Judging panel
Dr. Bob Nelson, PHD
Best Selling Author & President, Nelson Motivation Inc.
Bob Nelson is president of Nelson Motivation Inc., a management training and consulting company located in San Diego, California that specializes in helping organizations improve their management practices, programs and systems. He is a co-founder of Recognition Professionals International and previously worked closely with Dr. Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, for 10 years.
Dr. Nelson has sold over 3.5 million books on management and motivation, including 1001 Ways to Reward Employees (now in its 55th printing), The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work, Keeping Up in a Down Economy, and Ubuntu: An Inspiring Story of an African Principle of Teamwork and Collaboration.
He has appeared extensively in the media including CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, National Public Radio and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Inc. magazines to discuss how to best motivate today's employees.
He holds an MBA in organizational behavior from UC Berkeley and received his PhD in management with Dr. Peter F. Drucker at the Drucker Graduate Management School of Claremont Graduate University in suburban Los Angeles, where his doctoral dissertation was on "Factors that Encourage or Inhibit the Use of Non-Monetary Recognition by U.S. Managers."
Bruce Bolger,
Managing Director, Enterprise Engagement Alliance
Bruce Bolger is Managing Director of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance at http://www.enterpriseengagement.org. The EEA is an education and outreach organization focusing on strategies that help organizations achieve results through the proactive involvement of all of their customers, channel partners, employees, and vendors. Bolger is also President of Selling Communications Inc., an integrated media, marketing, and technology firm founded in 1995 that specializes in the field of engagement.
Bolger has nearly 25 years of management experience in business development and engagement. He was a founder of the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement, a not-for-profit research organization affiliated with the Integrated Marketing Communications department in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University that is dedicated to conducting research in the area of business motivation and engagement.
Bolger was formerly Editor and Publisher of Incentive Magazine, is author of two textbooks available on incentive program design, and has written and spoken extensively on business development, engagement, and motivation.
China Gorman,
CEO, CMG Group
China’s 30 year career in Human Resources has included running businesses in the talent management sector at national and global levels. As President of Lee Hecht Harrison (a division of Adecco), President/North America of DBM and Chief Operating Officer of SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management), her organizations provided innovative solutions to organizations’ most pressing human capital challenges. CMG Group provides strategic marketing support to emerging next generation HR services businesses.
Razor Suleman,
Founder & Chief Evangelist Achievers
A serial entrepreneur, Razor started his first business at the age of 15 importing and selling hockey cards, using the profits to pay his tuition for Wilfrid Laurier University's School of Business and Economics.
In 1993, as a floor representative for his dorm at WLU, Razor initiated his own business model and created Razor's Edge, selling branded athletic apparel to campus groups and clubs. Upon graduation in 1998, Razor traded his campus clientele for small businesses and large corporations, creating branded apparel and merchandise for employees, merging with another company to form SNAP Promotions a year later. Under Razor's leadership, Razor's Edge was honored as a member of Profit Magazine's top 100 fastest-growing companies in Canada.
While working with a large corporate customer, Razor became aware that branded promotional products were becoming an increasingly less effective solution for businesses to motivate their desired client and customer behaviors. In a radical innovation, SNAP Promotions' solutions model shifted from branded merchandise to a points-based, online rewards program and Achievers(formerly I Love Rewards) was born. This web-based business centered on increasing employee motivation and driving performance, and Razor worked hard to foster a strong and unique corporate culture, making the company's top priority to "recruit, retain, and inspire great people".
Achievers has since been named one of Canada's Top 100, one of the world's most democratic companies, and a place where employees thrive. Achievers was also named #12 on Profit Magazine's list of 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Canada in 2007.
Razor has a degree in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and graduated from the Entrepreneurial Maters program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In past years, he has been named the BDC Young Entrepreneur of the Year a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the business to business category.
Stacia Sherman Garr,
Senior Analyst, Bersin & Associates
Stacia Sherman Garr brings over five years experience in the talent management field to Bersin & Associates. Her expertise lies in leadership development, performance management, succession management, and employee engagement, based on a background of both HR consulting as well as instructional design work. Stacia brings a deep understanding of research design and process to her work, which she couples with strong business acumen.
Prior to joining Bersin & Associates, Stacia worked as a senior analyst for the Corporate Executive Board and as an adjunct history professor for Northern Virginia Community College. She holds a masters degree from the London School of Economics and bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.
Debbie McGrath,
Founder and Chief Instigator, HR.com
Debbie McGrath founded HR.com in August, 1999. HR.com is in business to help build great companies by connecting them with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively manage the people side of business. As the global authority, HR.com delivers HR best practices to help organizations build great companies through community, collaboration, research, shared best practices, events and measurements.
Debbie has an extensive background in HR, publishing and the Internet. Previous to starting HR.com she owned The CEO Group, a Canadian and European entity that created job board software, talent management software, HTC Career Magazines and High Tech Career Fairs.
In August of 1998, The CEO Group was sold to Kaplan (now BrassRing.com), a fully owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Company. During her tenure she served as President of the Canadian and European operations, as well as Vice President of Worldwide Sales.
Debbie has a degree in computer science and business administration, which she earned at the University of Guelph. She lives in King City, Ontario with her husband Doug and five kids. When she has spare time she can be found tasting and collecting Australian Shiraz’s and swooshing down the slopes with her family.
