Knowledge Anywhere

Company: Knowledge Anywhere, Inc.
Company Description: Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. is an award-winning company based in Bellevue, WA that has emerged as a leader in the specialized arena of building technology-based learning solutions and performance support systems that provide tangible results. Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. employs 35 people.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Support Staffer

Nomination Title: Yekii Killion, Learning Project Team Lead

   1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in 2004 (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:

Yekii Killion is organized, efficient and stays on budget and on schedule.  As if
that isn’t enough to support her team, Yekii provides in-depth customer service on
everything from site maintenance requests from the customer to helping
Knowledge Anywhere create a site layout that pleases the client and meets their
needs. 

She can procure the right people for the right task and has a wealth of knowledge
and resources when it comes to matching the most talented people to the most
difficult tasks.  She provides support to the sales team, assists with proposals,
provides visionary thinking around planning and strategy, and helps clients with
their internal promotions and positioning.  She has a knack for finding the best
possible method for clients to present their e-learning solution internally and
applies her experience and creativity to that process.

Yekii’s approach to project support and management is thorough and absolute. 
Nothing is left undone, no rock is left unturned.  Yekii takes care of every
element of the project and ensures that the client is getting their needs met by Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. 

One project that Yekii worked on in 2004 that was particularly outstanding was the
E. & J. Gallo Winery project undertaken by Knowledge Anywhere, Inc.  The winery decided to implement online training after a history of instructor-led training.  A traveling sales team would conduct classes using slide presentations (and later,
PowerPoint presentations), videos and wine-tasting sheets that supplemented in-
class instruction.  Gallo’s training was regarded as the best in the industry
but it still faced challenges and limitations.  For instance, only 15% of the sales team
received training because there was a shortage of qualified instructors.  Travel
costs often excluded instructors and training participants and the time spent away
for training yielded less productivity for the sales team.  Lastly, it was
challenging to offer real-world demonstrations such as showing the inner workings of a wine press.

Gallo Wine Academy turned to Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. to create an e-learning
sales training web site for Gallo employees and distributors.  Gallo wanted to
provide a valuable and measurable learning experience for its sales representatives
that would be available anytime and anywhere and would be cost-effective to
produce and maintain.

Yekii worked closely on the Gallo project, ensuring that the customer was getting
exactly what they were looking for and that Knowledge Anywhere had all of the
right people on all of the right elements of the project.  When Gallo had unique
requests, Yekii successfully procured the perfect writers and coders for the job. 
She is extremely competent in recognizing the need for a specialist.  For
example, she will immediately recognize when an instructional designer needs to
be brought in and wastes no time or resources in making that happen.

“Yekii approaches her job with expertise and creativity,” said Bill Strelke,
executive vice president of Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. “She really gets it.  She takes care of every element.”

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

http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_article.asp?articleid=845&zoneid=88

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

Yekii Killion, Learning Project Team Lead, joined Knowledge Anywhere in
November 2000. Yekii brings with her more than five years of experience
concentrated in the areas of sales promotion, advertising, branding and Web site
development. Previously Yekii worked for Nordstrom as project manager in the
Advertising department where she oversaw the development of all northwest print
advertising for the company. A graduate of Stanford University, Yekii enjoys
soccer and gymnastics. Yekii is currently serving as head coach of a local high
school gymnastics team.