The recipients of the 2011 Excellence Awards are listed below in alphabetical order by region.
Arizona
Kristin Doetsch
Ad Services Specialist
East Valley Office
Teamwork
Kristin is an important part of every aspect of what we do to put out the newspapers in the East Valley office and she is a shining example of a team player. She always makes the advertisers happy with her professionally designed ads. She answers the phones quicker than anyone else in the office. She jumps up to help readers when they come in and interacts in such a kind manner. She helps the editorial team in so many ways such as helping proofread the papers on Friday and with graphic designs on the front covers and throughout the paper. She files newspapers in the morgue and if she is asked to help in any way she always does it and does an excellent job. We all appreciate her efforts, including her good attitude and her quality work!
The editorial team could not get by without her help and what she does shows in the design and accuracy of every page – front and inside.
Advertising is obviously a big part of the bottom line and the success of the papers and Kristin’s work with ads and other graphic designs is excellent. Many times advertisers ask if they can use her originally designed ad for other purposes because they are the best. Her contributions go far beyond ads to all aspects of making all the efforts of this office successful.
Debra Friedl
Classified Sales Consultant
Arizona Call Center/Valley Newspapers
Teamwork
Debra goes above and beyond every day and every week to assist others in the department, as well as customers. She has jumped in to help with classified billing, tech and online issues.
When our call center supervisor left the company last summer, we opted not to replace the position. We divided up and shifted many of the routine duties previously handled by a supervisor, and Debra has willingly taken on many of those responsibilities. Even more impressive is the fact that Debra has stepped up and at times resolved issues that she easily could have “pushed” on to the publisher or others in the company. She’s become our “go-to” person in the call center and is the first to tackle the toughest challenges, be they related to customers or billing/technical issues.
Debra’s initiative and willingness to step up at times to help with difficult or cumbersome challenges, certainly enhances our customer service, but it also reduces the stress of co-workers and alleviates the need for the publisher to get involved in many of these issues.
In addition to helping out with the issues mentioned above, Debra also continues to be the call center’s top producer.
Circulation Assistant
West Valley/Sun City
Teamwork
Norma is always willing to go above and beyond to help her team members. She insures that clients receive their e-tear sheets, and she works with all the departments to help see everything is done in a timely matter!
Janitor
Valley Newspapers
Self-Management
Richard has been with us for more than eight years and has established a trusting relationship with those in the building, as our "facility engineer." He also tackles and oversees other jobs besides cleaning and maintaining a healthy environment.
Richard knows the importance of Valley Newspapers and INI representing themselves well when people enter our building. He helps keep it clean and organized even when we are in the midst of larger projects.
Richard has done much already in preparation for our next level of changes at the Deer Valley/Phoenix plant. He is helping coordinate work that needs to be done, and does some of the work himself, so we don’t have to hire outside services.
Delmarva
Toni Ayers
Accounting Team Leader
Corporate Services
Commitment & Results
Since assuming leadership of the accounting team for Independent Newspapers, Toni has brought consistency and discipline to a department that was too often chaotic in the past --- and she has managed to do it with a smaller team. Her commitment to meeting deadlines, precise accuracy and a high standard of work is impeccable, and her knowledge and understanding of the company have continuously improved.
Accounting Team Leader
Corporate Services
Commitment & Results
Since assuming leadership of the accounting team for Independent Newspapers, Toni has brought consistency and discipline to a department that was too often chaotic in the past --- and she has managed to do it with a smaller team. Her commitment to meeting deadlines, precise accuracy and a high standard of work is impeccable, and her knowledge and understanding of the company have continuously improved.
Reporter
Delaware State News
PurposefulNewspapers
Jessica is very much in tune with local issues. She keeps a close watch on agenda items, works sources and listens to the community as she comes up with ideas and reports on local issues.
She has a long line of clips from work on the Dover beat in the past year and a growing list of quality pieces on state government. She was a significant contributor to the December series on gangs, doing a nice job particularly of relating the concerns of Dover Housing Authority residents. She was also our lead reporter during the '10 election season, providing our readers with insight into the hotly-contested O'Donnell-Coons race.
Jessica has a great attitude and work ethic. She certainly fulfills the mission of a community journalist.
Graphics Designer
Milford Graphics/Customer Service
Learning
Angi started at INI as a Graphic Artist and relocated to the Milford office to handle not only all of the ad design for the Delaware weeklies, but also serve as a customer service person for that office. This means that Angi received first-hand training in customer service, distribution, news, advertising, classifieds, office management and accounting. This has included advertising order entry, bank deposits, handling customer concerns, ordering office supplies, explaining how to submit press releases, how to order a free classified ad online, and the list goes on. Angi has so many "new hats" that she is going to need a larger hat rack!
Angi always greets customers in a pleasant manner. She knows how to take care of their needs or find someone who can. Angi continues to put together effective advertising campaigns for customers and regularly participates in team meetings with both the Graphics team and the Milford team. Angi has also done a great job designing the Community Awareness campaigns for the Delaware weeklies, handling double the amount of these compared to 2009.
The Milford Chronicle has a growing presence in Milford because our office is open every business day (except when Angi goes to the bank). Plus, a live person always answer the phone so our callers from throughout Downstate Delaware know that they are calling their local community newspaper (not a swtichboard in some remote location) and they have reached a local person (not someone who was transferred here from out of state).
Angi is also building her technical knowledge and is therefore helpful with various tech challenges in the Milford office. In addition, she understands the need to be part of the team beyond the Milford office and regularly offers her assistance to the Dover Graphics team.
Jillian Lontz
Classified Sales Consultant
Dover Services Department
Learning
Jillian makes the personal effort to “go the extra step” to take on more work and look for ways to improve or streamline things. Because of this, she is constantly learning new tasks which lead her to expand her job knowledge beyond her current department.
Around the time Jillian was hired, we combined several departments into one. This meant there were plenty of opportunities for cross training. Jillian, who is not one to sit idle, took it upon herself to master each and every task required within this new department. This included learning several new systems, answering both classified and reader services calls, refreshing herself on obituaries, and learning how to manage legals and celebrations. Recently, with the conversion from Yahoo! to Monster, Jillian was the first in her department to complete the necessary training provided by Monster. This was self-paced, and Jillian quickly mastered each section.
Jillian provides the highest quality of service, and treats each and every person professionally – with warmth, courtesy and respect. She is a real inspiration to everyone around her. Prior to the department being cross trained, we had two employees working the weekend – one for obituaries and the other for reader services. Because Jillian had a good grasp on BOTH duties, she was the first to work a weekend handling both. By her example, her teammates soon followed suit and we’ve needed only one person on staff over the weekends ever since.
Jillian is a productive self-manager. She is a dependable, honest, ethical, energetic, responsible, caring and genuine person. She treats people with respect and continuously looks for ways to improve what we're doing. All of these qualities make her a great fit with Independent.
Bonnie Mankin
Community Ad Consultant
Dover Telemarketing Team
Results
Bonnie is hard working, aggressive, positive and a focused telemarketing team member. She is knowledgeable about our products, and about our competitors. She knows how to listen, and also how to ask potential customers the right questions to close the sale.
Community Awareness pages were once handled by the members of the classified team. This was a secondary task to them, as most of their day was spent on classified duties, so the pages were few and far between, and mostly ran in the Delaware State News. Once we created a new telemarketing team the amount of pages increased, as well as the reach – we now look for (and publish) events in the Delaware and Maryland weeklies in addition to the Delaware State News. Community awareness pages increased significantly in the past year due to the efforts of Bonnie and her teammates.
Bonnie assists in selling the advertising for the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce newspapers – which has increased in volume since we assumed responsibility (replacing a competitor). On top of all of this, Bonnie has assisted the retail advertising department with special sections, such as the Wedding Guide and the spring and fall Outside the Oval editions.
Bonnie is passionate about her work and her customers. She does a great job bringing in new business, and has followed up with leads to the retail advertising team to help bring in revenue with larger ad campaigns.
Sarah Mister
Advertising Consultant
Crisfield-Somerset County Times
Self-Management
If self-management means taking responsibility for one's own performance, then Sarah Mister exemplifies this notion. As one of two people working in the Crisfield office, she has no one looking over her shoulder, telling her what she ought to do. She knows what to do and then goes about it efficiently and productively. That she is on her own most of the time does not mean that she is hard to coach, however, even from afar. She wants to succeed and listens to and follows advice well.
Sarah regularly handles more accounts each week than anyone else in the Delmarva group. The fact that all of her accounts are "small" makes this accomplishment even more noteworthy, as many "small" accounts expect and require more time and attention than mid-size and majors.
Sarah is a relative newcomer to our company, but her lasting achievement may be creating a sense of stability at the Crisfield-Somerset County Times, a notoriously tough market for recruiting new employees. She followed her mother-in-law into a sales manager's position there and never missed a beat.
Perky, outgoing, energetic and upbeat, Sarah makes a great impression on folks. She is a willing learner and she is comfortable on the Internet. She also displays a wide-ranging knowledge of her market, an especially important asset, because Crisfield is a somewhat distant outpost.
Darin Powell
New Media Systems Manager
Corporate Services
Learning
No one puts more of a premium on continuous learning and self-improvement than Darin Powell. He has had no formal training as either a web designer or a programmer, he challenges himself to master, on his own, a difficult and arcane body of knowledge. It is one thing to envision how a web site might look, or even how it might function at the hands of visitors, but is quite another thing to bring the vision to reality. Darin spends untold hours, reading, experimenting, and executing our collective plans for newzap.com. He has an amazing amount of determination and a seemingly endless capacity to learn and to teach himself more.
Newszap.com stands as a monument to Darin's hard work and creativity. He takes ideas from others and usually improves on them by way of his practical advice and then turns the idea into a reality.
Darin remains the go-to guy company-wide for all questions regarding our editorial systems, page designs and templates. He is also our chief contact with HotJobs, now Monster.com, for all aspects except sales and marketing. And if anyone could earn an excellence award based simply on personal characteristics, it might be Darin. He is steady, analytical, focused, polite, candid, and always of good cheer.
Florida
Ad Services Coordinator/Ad Design
South Lake Office
Teamwork
Melissa is a constant support to both our papers and our sales team. She offers new ideas, insight and support. She never asks for praise for her efforts (although she is much deserving) and often lauds others ahead of herself. She always keeps the company's best interest in focus, being mindful of her own time and efficiency and ready to give of herself to help others to accomplish their tasks.
We often tease Melissa about putting her "magic" into a proposed ad. She always comes through and customers applaud how she is able to "read their mind and dreams" of what their ads should and could look like. Through her efforts on ad design we have been able to turn heads of advertisers and get their attention. Our sales are increasing weekly, not to mention that we far exceeded advertising expectations for our first community guidebook in several years.
Through Melissa's support and ad design we have boosted the enthusiasm of our office for the improved "look" of our papers.
Ad Services Specialist
Okeechobee News
Teamwork
Angie is a vital player on the Okeechobee advertising team and while there are several categories that match well with Angie’s contributions, she should be saluted and recognized for her role in the teamwork that currently exists in the Okeechobee office.
All Okeechobee ad staff know and appreciate the accurate and timely work Angie consistently performs in helping the team place and bill advertising. Angie also works closely with our system support, credit and other out of state teammates. Over the last year, Angie has taken on a much more active role in the management and customer service requirements we face with our front office. Angie has a polite and unassuming demeanor, but both her internal customers and external clients know her to be professional, always courteous and above all a team player who will seek win-win arrangements. Angie sets an example with not over-reacting and maintaining calm.
With the recent transition faced from the retirement of advertising director Judy Kasten, Angie has played an even more important role and has shown a positive and helpful attitude to all concerned. Angie has always been able to get along with everyone, and she has shown leadership and team building in helping all departments in the Okeechobee office work as a common team.
Sales Consultant
Clewiston News
Results
Amy believes in our product and co-workers and it shows with every sale she gets.
We just published our first Community Guide in four years and it was very successful. Amy sold 68% of the total sales for the product. She believed it was possible and what the community wanted --- and the results can't be denied.
Her positive and can-do attitude makes others also believe they can do it. Amy’s encouragement and praise of her co-workers has renewed their faith in their own abilities and helps them to do the next thing better and produce the best products for our community.
Amy has been able to get customers back that were lost in the past due to various reasons. She shows them what we can do for them and how working together we help each other succeed. She's also acquired new accounts that in the past didn't understand how advertising would be beneficial to them.
Kay Sheedy
Advertising Consultant
Okeechobee News
Results
Kay demonstrates unyielding pursuit and focus on positive outcomes in her role as an account executive.
Kay is all about results, both for her clients and for the company. Her clients know she will do her utmost to help them get the desired results for their advertising dollars. In fact, few sales representatives have earned the consistent level of trust from their customers that Kay garners. Kay approaches her job as a true consultant and always works with her accounts on this basis. Kay knows that she is not “selling them”; she is helping them. We and our advertising clients are fortunate to have Kay serving customers in this true “win-win” fashion.
Kay has consistently produced superior personal results, despite the unprecedented economic conditions. Even when the numbers have not always been there for favorable comparisons, Kay pushes forward to work toward building business back to positive territory. Kay sets a good example for all of us with her knack for seeing things from the customer’s point of view, not falling prey to “inside out” thinking. She also can be counted on to generate ideas on new ways to excite advertisers and help them be successful, thereby helping us be more successful.
Diane Timmons
News Clerk
Okeechobee News
Results
Diane has used her skills, expertise and excellent work ethic to help generate consistent improvement in the Okeechobee News editorial product. Over the last year, the news team has been turning out increasingly appealing and compelling front pages and inside content, and Diane has played a key role in helping us produce these improved products. The results of these efforts are showing up in circulation, as both home delivery and single copy sales for the Okeechobee News are up over last year and moving in a positive direction.
Diane is a dedicated member of the Okeechobee News editorial team and her work demonstrates her effort and skill. Diane proves an employee can make a big impact without being a full-time staffer. Diane is able to fill in for the editor and is very accurate in everything she does. She has excellent tech background and knowledge, and she regularly helps others, whether it is with computer issues or questions with our InDesign software. Diane has clearly played a role in our improved and more consistent design that is driving better results.
Diane’s positive attitude and pleasant approach to working with others is also a strong suit. She sets a good example for everyone with her friendly but no nonsense approach to getting things done and done quickly without errors and in a way that readers will find appealing. The response we’re getting to our products in Okeechobee affirms her work.
