HDI announces industry award winners.

Press Release Summary:



During HDI Annual Conference and Expo, HDI presented industry awards to honor individuals and teams for IT service and technical support excellence. Recipients included Elio Irizarry of Visiting Nurse Service of NY for Analyst of the Year; George Reichert of Parker Hannifin for Manager of the Year; Tehnicsource and Volkswagen Group of America for Team Excellence Awards; and Katherine Spencer Lee of Robert Half Technology for Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award.



Original Press Release:



HDI Announces Industry Award Winners at 2011 HDI Annual Conference & Expo



Awards Honor Individuals and Teams for Excellence

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., --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-first HDI Annual Conference & Expo for IT service and technical support, which took place March 27-April 1, 2011, at The Palazzo at the Venetian in Las Vegas, NV. Targeted to the needs of the entire IT service and technical support team--from seasoned directors to frontline analysts--the conference and expo attracted more than 2,200 individuals from thirty-three countries, including Brazil, Japan, Poland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, India, Canada, and the United States. The 2012 HDI Annual Conference & Expo will be held April 24-27, 2012, at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, FL.

"The HDI Annual Conference & Expo offered an impressive lineup of keynote speakers, sponsors, and compelling conference programming, and it provided a showcase for innovative technology. The success of the event demonstrates the critical importance of our industry," said Craig Baxter, global brand director at HDI. "In addition, we are thrilled to honor our award recipients. There are leaders at every level in an organization, and HDI has long recognized the value each individual brings to a team and each team brings to the IT organization. We wish all of the award winners continued success."

HDI's industry awards are presented each year at the HDI Annual Conference & Expoto reward individuals and teams for excellence. HDI's award line-up includes the HDI Analyst of the Year and Manager of the Year Awards, sponsored by Robert Half Technology; the HDI Team Excellence Awards, for internal and external teams; and the Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2012, HDI will add the HDI Desktop Support Technician of the Year Award to the family.

This year's award winners include:

  • Analyst of the Year - Elio Irizarry, Visiting Nurse Service of New York

    Elio Irizarry is a help desk senior analyst at Visiting Nurse Service of New York, where he provides support for complex technical guidance, assistance, coordination, and follow-up on client questions, problems, and/or malfunctions in all systems applications, hardware, and software installed or maintained by the information systems department.

    Award nominees compete at the local and regional levels, sitting for final interviews and evaluations at the annual conference. Irizarry represented the New York City local chapter and the Northeast region. To qualify for the award, candidates must demonstrate a commitment to excellence in a range of key competencies, including customer service, performance and quality of work, process knowledge, team orientation, leadership, and problem solving.

  • Manager of the Year - George Reichert, Parker Hannifin Corporation

    George Reichert is well known throughout the Parker Hannifin Corporation for his extraordinary leadership skills. At Parker, he shares management responsibility for the data center and is the help desk manager at the corporate headquarters. Reichert is also an active HDI member who has been involved with the North Coast local chapter for seventeen years, five of those as president. This award recognizes Reichert's tireless contributions to the community and the people around him.

    Manager of the Year 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 Awards honor 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 according to the same criteria, including people, process and procedures, technology, and resources, supported by measured and reported performance results.

  • Team Excellence Award, External - Technisource

    Technisource has been providing multitiered, global service desk solutions for over twenty years, from both internal support centers and client sites. For this award, the company nominated its Mechanicsburg, PA, support center, which supports over fifty clients and handles more than two million customer interactions per year.

    Technisource is committed to analyzing and improving operations, internally and externally, through single-point-of-contact services and continual service improvement programs. The support center's quality assurance program reinforces the employees' responsibility not only to provide technically accurate, procedurally compliant services, but also to actively encourage the identification and elimination of service defects. In customer satisfaction surveys, Technisource's support center averages 4.6 out of 5, and over the past two years and has received an "Excellent" rating from end users over 95 percent of the time.

  • Team Excellence Award, External - Volkswagen Group of America

    Eighteen months ago, after years of struggling to meet service quality standards and performance goals, the Volkswagen Group of America's IT service organization was tasked with building an IT service desk model and support team from scratch. Today, the IT service desk supports approximately 4,000 internal corporate employees and contractors and 1,100 Audi and Volkswagen dealerships in the United States and Canada, handling about 78,000 interactions per year.

    The 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 their people and the culture they have created.

  • Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award - Katherine Spencer Lee, Robert Half Technology

    Throughout her career, Katherine Spencer Lee has brought strategic vision and leadership to the IT service and technical support industry. As an advocate of professional training and certification, Katherine led the transition away from the old practice of just hiring anyone to fill open positions, to bringing on board the most qualified support professionals, with proven customer service skills, technical knowledge, and professional certifications. She has been a member of HDI since 2001, serving on the HDI Strategic Advisory Board for three years and as chair for one year. She was instrumental in growing the local chapters at the grassroots level, bringing thought leadership to the meeting agendas, and encouraging many of her colleagues to run for local chapter leadership positions.

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

    For more information about HDI, visit www.ThinkHDI.com, call 800.248.5667, or e-mail at support@ThinkHDI.com.

    About the Visiting Nurse Service of New York

    The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY)is the largest not-for-profit home health care agency in the nation, serving more than 30,000 New Yorkers each day. VNSNY has the capabilities and resources to deliver a full range of home health care services throughout all five boroughs of New York City and in Nassau and Westchester counties. Offering both short- and long-term home and community-based care, VNSNY services include skilled nursing, rehabilitation therapy, HHA and companionship services, behavioral health, nutritional guidance, and infusion care; services for children and families; end-of-life services; community mental health services; and private care services. In order to serve New York's diverse population, VNSNY staff can provide service in over fifty languages.

    Parker Hannifin Corporation

    With annual sales of $10 billion in FY 2010, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets. The company employs approximately 55,000 people in forty-six countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for fifty-four consecutive years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's website at www.parker.com, or its investor information site at www.phstock.com.

    About Technisource

    Technisource, one of the largest technology services providers in North America, delivers a wide range of staffing, management services, and technology solutions. With nearly forty years of experience, Technisource provides services to a broad range of clients to maximize their technology investments. Focused on quality, flexibility, and value, the company's service offerings range from IT staffing, deployment, and support services to software quality management, strategic projects, and outsourcing. Through its network of more than fifty-six offices across the United States and Canada, Technisource maintains a group of 8,000 experienced consultants and employees that deliver its portfolio of service offerings to Fortune 500 corporations, midsized companies, and small organizations. Technisource is a subsidiary of SFN Group (NYSE: SFN). For more information, please visit www.technisource.com.

    About Volkswagen Group of America, Chattanooga Operations LLC

    Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. VWoA sells the Eos, Golf, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. All 2011 Volkswagen vehicles come standard-equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC). This is important because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America online at www.vw.com or media.vw.com to learn more.

    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 http://www.twitter.com/RobertHalfTech.

    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.

    Web Site: www.techweb.com
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