Ventana Research Unveils the 2015 Leadership Award Winners

BEND, OR, November 25, 2015 - Ventana Research today announced the 27 winners of the 2015 Leadership Awards. These Awards, presented annually, identify business and IT leaders who are using technologies and applying best practices to provide the best possible outcomes in productivity,performance and support of an organization's goals and objectives. The awards thus recognize pioneering leaders and organizations that embrace technology to drive change and increased value for organizations across the world.

"The Leadership Awards are the most prestigious annual industry awards provided today that acknowledge and honor individuals and organizations for their accomplishments using technology to deliver the best value in achieving specific goals and objectives," said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research. "Congratulations to all the Technology Leadership Award winners – individuals and companies that have gone the extra mile to advance the use of technology through best practices and leadership."

The Leadership Awards, the largest business and technology leadership awards program in the industry, cover 27 categories spanning from use of innovative technologies, business, operations and technology awards. Submissions were evaluated by Ventana Research based on an established set of awards program criteria; these can be seen at www.ventanaresearch.com/awards. Those interested in hearing in detail how the best practices in technology across business and IT are changing the industry can attend the Ventana Research awards webinar on December 3rd at 9:30am PT / 12:30pm ET by registering at http://www.ventanaresearch.com/Leadershipawards/ to hear first-hand view of the award winners and insights into these award-winning individuals and organizations along with the technology vendors they depended on to help with their success.

The winners for each category for the Ventana Research 2015 Leadership Awards are:

Overall Business Leadership Award

Overall Business Innovation: Jason Summers and Verizon Using Salesforce

Technology Innovation Leadership Awards

• Big Data: Mark Eaton and Autodesk Using Denodo
• Business Analytics: Ross Moncur and SABMiller Using Domo
• Collaboration: Henk Boerboom and Akzo Nobel Using Projectplace by Planview
• Cloud Computing: Nicholas Lemieux and Jebbit Using Klipfolio Inc.
• Mobile Technology: Vince Benenati and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Using MicroStrategy
• Social Media: Gerry Moran and Cognizant

Business Leadership Awards

• Chief Financial Officer: David Davis and Loftness Specialized Equipment Using Centage
• Office of Finance: Anthony Gercar and Enpress, LLC Using Epicor
• Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC): PN Narayanan and Pennsylvania Treasury Using Oracle
• Human Capital Management: Chris Buck and Noble Energy Using PRO Unlimited
• Sustainability: Soledad Teixidó and PROhumana Using PROhumana

Operational Leadership Awards

• Chief Operational Officer: John Dohm and RealD Using Information Builders
• Contact Center and Call Center: Alexander Wareham and AAA Western and Central New York Using Calabrio
• Customer Excellence: Werner Kruck and Security First Insurance Company Using Pitney Bowes
• Marketing Excellence: Susan Vanin and Juniper Networks Using Allocadia
• Sales Excellence: Brad Hardy and Kowa Pharmaceuticals Using Optymyze
• Supply Chain/Service Chain Excellence: Fabio Ayres de Freitas and BRF Using PROS

CIO/IT Leadership Award

• Chief Information Officer: Timothy Weaver and Del Monte Using Paxata

Technology Leadership Awards

• Overall Information Technology: BJ Fesq and CIT Group Using Informatica
• Business Intelligence: Lee Levenson and AvaTrade Using SiSense
• Information Optimization: David Erps and Marbridge Foundation Using Datawatch Corporation
• Information Management: Cindy Stuart and Delta Faucet/Masco Corporation Using Stibo
• IT Analytics: Michael DeAngelo and State of Washington Using Decision Lens
• Location Analytics: Johnson Kosgei and Red Bull Using ESRI
• Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Intelligence: Philippe Isler and SGS Using Savi
• Predictive Analytics: Matthew Cunningham and eviCore Using Alpine Data Labs

Ventana Research annually invites all vendors to nominate customers using their technology products to be considered for the awards; case studies are assessed and organizations interviewed as well are organizational executives are invited to submit nominations as well. Award recipients are selected based upon organizations' or individuals' leadership accomplishments in innovating or enhancing the productivity and outcomes of business or IT processes. Ventana Research highlights and acknowledges the importance of these accomplishments through the Technology Leadership Awards. To learn more about the Ventana Research's awards programs, please visit: www.ventanaresearch.com/awards.

About Ventana Research

Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

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