keynote speeches from Graeme Hackland, chief information officer of Lotus F1 Team, who has implemented major change in the company’s IT operations both on and off the track and Steve Morrow, Director, Microsoft Dynamics Division, who provided insight into how innovation can drive business growth.

Five categories were open to employees from businesses of all sizes throughout the UK and the winners include a diverse selection of inspirational individuals from national corporations to start-up businesses.

The winners for each category are the following:

• Janet Oglakci, winner of the Marketing category from Borough of Poole, Dorset, for the promotion of a chargeable Garden Waste Service.
• Emmajane Varley, winner of the People and Culture category from HSBC, London, for building trust through improved communication at the corporation.
• Ben McNamee, winner of the Technology category from Lloyds Banking Group, London, for designing and implementing an IT system to underpin a new strategy for regulatory change.
• Mehrdad Modarres, winner of the Finance category from Food Alert, London, for updating a client invoicing system.
• Anandha Ponnampalam, winner of the “No Boundaries” category from Sapient Global Markets, Kent, for the creation of an internal innovation contest.

Speaking at the awards, Steve Morrow, Director, Microsoft Dynamics Division said: “It has been a very difficult process to whittle down the five category winners as all entries were outstanding. These individuals are now receiving recognition in the highest form for their skills, effort and vision. Change Ambassadors highlights the importance of innovation and how employees can be the driving force behind change within the workplace.”

As well as their Change Ambassador award, each winner received the opportunity to attend an executive seminar at the prestigious Cranfield School of Management.

A panel of qualified experts from leading British businesses and academia were responsible for identifying the five winners. Entries were judged on their inter-personal, communication, leadership and self-motivation skills, among others.

The judging panel included the following:

• Mark Earls, founder of HERD Consulting, one of marketing’s leading authorities on consumer behaviour, Marketing category.
• Doug Baillie, Chief Human Resources Officer at Unilever and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive, People and Culture category.
• Nicolas Brusson, co-founder of Blablacar.com, is a regular speaker on the theme of scaling innovative businesses, Technology category.
• Jackie Hunt, Chief Financial Officer, Standard Life plc, Finance category.
• Umair Haque, Director of Havas Media Labs, ranked one of the world’s most influential management thinker by Thinkers50, No Boundaries category.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .