This is one of my favorite times of year. Not only am I heading off on my annual vacation to beautiful Manitoulin Island in northern Lake Huron, it’s also the time we announce the Benny Award winners and celebrate the achievements of truly remarkable benefits professionals who work so hard year-round on behalf of their employees.
Please join me in congratulating this year’s Benefits Professional of the Year, Jennifer Weinstein, benefits, compensation & HRIS director with Ensign Services, Inc.
Among her many achievements over the course of just three years at Ensign, Jennifer has added several new benefit offerings, implemented an award-winning wellness program, increased participation in the company’s 401(k) plan, rolled out a benefits call center, implemented an online benefits enrollment system, implemented a total compensation statement tool, changed the medical plan design offerings, reduced the number of medical rate structures from 68 down to eight, and created an innovative, branded communications program. Phew!
“I love coming in to something that’s not perfect and making it great,” she told me. “Coming in to this position, I really saw all the possibilities of what could be done in so many different regards.”
Read more of what Jennifer made of those possibilities in the Sept. 15 issue of EBN.
Our other deserving Benny Award winners include:
- Benefits Leadership in Retirement: Chad Ryan, director of retirement plans for PepsiCo
- Benefits Leadership in Health Care: Dianne Howard, director of risk & benefits management, School District of Palm Beach County, Fla.
- Judges’ Choice: Elaine Beddome, vice president, global benefits and employee mobility with Hewlett Packard
In addition to the Bennys, which recognize excellence in the employee benefits/human resources field, EBN also honors the best in internal employee communications with the i-COMM Awards.
The 2013 i-COMM Award winners are:
- Best Print or Online Employee Newsletter: Iowa Department of Administrative Services
- Best Use of Social Media: Limited Stores, LLC
- Best Overall Communications Campaign: EMC Corporation
- Best Employee Intranet/Employee Portal Design & Usability: Toshiba America Medical Systems
Congratulations to all of our winners. I look forward to meeting you at the 2013
