HROA Announces 2008 Award Winners

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - April 18, 2008) - This week's Fourth Annual HROA Awards Gala celebrated the winners of the 2008 HROA Awards™. Held on April 16, 2008 at the New York Hilton in conjunction with the annual NY HR Week Conference and Exposition, this year's event attracted over 300 HROA members, industry leaders, press and analysts who convened to applaud the award recipients.

The 2008 HROA Awards recognized the ingenuity, industriousness and industrial-strength dedication required to succeed in HRO. New contracts, relationships, and projects with start dates in the award year and existing contracts, relationships or projects with start dates prior to the award year (January to December 2007) are eligible for the awards. Consistent with the theme of this year's awards "Be Ingenious," nominees needed to demonstrate their insight, vision, service and other ingenious attributes.

The HROA Awards Committee established 13 separate award categories with detailed qualifying criteria focused on effective relationships and demonstrable results. Anyone may submit a nomination. The Committee carefully reviews all nominations to ensure the nominees meet the criteria in each category and rejects any that do not. The full membership of the HROA is eligible to vote on the nominations. The categories included: Person of the Year; Thought Leader of the Year; Buyer Executive of the Year - Middle Market; Buyer Executive of the Year - Large Market; Provider Executive of the Year; Customer Relationship of the Year - Large Market; Customer Relationship of the Year - Middle Market; Technology Relationship of the Year; Sourcing Relationship of the Year; Payroll Relationship of the Year; the highly competitive RPO Relationship of the Year; Relocation Relationship of the Year; and Benefits Relationship of the Year.

The 2008 Award winners are:

--  Person of the Year - Lowell Williams, EquaTerra
--  Thought Leader of the Year - Scott Gildner, TPI
--  Technology Relationship of the Year - SAP AG and ADP
--  RPO Relationship of the Year - RPOworldwide and TalentBridge
    International
--  Customer Relationship of the Year - Large Market - Accenture and
    Kimberly-Clark
--  Customer Relationship of the Year - Middle Market - Accenture and
    Strategic Restaurant Acquisition Company
--  Buyer Executive of the Year - Large Market - Edwin Garcia, Kimberly-
    Clark
--  Buyer Executive of the Year - Middle Market - David Lutterbach, Hess
    Corporation
--  Provider Executive of the Year - Gary Butler, ADP
--  Sourcing Relationship of the Year - EquaTerra and E.W. Scripps
--  Payroll Relationship of the Year - ADP and DIRECTV
--  Relocation Relationship of the Year - Cartus and Raytheon
--  Benefits Relationship of the Year - Hewitt Associates and Dell
    

In addition to the publicly announced award categories, the Awards Committee established a surprise category: Distinguished Member Service. This award recognizes those members who have made an outstanding level of contribution to the Association and its mission. In this inaugural year of the award, the Committee chose to honor Sharon Taylor, senior vice president of HR for Prudential. Taylor recently completed her term as Chairwoman of the HROA and now serves as Chair-Emeritus. She has been active in the Association since its founding and has made incredible contributions to the growth and maturation of the practice of HR, the HRO industry, and the HROA as an institution.

Global Executive Director of the HROA, Richard Crespin, said, "This year's impressive list of nominees demonstrated ingenuity, insight, and an industrial-strength commitment to HR transformation. I have no doubt that it was challenging for our membership to cast their votes. On behalf of HROA and its members, I'm honored to recognize this year's extremely accomplished winners and look forward to their continued contributions to our industry."

About the HROA

The HROA is the definitive independent organization for all those who purchase, provide, or participate in HR transformation and outsourcing. Its membership encompasses over 7,500 HR executives, including the largest 50 buyers, the top 30 providers, the leading sourcing advisors and attorneys, and the best thought leaders in HR Transformation. The HROA brings its diverse membership together to set standards and practices, provide peer networking, and maintain a robust curriculum.

For information about the HROA or to become a member of the HROA, contact Adam Bleifeld at (202) 905-0351, ext. 19 or visit www.hroa.org.