Now inits third year,theCiscoGlobal Advocate Awards celebratesCisco's customer advocates who go aboveandbeyondindemonstrating thought leadership andsupporting Ciscothroughsuccess stories,speaking engagements,product reviews,andso much more.What better venue tothank Cisco's top customer advocates fortheiradvocacyandinnovation than at thecompany's flagshipCiscoLiveconferences,held around theworld?
Cisco previously namedcustomer advocate winners across EMEA at Cisco Live in Amsterdam in February of thisyear.We wrapped ourcelebration forCisco customers throughout theAmericas region just yesterday,June 7, in a standing-room crowdat Cisco Live in Las Vegas.We'll close out 2023 by naming top customer advocates in APJC at Cisco Live in Melbourne, coming up in December.
From executives toengineers,ourexclusive advocacyawards attracted an impressive mix of customer titles and companies.Cisco senior leaders from sales, marketing, and customer experience (CX) rounded out thecrowd, as we awarded10 winners in 10 categories.
We received close to90 nominationsfor our Americaseventand relied on the expertise of more than two dozen judges, a combination of Cisco leaders and external industry experts across technology, marketing, and advocacy sectors.Awards hostBryan Chanhighlighted all shortlisted nominees before announcing winners in each category, while Cisco marketing and sales executives congratulated winners withpersonalized crystal plaques. Shortlisted nominees also received a "surprise and delight" gift box through the mail thatincluded, among several items, a Global Advocate Awards 2023 branded cocktail glass.
Let'sfind out who the winners are fromthe Cisco Global Advocate Awards 2023:Americas event.
Our award for Americas Customer Advocate of the Year went toJeremyShupickwithWyoming Machinery Company. Jeremy, a "model Rockstar," has been in ourCisco Insider Advocatescommunity since 2019 and earned histitle of Rockstarbased onactiveengagement. Our Cisco team notedJeremy's daily presence in our community, where hecontributesto discussion threads, sharesbest practices, and joins us in social promotion. Learn moreabout Jeremyhere.
Congratulations toour shortlisted nominees:
Congratulations to ShivalSethofGrand River Hospital, named Americas Executive Advocate of the Year, a categorytargeted to Cisco'sexecutivecustomers.As Chief Technology Officer, Shival overseesthe hospital'stechnologyintegrations. He put Cisco Webexat the center of theirnetworknot only to ensure collaboration between employees, butas the foundation forthe hospital's virtual careofferings. Shivalfrequently presents at conferences on Cisco's behalf, making him an idealcandidatefor this award. Read more about the hospital'swork with Cisco here.
Congratulations toour shortlisted nominees:
Our Industry Excellence awardis opento organizations in the public sector, or in the private sector industries of manufacturing, retail, or financial services.Congratulations toJ.D. Whitlockand the team at Dayton Children's Hospital for their commitment tothe highest quality care forchildren's health. Thishospitalput Cisco Secure solutions at the center of itszero-trust architecture. Learn more here.
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Bryan Laszlo, on behalf ofthe team atCarhartt, tooktop honors in our awardforExcellence in Storytelling. The team at Carhartt actively supportsCisco in storytelling through written and video stories, as well asmedia opportunities.Bryan most recently presenteda Carhartt use case at Cisco Live in Las Vegas. Thanks for your partnership, Bryan!
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Ouraward for CX Ambassador of the Year went toLaurence PersingwithStifel Nicolaus. Our Cisco Insider Advocatescommunity has an exclusivechannel for Cisco'sCustomer Experience (CX)services and offerings. Laurence impressed our judges withhis enthusiasm and engagement inside theCisco CX channelthroughout the year,whichearnedhim the number 4 spot on the CXchannel leaderboard and in the top 20 as a CXchannel social influencer.
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
JoshuaBaever with T-Mobile was namedour Hybrid Work Hero. Joshua and his teamrelied on Cisco Webex tokeep T-Mobile's50,000employeesconnectedand productiveduring the pandemic. They've sincegrowntheir Cisco Webex deploymentin T-Mobile's offices from300 rooms to 2,500 in the span oftwoyears. Read more about Joshua's journey with Ciscohere.
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Congratulations to DanielKelcher with IP Fabric, our Transformation Trailblazer. Daniel joined us in Las Vegasthis yearas a "Road to Cisco Live" winner, a competition held in the Cisco Insider Advocates community. Workingwith Cisco solutions throughout his career, Danielholds Cisco certifications that includeCCNA, CCNP, andDevNetAssociate.Daniel and his teamcut downtime across their networkfrom severalhours to a few minuteswith the help of Cisco solutions: a transformation success story!
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Brad Welshwith the Office of Technology, State of Indiana was named our Reimagine Applications Visionary. Cisco's Application Performance Management solutionsmonitor more than 125 of theState's business-criticalapplicationsthat process 20 million transactions daily. Brad noted in hisaward submission that he and his teamregularlyshare their successesand learningswith Cisco throughan APM Program website. Feedback like this is essential-much appreciated, Brad!
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Congratulations to Amit Gumberwith HCL America,who was named our Innovation Champion. Amit is a repeat winnerin the Global Advocate Awards, having won the Future of Work Visionary category in 2021. This year,Amitsharedthat he and his team were able to achieve single-pane-of-glass automation in their data centerthanks to a suite of Cisco solutions.They now have aunified automation platform across fabrics, fromthe data center tothe cloud tothe edge. Amit is active in the Cisco Insider Advocates community, sharing bestpractices, joining discussion threads, andparticipating in Cisco technology roadmap sessions.
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
Our award for Cybersecurity Defender of the Yeargoesto Dr. Christopher Mitchell with theCity of Houston, Texas. Houston is home to the Johnson Space Center and is one of the largest ports in theU.S., making it a prime target for cyber-attacks. Dr. Mitchell andhis team use Cisco Secure solutionsas a prime line of defense, and he shared hisuse case presentationat Cisco Live in Las Vegas this year.
Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:
The Global Advocate Awards 2023:Americas event is in the books, but our team is already planning our next celebration of advocacy excellence and innovation at Cisco Livein Melbourne this December. We hope to see you there!
Congratulations to our Cisco Global Advocates Awards: Americas winners, and to all of our shortlisted nominees!
We applaud each of you for your passion, innovation, and support for Cisco's advocacy initiatives.