Click here to view pictures from SHRM Jacksonville's 50th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Gala
An idea in March of 2007 by our outgoing President, Cyndi Rooks was finally becoming a reality. January 18, 2008, the day of the 50th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Gala had finally arrived.
We (Robin Bullock, Nancy Russell, Shannon Smith, Sight and Sound Productions, Sawgrass Marriott Staff and I) began working on the silent auction area and gala space at 10 am. Cyndi Rooks and Kristi Uhland would arrive early afternoon to put the finishing touches on the tables. The only thing left to do, wait for the guest.
At 6 pm the people began to arrive and the silent auction was off and running. There were 30 items to bid on and we raised $2,915!
The hour went quickly and at 7 pm it was time for opening remarks and welcoming our guest. What a beautiful sight it was to look around the room and see everyone in their beautiful dresses and the men in their dark suits and tuxes.
Our keynote speaker, Jim Bleech, was excellent. His insight that all employees are valuable and can be successful somewhere if they work for a company with a culture that fits their values was enlightening. He challenged us to look beyond an applicant’s skill level when hiring and place more of an emphasis on the person’s ability to fit the company’s culture and values. Jim believes if their cultural values do not align with those of the company, it will not matter how smart or skilled they are, they will not be successful if they do not fit in with the culture of the company. It sure helped explain some of my poor hires.
The moment had finally arrived. The winners are…
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Employer of the Year
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Under 100 Employees – Skyetec
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100 -250 Employees – Environmental Services, Inc.
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250-500 Employees – Community First Credit Union of Florida
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500+ Employees - Sears Holdings, LLC
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HR Professional of the Year
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Under 100 Employees – Cyndi Rooks, PHR - Skyetec
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100-250 Employees – Robin Bullock, PHR -Environmental Services, Inc.
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250-500 Employees – Robin Norton, SPHR – Community First Credit Union of Florida
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500+ Employees - Ann Haake, SPHR – Mercantile Bank
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A great big thank you goes to our judges John Gray, Kevin Hession and Michelle Corse. When they sent in their list of the winners, they included the following statement. “Believe it or not, all of the judges’ decisions were unanimous. We could have elected to spread the wealth and artificially create a winner but we opted to review, compare and contrast the nominations and let the chips fall where they might. We noticed there is a direct connection between the HR Professional of the Year and the Employer of the Year.” Great HR Professionals make their employer a great place to work.
Congratulations to all of our winners!
There were many letters mailed requesting sponsorship for the gala to attorney firms, HR consultants, recruiting firms, staffing companies, insurance companies, insurance brokers, office supply companies and banks. Below is the list of our sponsors and the companies that said “yes” we want to support the HR professionals of SHRM Jacksonville.
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Our Presenting Sponsor - CIGNA
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Our Gold Level Sponsor – United Healthcare
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Our Silver Level Sponsors - Fowler White Boggs Banker, Greene-Hazel & Associates, Lincoln Financial, and Right Management
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Our Bronze Level Sponsors – Constangy, Brooks & Smith, Lee Hecht Harrison, Mercantile Bank, Sight and Sound and Saavy Shots
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Our Gift Level sponsors – NAS Recruitment Communications, Aetna, Delta Dental and The Jaguars.
We hope that when you are ready to spend your money and are in need of one of these services or when you are in a bid situation, you will remember the businesses that supported you with their finances. Without our sponsors financial support, we would not have been able to hold this event.
The proceeds from the event are going to be donated to I M Sulzbacher Center, The SHRM Foundation and The Jacksonville SHRM Scholarship fund. We have not completed our finally accounting from the event but we will report it in the March newsletter.
For those of you who attend the event, I hope you had a great time. For those of you who missed it, plan to make it a must attend event in 2009, I promise you will not be sorry.
It’s not too early to being watching your peers and keeping a list of your own accomplishments for 2008. I can’t believe it but we have already completed a month in 2008 and it will be December before you can blink twice. Begin now thinking about who you will nominate for the 2008 Employer of the Year and HR Professional of the Year awards.