The Glass Hammer Wins “Blog of the Year” Award!

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Outstanding businesswomen and women-run companies were honored at the 2008 Stevie Awards for Women in Business awards dinner, which took place at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on November 14th.

The 2008 Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition recognizing the accomplishments of outstanding women executives, business owners, and the organizations they run. The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards. From the more than 1,200 entries from organizations large and small across in a diversity of industries, awards were handed out to outstanding women in 50 categories including Best Company, Best Product, Best Mentor, Best Executive, and “Women Helping Women”.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are governed by a Board of Distinguished Judges and Advisors that features many leading women entrepreneurs and luminaries in business. Members of the Awards’ Board selected Stevie winners from among the finalists. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during the preliminary judging period.

We are proud to announce that The Glass Hammer took home the “Blog of the Year” title (and the very hefty statue that came with it). Nicki Gilmour, founder and CEO of TGH, who accepted the award on behalf of The Glass Hammer team, said later of the honor:

“We are very proud of theglasshammer.com as we truly believe that we can help women navigate the obstacles to get to the corner office and have a great work-life balance. We aim to inform, empower and inspire women and our readership grows every week so we are happy to be formally recognized as a ‘must read’ blog on the internet.

Winning the Stevie Women in Business Award for Blog of the Year is an achievement for all involved in theglasshammer.com. This is a reflection of teamwork and the sharing of experiences of all the women in the financial markets, law firms, and big business.

The Glass Hammer would like to take this opportunity to thank PricewaterhouseCoopers and Goldman Sachs for being founding sponsors as without progressive firms like these actually making changes in the workplace we would be writing about some mythical universe – an imagined utopia – instead of the reality of equality in the workplace which thankfully exists in some companies.”

Other winners included:

• Best Asian Executive
  Sangita Singh, Head of Enterprise Application Services, Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Singh, labeled an “outsourcing wunderkind” by Time magazine, is in charge of the consulting services of the company, a function in competition with IBM and Accenture to reach international customers requiring high-end consulting work.

• Best Canadian Executive
  Nancy Knowlton, CEO & Co-Founder, SMART Technologies, Calgary, AB, Canada

In her role as CEO, Kowlton is primarily responsible for the business development and strategic initiatives for the growth and development of SMART Technologies, an industry pioneer and market-segment leader in easy-to-use interactive whiteboards and other group collaboration tools.

• Best Executive – Non-Services Businesses (for companies with more than 2,500 employees)
  Ilene Gordon, President and CEO, Alcan Packaging, Inc., Chicago, IL

With over twenty years in positions of increasing responsibility with packaging companies, Gordon has been leading the way at the helm of Alcan Packaging Inc., a multinational company engaged in flexible and specialty packaging, since 2006. Under her direction as the only female CEO of a global packaging company, Gordon has demonstrated a sound strategy for managing through uncertainty, given the slowing economy, nominal industry growth and the sharply rising materials costs that have beset flexible packaging converters for several years.

• Best Executive – Service Businesses (for companies with more than 2,500 employees) Nina Simosko, Global Chief Operating Officer, SAP Education, SAP America, Palo Alto, CA

In her role as Global COO of SAP Education, a leading IT education and training organization, Simosko is responsible for more than half a billion Euros in global software and services revenue.

• Lifetime Achievement Award – All Industries Other than Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations
  Maxine Clark, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Bear, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc., St. Louis, MO

Through her 30-year career in retail, Clark has developed a reputation as an industry innovator and entrepreneur, in executive roles with large retailers including Payless, the position she left to start the $400+ million-dollar teddy bear business.