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Nina Simosko

SAWIB08 Winner

Company: SAP America, Palo Alto, CA
Entry Submitted By: Global Kinetics Inc.
Company Description: SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software, offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47,800 customers (excluding customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) and over 51,000 employees in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several stock exchanges.
Nomination Category: Best Executive – Service Businesses – More Than 2,500 Employees

Nomination Title: Nina Simosko, Global Chief Operating Officer, SAP Education, SAP AG

1. Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated executive during the eligibility period (up to 500 words):

During her tenure as Global Chief Operating Officer for SAP Education, Ms. Simosko has grown her business each and every quarter. In fact, she has achieved quarter-over-quarter growth for 17 straight quarters within the SAP Education line of business. During the eligibility period for this Stevie Award, under Ms. Simosko's leadership, the SAP Education business was named the leading IT Education and Training organization in the world, with revenues of over €500 million in global software and services. Such growth is unprecedented within SAP or within the industry for that matter.

Despite the tremendous responsibilities within her global role, Ms. Simosko became inspired in February 2008 to author a blog that provides aspiring leaders with a forum to investigate ideas, innovations and approaches to leadership. Her blog is located at http://www.ninasimosko.com. In her writings, Ms. Simosko offers insights that can be beneficial to others, both men & women, working their own way up the corporate ladder.

Finally, during the eligibility period, Ms. Simosko was invited, and accepted, a position on the board of directors for a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering students through literacy and investing community members in underserved public schools. This organization provides curriculum-based, results- oriented intervention for low-performing readers to offer structured reading support to children who may otherwise not have an opportunity for individualized reading attention.

Her commitment to helping others is evinced not only in her leadership style, but also by her dedication to write about issues of concern to aspiring business leaders as well as her devotion to serving the needs of underprivileged students.

Praise for Nina Simosko’s blog:

a) Wally Bock, a leading management and leadership blogger, recommends Nina Simosko's blog as one of those "… that frequently educate me, inspire me, and make me think". His specific comment is:

"I love Nina's blog because she writes from the perspective of a working executive who's concerned about making the working world a better place."

b) A blog entry by well-known author, Erika Andersen "Growing Great Employees", paying tribute to Nina’s blog in which Ms. Andersen wrote:

"I love discovering new (to me) blogs. Here's a good one. It's by a young woman named Nina Simosko, and I really like the way she thinks…

At the risk of sounding enormously old, I think it's this next generation of women like Nina who are creating the world of work that I want to see; the one that takes full advantage of everyone's gifts and talents."

2. List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your entry. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:

http://www.apac.redhat.com/pdf/training/IDC_marketscape_RH.pdf

http://www.ninasimosko.com

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2008/06/19/kudos-for-three-star- leadership.aspx

http://thesimplestthing.typepad.com/erikas_blog/2008/06/look---a-great-blog.html

3. Provide a brief biography of the nominated executive (up to 100 words):

Nina Simosko is Global COO for SAP Education and a member of SAP’s Senior Executive team. She’s responsible for more than €500 million in software & services revenue.

She has 14+ years of leadership experience within the technology industry. Prior to joining SAP in 2004, she worked at Siebel as General Manager, Education for the Americas, Asia Pacific/Japan and Global Support & Maintenance Sales, and at Oracle leading Global Education Sales & Marketing.

She’s involved in several industry associations: (1) Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, (2) Professional Area Network for Women in Technology, and (3) Alliance of Technology & Women.