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Métier, Ltd.

 

2010 Stevie Award Winner

Company: Métier, Ltd., Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A.
Company Description: Métier leads the project portfolio management industry by enabling organizations to execute their strategic business objectives and increase organizational efficiency. Founded by Sandra Richardson and Douglas Clark in 1998, Métier's suite of patented software and award winning services has delivered substantial performance improvements for government agencies and Global 2000 corporations.
Nomination Category: Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Mentor of the Year

Nomination Title: Sandra Richardson, Chief Operating Officer

Describe for the judges the nominated individual's activities and accomplishments that supported women in business during the eligibility period (up to 500 words):

Sandra Richardson got her start as a successful businesswoman in the field of
Human Resources. Early in her career, Ms. Richardson executed human resource
management for leading enterprises along the entire East Coast, including the
two largest law firms in Washington D.C. and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC. As
founding partner of Métier, Ms. Richardson has united her foundations in
traditional Human Resource management with her innovative desire to build a
fresh, effective approach to career development and employee mentoring.

The career development and mentoring program that Sandra and business partner
Douglas Clark established at Métier challenges the status quo of Human Resource
management, and, like all elements of their business, focuses on a
results-driven approach. A strong example of this is the replacement of the
dreaded annual employee reviews with a continuous coaching philosophy. Coaching
sessions are focused around questions, “Where do I want to go?” and “What do I
need to do to get there?” with discussions evolving and flowing from there.

Métier employees have ongoing coaching sessions with their managers as often as
every week, and at least once a month. Employees are encouraged to schedule
“skip-level” coaching sessions with directors and executives. In addition,
Métier has a third party executive coach with weekly office hours for regularly
scheduled and ad hoc coaching sessions.

The impact this program has had on an individual at Métier can be demonstrated
by our Chief Financial Officer, Amy Vaccari. Amy began working at Métier eight
years ago as an entry-level project analyst and has been promoted all the way up
the corporate ladder to senior executive management.

Through one-on-one coaching sessions with her manager, skip-level coaching
sessions with executives, and regular coaching sessions with our third party
talent management coach, Amy has risen through the ranks to management quickly
in her tenure at Métier. As Métier's Chief Financial Officer, Amy leads
operations-focused initiatives that drive the company’s strategic direction. In
this role, Amy’s key initiatives include enterprise-wide process standardization
and enhanced service delivery to Métier’s clients.

Amy’s success is just one example of the impact the Métier career development
program has had on individuals in our organization. Rather than hiring from
outside of our organization, at Métier we prefer to nurture and mentor our
current employees and our robust mentorship program reflects that mentality.

Through adopting this unique mentoring approach, the impact on the individuals
and the organization has been dramatic. Métier has promoted 93% of our
management from within and 36% of our employees received promotions just within
the past year.

In addition, every member of Métier’s executive leadership has been promoted
from within. Even more impressive, while two members of the executive team are
founders, the other three started in entry-level positions!

Our mentorship program also translates into results for the organization. Métier
has increased our client base by 48% within the year and achieved a 100% SaaS
customer retention rate. In our industry, these results are unheard of.

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]:

American Business Awards Finalist 2010
http://www.metier.com/about-us/news/press-releases/metier-recognized-for-customer-service-
corporate-responsibility-and-management-team-excellence-by-american-business-awards
Helios HR Zeus Award, 2010
http://www.metier.com/about-us/news/252.html
Métier Named One of Washingtonian Magazine's "50 Great Places to Work"
http://www.metier.com/about-us/news/214.html
Métier Named to Prestigious 2009 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies
http://www.metier.com/about-us/news/206.html
Métier Promotes Simmons Lough to Vice President of Engineering
http://www.metier.com/about-us/news/196.html

Provide a brief biography of the nominated individual (up to 100 words):

Sandra Richardson is Métier’s Chief Operating Officer. Richardson is responsible
for the marketing and business development teams. Her leadership has contributed
to the rapid growth of Métier. Under Richardson’s purview, Métier has increased
revenues by nearly 400 percent, tripled staff size, and earned a five-time
position on the Inc. list of fastest growing privately held companies in the
country.

Prior to founding Métier, Richardson held executive level positions at Cambridge
Technology Partners, Piper & Marbury, LLP; and Dickstein Shapiro Morin &
Oshinsky LLP. Ms. Richardson was a key part of executive management teams that
executed rapid growth strategies via acquisition.