The Knowland Group

Company: The Knowland Group, Lewes, DE
Company Description: The Knowland Group is a proven innovator, developing intuitive marketing products and services that streamline and support event and group sales in the hospitality industry. The Knowland Group was started in 2004 by CEO Michael K. McKean. The company serves more than 3,000 hotel clients and nearly 20,000 users globally.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Overall Company of the Year - Up to 100 Employees

Nomination Title: The Knowland Group

Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved since January 1 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The Knowland Group experienced an extremely productive and successful 2010.
Knowland saw a huge increase in staff, experienced record sales, expanded
operations throughout Europe, received several prestigious awards and was
featured prominently in both local and national news.

In January 2010, Knowland launched Target Net, a revolutionary sales force
automation and meetings management tool. Operating from the cloud, Target Net
is a user-friendly product that helps sales teams manage their entire sales
funnel from generating new leads to turning those opportunities into bookings.
One year after its initial launch, Target Net is now available on the Apple
iPad with mobile versions scheduled for release in the second quarter. Target
Net was also awarded Technology Marketing Corporation's Customer Interaction
Solutions Product of the Year in 2010.

In March, Knowland celebrated adding the 300,000-th group to its immense
database of organizations with event booking needs. The database allows hotel
sales teams to search for and target groups with needs that match what their
hotel offers. Every group in the Knowland database comes with a detailed
profile verified by Knowland staff containing all the relevant information
sales teams need to close their next event.

Throughout the year, Knowland experienced rapid growth. During March, the staff
expanded by 26% and the company was featured in MSNBC, Business Week and FOX
Business Live as a business thriving despite the economic recession. By the end
of 2010, Knowland increased staff numbers for nearly 40% because of high demand
for the company’s products and services. The new hires are scattered throughout
Knowland’s East Coast offices with many working at the new call center in
Salisbury, MD which opened in December 2010. The new building is five times
larger than the former space and gives the company room to grow because it
seats 250 employees. In August, Knowland opened its first West Coast office,
expanding to Sunnyvale, CA, in the Silicon Valley.

In both April and October, Knowland products and services were added to hotels
across Europe, in France, Spain, Belgium and Germany. Germany in particular was
a successful point of expansion because by October, Knowland had signed more
than 20 client hotels in Berlin, Munich and Frankfort to use the reader board
service. Knowland also added foreign language capability to its products and
website, with English, German and Russian offered in nearly every product.
Knowland has also made the commitment to develop a German-language version of
the corporate website.

In June, Knowland surpassed its own sales record by nearly two times. More than
250 contracts were signed, making it the most successful month since the
company started in 2004. By year’s end, Knowland products were in more than
3,000 client hotels and in use by nearly 20,000 hotel employees, continuing the
company’s mission to become the largest and most respected software and
business service company in the global meetings and conventions industry.

In the fall, Knowland was awarded several impressive accolades. Knowland was
ranked as the fifth fastest growing software company both public and private in
North America by Deloitte and the second fastest growing private company in the
travel industry for both 2009 and 2010 by Inc. Magazine. Knowland CEO Michael
K. McKean was personally selected by SmartCEO to participate in their Smart100
program, an exclusive group of 100 CEOs who represent the Mid-Atlantic region’s
most influential leaders.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

The Knowland Group CEO Michael K. McKean is an entrepreneur by nature. In 2004,
he founded The Knowland Group, which develops intuitive marketing products and
services that streamline and support event and group sales in the global
hospitality industry. As CEO and COO of the rapidly expanding company, Michael
is directly responsible for strategic planning, operations management and
product development. Through Michael’s vision, Knowland developed the world’s
first online reader board service, Readers. To date, Knowland products,
Readers, Insight, Target Net and Event Booking Center are used in more than
3,000 client hotels and nearly 20,000 users around the world.

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The Knowland Group