2009 Volunteers of the Year

2009 Volunteers of the Year

Americas, East

Americas, West

Europe, Middle East, Africa

Japan

Asia Pacific

 

Americas East

Patricia Orr, Senior Customer Success Manager

New York, New Yor[top]k

Patricia has volunteered numerous hours to Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership (HOBY).  HOBY runs leadership seminars that motivate and empower individuals to make a positive difference within our global society through understanding and action based on effective and compassionate leadership.  Patricia rode a bike 144 miles to help raise funds for the organization, helped plan their events and served as a motivational youth facilitator at a HOBY weekend leadership seminar.  Patricia also found time to use her Salesforce technical skills to help Universal Force Healing Center implement salesforce.com technology.

Tracy-Ann Palmer, Senior Partner Success Marketing

Toronto, Canada [top]

 

Tracy-Ann sits on the board of the Michigan Council for Women in Technology (MCWT).  MCWT is the premier association for women in Michigan’s technology community. As a board member, Tracy-Ann has volunteered nearly 200 hours lending her knowledge, technical expertise and muscle to manage fundraising events, set-up an event management system, acted as the Event Director for a black tie gala and also manned registration and the putting greens during a golf tournament.  She's done it all.

Dan Ross, Manager SR

Toronto, Canada[top]

 

Dan is currently co-chair of the Foundations sub-committee in Toronto and has a hand in nearly everything related to community involvement in the Greater Toronto Area.  Dan was a key organizer of the Toronto office's Bonspeil event (curling) to raise funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank, is a huge advocate of getting the SRs out volunteering together, was the first to to start an initiative to have the Toronto office raise funds for the people of Haiti, and organizes the yearly Terry Fox Run.  Dan does it all and brings the spirit of the Foundation to Toronto.

Americas West

William Gradin, Senior Platform Product Marketing Manager

San Francisco, Califorina [top]


Will has served in a committed volunteer with Rainforest 2 Reef, a Foundation grantee, for about 3 years now. He has been a significant part of their success on the salesforce.com platform and has been a leader in his Product Council team to structure the group's skill-based support. He was invited by Rainforest2Reef to participate in a jaquar capture in the Calakmul Biosphere Preserve in Mexico and spent a week training the field team on salesforce.com and tagging jaguars. While there, he implemented changes to enable Rainforest2Reef to work more efficiently in the field and better communicate their social impact back to their home office.

He has also spent significant time working with Black Rock Arts Foundation implementing a technology strategy and helping them customize their use of the Salesforce.com Foundation's product donation. He also spent countless nights wielding a welding torch and contributing to the construction of an art installation they designed for Burning Man.  In addition, he worked with Baraka Africa to customize their use of the product donation and streamline their ability to manage programs in East Africa from San Francisco.  His skill-based volunteerism has propelled the work of these organizations forward, enabling them to more effectively achieve their social missions.

Karen Hennessey, Senior Program Manager, Certification

San Francisco, Califorina [top]

Karen co-founded Spark five years ago. Spark focuses on the issues that impact women and girls globally. They have engaged well over 5000 individuals in their work, and have funded over 20 organizations working on the issues of violence prevention, microfinance, education, labor, access to water, human trafficking, etc. In her time with Spark, Karen has held a host of roles and currently serve as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, the Events Committee Chair, and most recently, the VP of the Board…. and Salesforce Administrator, of course!
In addition to her commitment to Spark, Karen has been involved with many Foundation sponsored volunteer projects including an "I'm All Ears" with Jean Parker, the Waves to Wine event for MS, and Idea Village in New Orleans.

Iman Maghroori, Sales Engineer

San Mateo, California

Iman has served as a dedicated Product Council member working with Micromentor, a Foundation grantee, for the past two years. He has been an instrumental resource as they reinvented the way they pair business mentors with small business owners in need. He has provided best practice advice and has helped them overcome technical challenges along the way.  His expertise and willingness serve as a resource has transformed the way Micromentor manages their social impact tracking, automation, customer care, and monitoring & evaluation processes. He has also worked with Asante Africa to customize their use of the application, catalyzing their ability to build schools and manage their students' performance in Kenya and Tanzania.

Eric Moore, Program Manager, Knowledge Management

San Francisco, Califorina [top]

 

Eric has volunteered numerous hours to Junior Achievement of the Bay Area and effectively promotes volunteering opportunities at the organization to the salesforce.com community. Volunteers are essential to the mission of Junior Achievement and help bay area students make the connection between what they learn in the classroom and real life.   Eric has championed a significant CAT grant with Junior Achievement and has worked to engage over 55 employees in their volunteering program and has expanded it to the San Mateo region.

As a core member of the Product Council, Eric assisted with the implementation of the council structure in EMEA.  He is passionate about including many employees and his teammates in Foundation volunteer activities. He has been a true champion and leader of the Salesforce.com Foundation's model.

Monica Norton, Senior Writer

San Francisco, California

Monica Norton is a treasure to the Salesforce.com Foundation. Always willing to share her expertise with the Foundation, she keeps the marketing and communications at the Foundation top notch. Her passion and commitment to volunteering is notable. As a long standing Time Council member, she has been instrumental in building the community and volunteering culture in the Marketing and Alliances Department. Monica delivers results.

This year she helped organize the Marketing and Alliances summer and holiday volunteering, assisted with fundraisers for Haiti disaster relief, has assisted other employees organize their fund raising drives and championed a CAT grant for youth holiday projects at Jean Parker Elementary School. Monica is passionate about youth literacy programs. She is a regular volunteer at Jean Parker’s I’m All Ears program and is leading the Girls Inc. Pen Pal Project matching over 20 salesforce.com volunteers with youth in the East Bay. Monica has a heart of gold and we are honored to work with her.

Hemang Patel, Member of Technical Staff, Software Engineering

San Francisco, Califorina [top]

Hemang has been a dedicated Product Council member providing skill-based volunteer support to Association for Effective Schools, a Foundation grantee. Hemang was the lead technical volunteer resource for AES, providing best practice advice as they developed a platform that would help schools more effectively manage their operations and student interactions. He has extended his volunteer efforts to helping the Salesforce.com Foundation develop a microfinance platform.  He has also supported several Foundation staff members in their creation of demos and tools to answer the needs of nonprofits working in the microfinance space.  He has consistently volunteered to make his technical expertise accessible to the nonprofit community and has done an exceptional job on that front.

Larry Robinson, Senior Director of Product Management

San Francisco, Califorina [top]

Larry has been a committed Product Council member working with Grassroot Soccer, a Foundation grantee based in the U.S. A passionate soccer fan, Larry was inspired by Grassroot's goal of using soccer as a tool to fight HIV and AIDS throughout Africa.  Larry has gone above and beyond - leading a nonprofit user group meeting and salesforce training in his home country of South Africa, which fueled the group's momentum when it was in its nascent stages.  He has served as an excellent resource - helping to translate complicated technology solutions into terms that are relevant for Grassroot Soccer's field work, ultimately empowering them to achieve their mission.  He also spends considerable time with New Door Ventures, which helps at-risk youth in San Francisco prepare for work and life through job-readiness training and community-based support.  Check out Larry's nonprofit trainings for the recently formed South African user group here and here.

Ian Sharpe, Senior Security Programs Administrator

San Francisco, Califorina [top]

Ian's passion for volunteering is electric and his smile is contagious.  Ian Sharpe’s contributions to the Foundation are inspiring. As a Time Council member, Ian leads the charge for the Facilities Real Estate Risk Management team by rallying his team members and colleagues on all things Foundation. He's been a team volunteer leader in a number of events. He arranges for team volunteer events once a quarter and creates a presentation for his team to share the impact they are making in the community. Ian delivers -his colleagues give him 10 stars for his work. His commitment to the community is equally important. He serves as a board member on the Swords to Plow Shares a nonprofit providing services to the veteran community.  He also spends time volunteering with Rebuilding Together, San Francisco Zoo, Glide and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Here’s to Ian Sharpe!

 

Europe, Middle East & Africa

Hans Brouwer, Director, Field Sales Benelux

Netherlands[top]

Working in an area where we have no formal Foundation presence, Hans supports programs in BENELUX. He helps us to reach out to the community there, in particular Holland. Hans has catalyzed the interest the entire region's employees - encouraging them to take part in charitable endeavors. His greatest success, and something we are very proud of, is the work that he leads with a local children's home called Kinabu. One afternoon each month a group of employees visits the home and takes a group of kids out for the afternoon - not bad considering there are only twelve employees in the region. Thank you, Hans, for your leadership and committed volunteerism.

Peter Cullen, Senior Sales Engineer

Dublin, Ireland[top]

Though Peter has been a salesforce employee for less than two years, he has demonstrated a commitment to the Foundation's model from the start and has become one of our strongest ambassadors for community engagement. He has designed and set up salesforce systems for Release - an internationally award winning nonprofit speech and language therapy social enterprise with a focus on empowering parents to best work with their child. He has also used his technical skills to support CASP - The Clondalkin Addiction Support Program. In addition, he has led and participated in team events - including the rejuvenation of The Children's Sunshine Home and interview practice days with Junior Achievement of Ireland.  Peter is a treasured addition to Salesforce and we are happy to honor him for his volunteer commitments with this award.

Christoph Foeckeler, Director, Sales Engineering DACH

Munich, German[top]y
Christoph has employed his professional skills to aid the Waisenhaus Childrens' Home (waisenhaus is German for orphanage) with both their website and the digitital transformation of their photo collection. He has been an avid supporter of all Waisenhaus events. For an organization like the Waisenhaus, an orphangae, having a dedicated and skilled technologist empowers their work and forwards their mission in a way they could not achieve otherwise. Thank you, Christoph, for your valuable contributions which are transforming the lives of these children.

Clive Hollingshead, Senior Application Instructor

Staines, Middlesex[top]

Clive is an outstanding volunteer and Foundation advocate. Clive organized and presented training material for salesforce.com's first ever training course for the visually impaired with Screenreader.net, a 2009 Salesforce.com Foundation grantee. In addition to this landmark event, Clive volunteers monthly for his local church (as well as managing a BBQ for 450 people), uses his professional skills to deliver salesforce.com training to nonprofits, is a passionate advocate of  Fair Trade and has manned booths at events, provided marketing support and collateral for nonprofit events, has trained others to be speakers for the benefit of the nonprofit community, as well as joined in team volunteering events. Thank you, Clive for your demonstrated commitment to the nonprofit community and for your outstanding work.

Japan

金山佳未 - Yoshimi Kanayama, Specialist, Sales Compensation

Tokyo, Japan[top]


金山佳未さんはRevenue Ops所属です。入社以前よりセカンドハーベストジャパンの活動を支援していた金山さんは、Food For All Peopleの精神を社内に広げて、ファンデーションのボランティアプログラムに見事に発展させました。
（ブログはこちら）
金山さんのすばらしいところは、持ち前の熱意と親しみやすさで、セカンドハーベストの活動の支援者をどんどん増やしていることです。2009年春にスタートした炊き出し準備のボランティア（野菜切りや配給食物準備）、そして上野公園での炊き出し活動は、多くの社員にとって人気のボランティアになり、6カ月間で40名を超える社員が230時間の支援を行いました。
また、金山さんのリーダーシップのもと、セカンドハーベスト ジャパンはSalesforce CRMのユーザになりました。製品に詳しい社員が活用のためのアドバイスやコンサルティングを行っており、金山さん自身もRevenue Opsメンバーとともにデータ入力等の支援をしています。
Food for All People実現のための金山さんの情熱に敬意を表します。2009年のVolunteer of the Year受賞、おめでとうございます！

 

Yoshimi Kanayama is a member of Salesforce.com's revenue operations team. Before joining Salesforce.com, Yoshimi volunteered her energy to Second Harvest Japan, and her efforts have done much to develop the Foundation's volunteer program. Click here to read the blog.  Her passion for volunteering and her friendly nature helped to increase the number of supporters of Second Harvest Japan. In the spring of 2009 she participated in an emergency food preparation and distribution at Ueno Park, a project which brought 40 employees together to work over a span of 6 months and a total of 230 hours. And due to Yoshimi's outstanding leadership, Second Harvest Japan has become a Salesforce CRM user. For her work with Second Harvest Japan we proudly honor Yoshimi Kanayama. Congratulations, 2009 Volunteer of the Year!

大野由以 - Yui Ohno, Senior Instructor

Tokyo, Japa[top]n

大野由以さんは、エデュケーションサービス本部に所属し、日本のお客様やパートナー様にsalesforce.com製品のトレーニングを行っています。大野さんは社会貢献委員の経験もあり、知的障害を持つ方々にPC指導を行ったり、環境活動を積極的に行うほか、非営利団体が必要としている物品の提供をする等、幅広い活動を行っています。
2009 年、大野さんは野外で開催されるコンサートやフェスティバルの環境改善のためのごみゼロナビゲーションという活動に参加し、環境対策ボランティアとして活躍しました。会場で廃棄されるごみの清掃作業を行うのではなく、イベントに関わる全ての人々がごみ削減やリサイクルを「参加型」で実践できるよう、協力体制を組むサポートをするのです。イベント参加者の日常のライフスタイルへ「環境保全への配慮」が浸透するきっかけをつくっていきました。
初夏から晩夏の週末、大野さんは泊まりがけで郊外のイベント会場に何度も足を運び、気持ちよい汗をかきながらこのボランティアを行いました。1日のスケジュールは、8時集合、21時半解散。
3～4時間の作業時間を休憩時間をはさんみながら2～3シフト行うというハードなものです。
音楽が好きな大野さんらしいご活躍に敬意を表します。2009年のVolunteer of the Year受賞、おめでとうございます！

Yui Ohno is a member of Salesforce Education Service Department where she delivers training service for Japanese clients and partners.Yui is experienced in philanthropy. She has taught computer skills to the disabled and she has aided in efforts to keep our environment clean.  
In 2009, Yui participated in some open-air music festivals as a volunteer member of an environmental improvement group called Trash Zero Navigation. Rather than a neighborhood clean up, this event was an opportunity to garner support and cooperation for a practical model of waste reduction and recycling. The event provided a chance for environmental awareness to permeate into the daily consciousness of the attendees. Yui worked the event with rigor through the entire hot Japanese summer, from eight in the morning to nine in the evening.
We are happy to honor Yui Ohno's dedication to volunteerism.

 

Asia Pacific

Yeow Wah Chin, Manager, Sales Engineering

Singapore

Chin has made a tremendous contribution to the Singapore nonprofit community by helping NGOs adopt cloud technology and become more efficient as a result. Chin has volunteered his time with numerous nonprofit organizations in Singapore, helping them understand and implement the Salesforce technology. Chin has also dedicated significant time to supporting nonprofit community partner, AWWA. Chin is a great resource for the Salesforce Foundation, providing his expertise and skills for community good and always offering to help.

Himanshu Gaur, Enterprise Business Representative

Gurgaon, India

Himanshu has demonstrated consistent leadership in the volunteering arena. He has spearheaded all volunteer activities in India so far and  encouraging and inspiring his colleagues to get involved. Highly passionate about making a difference, Himanshu has effectively leveraged Salesforce resources for the same. He is the face of Salesforce Foundation in India, chairing the India Foundation Council and has contributed the highest number of hours for community service in India.

Megan Turner, Customer Success Manager

Sydney, Australia

Megan has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the Foundation all year round. She has been instrumental in initiating many volunteering programs and has developed a deep relationship with community partner, Foodbank NSW. Megan continues to raise the bar for Foundation activities. She has taken leadership and chaired the Australia/New Zealand Product Council and has initiated training programs for nonprofits throughout her region.