So now for some individual words. So we're very excited. The IES, like I mentioned, is a member-driven organization.
We call our customers partners. So we have a lot of our partners here in the room today. Karasov, Hilton, Cvent, AWS, Salesforce, etc. So we have people who've worked for those companies who have gone, for us at least, above and beyond. what a typical customer would do.
So we recognize them. We used to call this award the customer of the year or the member of the year award. Actually, Gina won that award in 2017. So Daryl Gert won that award. You'll meet him in a couple of minutes. And we changed the name to partner of the year because like a lot of you, you know, sorry to say Tom, but we call our customers partners.
So we're thrilled to be working with them. We're working with some amazing people and all of them are just passively committed to the success of their people. Ironically, this year's Partner of the Year runs a large partner organization with Amazon Web Services, Rebecca, and I actually just interviewed her two days ago for the Sales Game Changers podcast, and we talked about what it means to be a partner, what it means to be successful from a partner perspective, from a vendor perspective, and Rebecca, you were taking me to places I didn't think we were going to go in that interview that were just amazing, brought back so many great examples, and I'm very excited to present that show coming up in the future. So I'm going to bring back Gina. Gina's worked closely with Rebecca as well to say a few words.
And then we're going to bring on Bob Green, who was our member of the year last year to say a few words. And then we're going to bring up Rebecca. Thank you, Fred.
I had to laugh because I was member of the year and then I kept hanging around and now I'm his partner. So it worked out well. If I could have a hundred partners like Rebecca, my life... would be glorious. She is dedicated to her staff.
She is organized to a T. She knows who she's sending through the forum a whole year in advance. I love her.
I hit it off with her right away, and I am so honored to have her win the member, or excuse me, the partner of the year. Please come up, Rebecca. Oh, sorry. And before she does, I want to introduce Bob Green, who's going to come up and say a few words.
First of all, I'd like to extend my congratulations to all the award recipients, and also like to say, go Hokies. Okay, I am Bob Green. and I'm the recipient of the 2023 IES Member of the Year Award.
For 2024, as we said, we have rebranded this recognition as our Partner of the Year. Nevertheless, it is my privilege as last year's recipient to introduce this year's awardee, Rebecca Weatherly. Let's unpack for a moment what it means to be recognized by the IES as its Partner of the Year. This award looks at who has been a champion of IES and an advocate for its sales leadership training throughout their business and their community networking.
And nobody embodies this better than this year's recipient, Rebecca Weatherly. As director of Worldwide Public Sector Systems Integrator Partners for Amazon Web Services, Rebecca leads a team of 90 builders. to steer them towards greatness in line with AWS's mission to be the Earth's best employer.
Part of that mission is Rebecca nurturing the talent of her personnel, especially through the IES's Women in Sales program, expertly led by our own Gina Starcusi. Although AWS certainly has the capacity to develop its own learning content, Rebecca prizes the IES for providing world-class programming that are worth learning from. So, it is my distinct...
We will find you acting on your best behavior. Turn your back on Mother Nature. Everybody wants to rule the world.
Thank you guys and thank you Bob and Fred and Gina. I am really honored to accept the award and I also congratulate my fellow award winners today. I think this award is much more a testament, candidly, to my personal and professional commitment to our profession of sales. It's a hard industry to work in, right? It requires a mastery of many different skills, including communication, in.
Listening, problem-solving, technical depth, prospecting, collaboration, relationship building, financial acumen, strategic agility, negotiating, and that's just the beginning of the list, right? These skills, you heard from Tom, right? They are difficult to develop, and they require both on-the-job training, mentoring, and focused investment and dedication to hone your skills. The partnership that AWS has with IES is tremendous, and the engagement with IES is truly to the betterment of our sales teams. The opportunities that we have been able to participate in and become enriched with, learning and sharing, have helped advance the sellers in our organization, their skills.
And I am very proud that by the end of this year, we will have 32 women that will have completed the Women in Sales Forum or the Emerging Sales Leader Forum. These forums have provided an incredible opportunity for women to learn from other accomplished women in the business. And I can see that the bonds that have been created are truly transcending AWS. These are industry-amazing skills that have been developed.
And I have witnessed careers truly flourish and confidence has been gained as a result. I am super proud of our award and designation for Premier Sales Employer. As Bob mentioned, you know, the work that I do is really reflected in our principle of striving to be the Earth's employer. And we say what that means is leaders work every day to create a safer. more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment.
Leaders lead with empathy. They have fun. They make it easier for others to have fun. Leaders have a vision for and a commitment to their employees' personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere.
When I think more broadly, IES also provides an opportunity for our employees to flex their learn and be curious, which is another leadership principle at Amazon, where leaders are never done learning and always seeking to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and exploring to learn. Thank you, IES, for the platform you provide for our great sales profession. Thank you.
Standing O for Rebecca, ladies and gentlemen. Hold it high. Congratulations to Rebecca Wendley, Bob Green.
Thank you so much for those great words. Good job, buddy.