We set out three years ago to create a brand that celebrated the business leaders of today that were positioning us for success tomorrow. To give them all an “attaboy or “attagirl.” To celebrate them in front of their peers and connect them with new ones at a special celebration. Initial feedback our first year was, “Man, another awards gig. Do we really need another one?
Absolutely. We thought the system was broken. Not to discredit many of our readers who have probably made their way onto one of those lists in the past, but there was, in our opinion, two main issues with the execution of these other celebrations.
1. Transparency
You can see our selection process on page 6. We felt that what makes these awards special is a crystal-clear understanding of why and how these people were selected. We felt that was missing in the market.
2. The Who’s Who event
The name came from our goal to create an event that was the “Who’s Who of the Upstate.” We want to celebrate these individuals in a leader-rich environment. Where the right handshakes and introductions are made on a C-suite level. We wanted to create an atmosphere that maximized the interactions and conversations between people and the follow up conversations it will spawn.
I think you will agree that after spending some time reading this issue – and especially if you’re able to join us for the event – we have hit the mark.
Hitting the mark is important because it allows us to bring the right partners to the table. These sponsors allow us to dedicate the appropriate resources to tell these stories right and create these environments for us to all move the ball forward.
Without them this would not be possible. So on behalf of my entire team here at UBJ and all our partners that were part of this process, thank you for supporting our efforts.
While we’re at it, we would also like to thank all our other advertising partners who continue to allow us to not only tell the stories found in this issue but the thousands of other headlines coming out of our region every year. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. We too will continue to do our part to move this business community forward.
