Grass Roots announces new leadership team
Appointment of President and CEO of the Americas and New Leadership Team to Expand North American Operations
Chief Technology Officer, Vice President Global Solutions and Vice President of Business Development Join to Drive Business Growth
MIAMI, FL--( July 28, 2009) - Grass Roots, a leading provider of global performance improvement solutions, today announces that Stephen Humphreys has been named president and Chief Executive Officer for the Americas. In addition, the company announces the appointments of Mario Cruz as Chief Technology Officer; Paul Haynes, vice president of Business Development; and Linda M. Kroeger, vice president of Global Solutions. Operating from the Grass Roots Miami headquarters office, the new leadership team is focused on driving further expansion of Grass Roots' innovative employee recognition, channel incentive and customer incentive and loyalty programs in the Americas markets. Grass Roots will also shortly announce the opening of regional offices in Boston, Chicago and Toronto.
"We are very excited to have assembled this highly experienced team of energetic professionals to drive our expansion in the Americas," said Humphreys. "We're seeing an increasing demand for results-driven incentive and motivation solutions for employees, channel partners and consumers to improve performance and align behavior. This requires not only experienced performance solution providers, but also a global perspective and local customer service offices to best serve customers with language, local legislation, currency and cultural options."
Humphreys joined Grass Roots in 2003 and was named to its Main Board in 2008. With his recent appointment to the position of president and CEO, he will be located in the Miami headquarters office. Humphreys' broad industry experience includes the development of the UK's first online incentive platform in conjunction with British Telecom, which is currently operating with 120,000 participants around the world. Versions of the platform were also developed for more than 60 other international organizations including JCB, Vodafone, Oracle and John Deere. Humphreys has generated consistent success with performance improvement solutions across many business segments, including telecom, financial services, technology, retail and automotive.
As Chief Technology Officer, Mario Cruz is responsible for the technology, infrastructure and information security of Grass Roots in the Americas region. Cruz brings more than 19 years' experience within the technology and information security industries and during his career has advanced to top positions within the field. In addition to leading Grass Roots innovation and system architecture, he also contributes and collaborates on other business areas as a member of the company's executive management team and the global Technology Board.
Paul Haynes, vice president of Business Development, has spent 24 years driving global performance improvement, recognition and sales incentive programs. Consulting with more than 65 percent of the Fortune 500, he has helped develop and manage global recognition and performance improvement solutions. Paul's prior experience includes executive level positions with Intuitive, Globoforce, Perks.com and eCompany.
As vice president of Global Solutions, Linda M. Kroeger brings extensive experience in analyzing organizational needs for performance improvement and implementing effective solutions. She has also directed and facilitated process improvement teams that develop plans for effective organization transformation. She also brings 28 years of sales experience, 14 of which were in sales management positions. Prior to joining Grass Roots, Kroeger worked with ITAGroup, a performance improvement organization.
About Grass Roots
Grass Roots, recognized for its global performance improvement solutions, helps clients achieve their business goals through innovative recognition, incentive and loyalty programs to engage and motivate employees, channel partners and consumers. Founded in 1980, Grass Roots is co-headquartered in Miami, London and Singapore and has an expanding network of offices in 27 worldwide locations with over 1,000 employees and five international customer service call centers. Grass Roots offers unparalleled global customized solutions that have a positive influence on attitudes and behaviors and are proven to drive employee engagement, brand recognition, loyalty, sales and productivity.
Grass Roots currently services more than 60 percent of the Top 100 Global Brands, and counts among its customers BMW, RIM Blackberry, Barclays Bank, and EMC
