Tag Archives: awards

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 6 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 6: APDS: The Great Enabler

 

Alliance Parking Data StandardsAs the chair of the APDS Change Control Group, Markus Schneider is increasingly contacted by organizations that are developing new products or applications based on APDS and need advice or that wish to request changes to APDS to enhance its capabilities. “For example, the City of Antwerp and Digipolis (Belgium) are using APDS APIs as the interface for their new fleet ANPR enforcement vehicles; Mitte (Spain and US) has developed a cloud-based parking platform; and Riverty (Germany, Netherlands, Nordics) has based its parking API for purchases and debt collection on APDS.”

There are also some big national implementations underway. The Bulgarian Association for Parking and Sustainable Urban Mobility unites the largest Bulgarian public parking municipal companies, so the association is uniquely positioned to identify best practices in parking and mobility on the European level through the EPA, and adapt them to its local context.

Its chair, Nikola Rogatchev, says, “We are striving to implement innovative solutions with tangible impacts that are immediately appreciated by the end-users. We are using APDS as the backbone for designing our parking platform. The open exchange of ideas that the EPA enables through its wide network and meeting platforms has also contributed to advancing our work. We have benefited greatly from the unique insights and lessons learned in this space. There has been so much quality work already done that is making our life much easier.”

With the help of APDS, the association is moving quickly and plans to launch the platform in 2024. By this time next year, it aims to have covered 85% of the public parking spaces in Bulgaria, all major airports, and 15% of the small private off-street parking spaces.
The biggest and most complex implementation of APDS to date is being finalized by the UK government’s Department for Transport. Morten Sorensen, chief distribution officer for EasyPark, says he is impressed by what he has seen so far with the UK’s National Parking Platform (NPP).

“It has great momentum as it moves to a full production platform. The platform has been built in line with the APDS standards to facilitate simplified data exchange between the subcomponents of connected applications,” he says. “More than six phone parking providers, a growing number of hardware providers, and the main back-office enforcement software providers have integrated into the NPP within the past year. Successful pilots have been deployed in Manchester, across the city council’s car parks; in Cheshire West and Chester’s on-street and off-street parking; on one street in Oxford; and across the entirety of Coventry City Council’s on-street parking and off-street car parks.”

Keith Williams adds, “Once it receives the final go-ahead, the NPP will make it possible to bring all parking data and digital payments in the UK into one place, regardless of who the supplier may be. For motorists, councils, private operators, and equipment manufacturers, it is a step towards a far more transparent landscape.”

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 5 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 5: The Alluring Vision of Automated Valet Parking

 

“Just imagine, on your next visit to a city, you simply drop off your car, and it finds its own parking space – saving you not only search time but also, possibly, a long walk and the stress of being late,” says James Toal, senior vice-president Europe at SKIDATA.

“We see automated valet parking (AVP) as a big opportunity for operators to offer visitors a great welcome experience while optimizing the use of their car park by accommodating more cars on less floor space. Powerful artificial intelligence and a set of cameras installed in the car park allow an AVP-equipped car to park itself. This new technology offers more safety and security, as no people are physically involved. This is the promised land of AVP. A driver merely turns up at a designated pick-up point and the AVP system does the rest, often putting the vehicle into a much tighter spot than most humans could achieve.”

James adds,  “As parking system suppliers, we can play an essential role by offering and connecting AVP seamlessly into the customer’s journey and improving their parking experience.”

A new age of car intelligence means less searching for parking spaces, thereby cutting congestion – although, for most urban areas, AVP is still a way off. Markus Schneider, owner of Plexx-Digital – a parking software solution specialist – and chair of the APDS Change Control Group, says: “At the moment, there is no reliable information on the speed with which AVP will enter the market. Critical mass is needed for this new technology to deliver its benefits.”

Theo Thuis, managing director innovation at Q-Park, is more hopeful. He says:, “We understand that, by 2027, all new cars will be equipped with AVP sensors and software. Therefore, the car parks that are equipped will be able to offer AVP services. However, there must be viable business models. Above all, AVP must be affordable to have a chance of entering the market. Currently, the AVP system suppliers are still working on bringing the costs into an acceptable range.”

Alliance Parking Data StandardsAlso vital for the adoption and success of AVP is standardization. “In an environment with so many different players, standardization is a critical success factor. All participants in the process chain need to speak a common ‘technical language’ – in this case, APDS,” says Markus.

Theo believes that the big win for the parking sector is the fact that, as a new player, AVP is working with APDS rather than adding standards retrospectively.  “Many people remain skeptical about AVP, but we have started this project by implementing APDS standards into a new functional area of parking. This is the first time that automobile manufacturers and AVP suppliers are adopting APDS as a standard. It will be used as a standard for interoperability within the new parking function. This marks a turn of events in which manufacturers and suppliers of AVP systems realize the importance of working alongside the parking industry. Suddenly, they see that we are an important part of the bigger picture. Until recently, the problem was that the parking sector was so fragmented, and there were no parking data standards – but APDS is changing that. This is a flag-bearer for other parts of the parking sector to adopt APDS.”

The recent move to involve the sector in the development and implementation of AVP is music to Theo’s ears. ‘In the past, all the technological testing was carried out without the parking sector. Now, the manufacturers and their suppliers are inviting and involving us. That is knowledge sharing – knowledge gathering. This involves a new role for the EPA – explaining to our members what is going on and what is going to happen, even when almost no one believes in it yet.’

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 4 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 4: Avoiding the Tower of Babel

 

The need for a common language becomes even more acute when the different mobility communities – including EV charging, public transport, bike and scooter hire, car sharing, and parking – need to talk to each other. One important driver for intermodal communication of data is the EU’s ITS Directive 2010/40/EU and its Delegated Regulations, whereby each European Member State must establish a National Access Point (NAP) for mobility data that will eventually, and inevitably, include static and dynamic data on parking (location, availability, and pricing).

NAPCORE was formed two years ago to coordinate and harmonize mobility data platforms across Europe. Timo Hoffmann, general secretary of NAPCORE and an employee of the German Federal Highway Research Institute, says, “The problem with the NAPs quickly becomes apparent. If every Member State develops its own data mobility platform, with the formats and standards differing from country to country, then the collection of 30-plus NAPs resembles the Tower of Babel. We realize that trying to standardize everything would take a really long time and is not always the best thing to do, so we are trying to harmonize things while taking into account the differences between NAPs. With ever-advancing technology, it is possible to make platforms interoperable without them being the exact same. NAPCORE is the platform for facilitating pan-European mobility data exchange.”

Alliance Parking Data StandardsUnder the cooperation agreement that the EPA signed with NAPCORE earlier this year, the EPA and APDS are showing the way by developing a translation module that converts parking data in the APDS format into the NeTEx format (NeTEx is intended to be a general purpose XML format designed for the efficient, updateable exchange of complex transport data among distributed systems.) With the help of industry experts such as Q-Park’s Ronald Frijns, the EPA is also developing a standardized European data profile (or list of data items) that fulfills the requirements of the relevant EU Delegated Regulations and takes account of the needs of our sector.

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

Why a Parking Consultant Can Be Helpful to You and Your Program

Why a Parking Consultant Can Be Helpful to You and Your Program

 

by Anthony Mazeika

As a parking professional who has served on both the public and private side, there never seemed to be enough hours in the day to tackle the endless demands associated with managing a parking program. Whether it’s keeping the daily operation functional, starting a new program, or upgrading parking technology to keep up with the times, it often felt like I was barely keeping my head above water to ensure that projects were being completed on-time, within budget, and also as originally intended. At times, I was tasked with projects that I simply did not know how to do.

Enter the parking consultant. The parking consultant can be a jack-of-all trades who provides guidance and assistance in almost any number of capacities.  With years of collective industry experience and strong relationships, parking consultants can fulfill many roles. Parking consultants can conduct comprehensive parking studies, perform policy and operational assessments with actionable recommendations, write Scopes of Work for equipment or operators, assist in issuing Request for Proposals (RFP), or provide support in implementing brand new programs, just to name a few.

There were several projects during my municipal parking career when consultants not only shared their holistic parking knowledge with my team but also supported successful initiatives that would not have been delivered on time otherwise. The time spent with the consultants expanded not only my industry knowledge but my project and process management skills as well.

Parking consultants can provide tremendous value by supporting your team with projects, acting as a conduit between vendors and municipalities, offering industry insight, and even a sympathetic ear. This valuable resource can help get projects across the finish line and make you look good in the process.

Anthony Mazeika is a Senior Associate with Dixon Resources Unlimited. He can be reached at anthony@dixonresourcesunlimited.com

The Fallacy of Dashboards

The Fallacy of Dashboards

 

by Santiago Morales

Exploring the essence of dashboards and the evolution of parking intelligence, it’s essential to debunk a common misconception. Dashboards, widely considered as indispensable tools, enable organizations to derive valuable insights from their data, serving as a singular source of trust, providing real-time monitoring, and empowering decision-making. However, they are not infallible.

During the mid-90s, presenting statistical data in an accessible format for non-data-oriented individuals posed a challenge. Excel emerged as the go-to tool, revolutionizing data presentation. Reams of information could be visualized in a relatively simple format, especially for visual learners. Fast forward a decade, dashboards evolved from manual Excel sheets to formalized applications, seamlessly pulling data from diverse sources. These dashboards introduced Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), theoretically aiding informed business, financial, and operational decisions. However, they predominantly showcased static data—limited snapshots of past performance in selected metrics.

The contemporary landscape presents a paradigm shift where dashboards are ubiquitous, promising groundbreaking insights straight out of a sci-fi movie. In-Parking Sight capitalizes on modern tools, transcending conventional dashboards. The Parking Intelligence Dashboard fuses data from multiple streams, offering correlations between seemingly disparate pieces of information. This amalgamation facilitates predictive models, envisioning potential future operations and financial changes based on user inputs.

In the current realm, managing parking resources entails navigating various variables. While traditional dashboards display these variables, we aim to delve deeper, showcasing their interplay. This empowers organizations to model scenarios and predict outcomes accurately.

The ongoing trend is to transcend operational reports and delve into insights that help users better understand their data sets. So, are dashboards obsolete? Not at all. They undoubtedly serve a purpose and remain remarkably useful. However, the need arises to distinguish a conventional “dashboard” from “parking intelligence” and unlock true insights for enhancing overall parking experiences.

Santiago Morales is CEO of In-Parking. He can be reached at santiago.morales@in-parking.com. 

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 3 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 3: OCPI – Supercharging the EV Market

 

One important dataset that needs to be on the National Access Points (NAPs) is the crucial information about where EV charge points are located and their charging capabilities. This information is essential to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.

At the same time, there are numerous stakeholders working across the EV infrastructure, so finding a way to bring information to a point where data exchange is simple for everyone concerned is essential if motorists are to have a smooth journey.

The Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) specification is an industry standard that has been developed and deployed to support data exchange between interested commercial parties involved in the use of charge points for energy supply to EVs.5 It primarily focuses on information exchange between charge point operators and e-mobility service providers. The specification supports authorization, charge point information exchange (including live status updates and transaction events), charge detail record exchange, remote charge point commands, and the exchange of smart-charging commands between parties.

Transportation and IT consultant Jonathan Harrod Booth explains the importance of readily available information, “Understanding where charge points are, which networks are providing them, their physical characteristics in terms of the types of connectors available, and the maximum (electrical) charge rates are important for customer choice. As an EV user, when out on the road I need to access information services and apps to identify where opportunities exist to charge my EV. Protocols such as OCPI are a critical means to access this information, which many of these apps and information services use. Without an industry specification such as OCPI, information about the location, facilities, and status of charge points would probably be network- or supplier-specific, and difficult to access by the traveling public.’

The use of common protocols, such as OCPI, makes it significantly easier for the EV charge point industry to support EV roaming – that is, using different locations and networks to be able to recharge an EV. The information can then be made available through information services and apps to enable EV drivers to get the widest view on where charge point opportunities exist.

Alliance Parking Data StandardsJonathan says the industry is evolving – and with more and more people opting for EVs, it has to. “As a consumer, I want the flexibility to search for and pay for parking that APDS-enabled solutions have the potential to offer. In the UK, the UK’s National Parking Platform (NPP) pilot is illustrating this flexibility, with four local authorities now supporting multivendor parking payments, where customers can pay using one of several app-based parking services. NPP is based on the APDS specification. The same evolution of service is likely to occur with EV charging services. Having interoperability between services to pay for parking and those to pay for EV charging is obvious. Therefore, the specifiers of OCPI and APDS need to take steps to enable the two specifications to work smoothly together.”

Aside from consumer confidence and convenience, Jonathan points out some other benefits to interoperability between OCPI and APDS. “There will be better opportunities for combined and integrated customer services, including payment, and an improved ability to search for parking facilities with EV charging – and understand the combined cost. There will also be the creation of commercial opportunities for parking and EV charge providers to become the customer’s single point of contact for combined services.”

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

Share Your Smart Parking, Transportation Pilots, Programs, and Case Studies for New Publication

Share Your Smart Parking, Transportation Pilots, Programs, and Case Studies for New Publication

 

Share Your Smart Parking, Transportation Pilots, Programs, and Case Studies for New Publication

Do you work for an airport where technology was deployed to monitor and manage the valuable curbside and improve traffic flow?

Do you lead a transit agency where a micromobility program is in place to address the first and last mile of service in underserved communities?

Did you deploy technology in your university parking garage to provide accurate and consistent data that helps you optimize operations?

If any of these sound like you, IPMI’s Smart Transportation Task Force would like a word!

The task force is working on a smart transportation guidebook – rich with case studies to illustrate best practices and innovative policies. These will detail how organizations of all shapes and sizes are implementing people-oriented and technology-enabled solutions in mobility management to make the movement of people and goods across all modes more convenient, resource-efficient, safe, secure, and equitable.  Let’s include your program, project, or service in this vital new publication.

We want to hear from you if you have an innovative and successful example of smart transportation in any one of these activities:

  • Regular Coordinated Data Collection & Analysis
  • First & Last Mile Service
  • Limiting the Impact of Climate Change
  • Movement of People and Goods
  • Maximizing Parking Efficiency
  • Optimizing Traffic Flow

To share your story, please email scrimalli@parking-mobility.org so we can reach out to learn more about your smart transportation efforts and share them with our community.

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 2 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 2: Speaking a Common Language

 

There is no need to reinvent the wheel, but, unfortunately, too many of the parking sector’s top brains are doing exactly this.

This is the view of João Caetano Dias, one of the pioneers of digitalized parking systems and parking platforms with Empark (now Telpark) in Spain and Portugal. Currently an adviser to EasyPark, João says developers and their investors should be concentrating on providing better services, more intuitive interfaces and enhancing the user experience. “[Instead] they spend too much time creating an infrastructure to support their inventions,” he says.

“On top of this, different cities have different enforcement solutions; different operators use different access and control systems. If someone developing a payment system wants to reach many cities and diverse operators, they soon realize they are spending an inordinate amount of time and resources on integrations because every city has its own API, and every system has its own language to talk to external systems.”

Alliance Parking Data StandardsThis point is one that resonates with Maurizio Locatelli, who is responsible for parking technology at Interparking. “Until the advent of APDS, there were no standards covering all aspects of parking data. Efforts to connect services across Europe were rendered complex, expensive, and unreliable because of the incompatibility of the data elements between environments.”

The answer, says João, is a common language and standards. “If there’s a common language, it’s clear how to communicate with a city or operator.”

At the moment, standards are viewed as a ‘nice to have’, bringing down implementation and development costs.

For Maurizio, there is also a more persuasive argument. ‘From an operator perspective, the adoption of APDS comes with a cost and, therefore, a migration from home-brew solutions to a standard is only feasible if there’s an ability to connect to external services. “At the moment, there is an attitude of: “but why change? We have it working today”. If the change is driven by the IT companies, it will be less attractive than if it is seen as a benefit to the business.”

Keith Williams, technical director of Parking Matters and lead on the UK’s National Parking Platform (NPP) pilots, agrees. “The NPP pilots in the UK have demonstrated that a relatively simple APDS-based platform can allow all parking systems to communicate with each other cheaply and effectively. There is no need for systems to be “natively APDS” because they can communicate with other systems via a converter that typically costs about €5k to develop.”

Assessing the current situation, João says: “We are in the middle of this journey. APDS is not a goal in itself, it is an instrument towards achieving higher levels of interoperability. The standard has been developed and has been supported by the main players in the market and by the national associations through the EPA, IPMI [International Parking and Mobility Institute], and BPA [British Parking Association]. It was adopted by ISO [the International Organization for Standardization] and is the basis for the latest version of the DATEX II part 6 standard. Now, it’s a matter of time. Public tenders are already starting to ask for compliant systems; equipment providers will start selling compatible equipment, although it takes many years to renew parking systems completely.”

Maurizio recalls the experiences of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Belgium. “It successfully reached out to the VVSG [Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities] and was able to put its narrative regarding DATEX II into the recommendation put out to the VVSG’s members. Since then, tenders regarding mobility and parking have been consistently referencing DATEX II as the go-to standard. The emergence of NAPs [National Access Points] and the NAPCORE [National Access Point Coordination Organisation for Europe] initiative will certainly be a driving factor to push the DATEX II and APDS standard into each country.”

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

Spotlight on Parking Data (Post 1 of 6)

European Parking Association: Spotlight on Parking Data

 

Follow this series of six posts highlighting content from the European Parking Association (EPA), presented by EPA President Nigel Williams. Nigel joins some of the EPA’s data experts and other thought leaders to bring you this content, published by EPA in September 2023,  offering insight into the EPA’s data initiatives and highlighting the importance, value, and use of parking data, and shining a spotlight on the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).

Part 1: Parking – Digitalization, Data, and Interoperability

 

The phrase ‘data is the new oil’ is a bit cliché, but it certainly applies to parking. Data occupies a similar position to that held by oil in the 18th century in that it is an immensely valuable but untapped asset. Our sector is particularly rich in data; however, many of our colleagues still view their data infrastructure as a cost center. We need to help them transform it into a profit center by using the data for overall improvement and to enable interoperability in our extremely fragmented industry.

As the EPA President, I am very conscious of our need to recognize emerging opportunities to exploit our data assets and to identify potential pitfalls. We must do everything possible to avoid those pitfalls or mitigate their effects.

During the past 11 months, the EPA has started or expanded projects and initiatives concerning our parking data (EPA 2.0). As I hope everyone is aware, this burst of frenetic EPA data-related activity – as well as lobbying on cross-border enforcement, and electric vehicle (EV) and fire regulations – was made possible by the farsighted sponsorship of APCOA, Indigo, Interparking, and Q-Park. On behalf of all our members, I thank them for their investment and their trust in us to use it wisely.

Frank De Moor, CEO of Q-Park and one of the sponsors of EPA 2.0 believes the future of the parking sector lies in collaboration. ‘Parking has been an island in the past, but now we are a crucial part of urban mobility networks. If we really believe in a sustainable urban mobility system, where the role of the car is related to public transport and urban mobility, we have to realize that interoperability, standardization, and sharing data are the keys to success.”

Not everyone agrees with this open-data approach, and – without wishing to push the oil analogy too far – it is true that our data is the subject of much interest from powerful entities, such as the public transport lobby, that wish to control it and use it for their own ends.
Roland Cracco, CEO of Interparking, chair of the Belgian Parking Federation, and another EPA 2.0 sponsor, wrote to me recently, saying:  “Belgian (and other) car park operators are very concerned about the confidential nature of their data. We do understand the pressure of the authorities to obtain our data, but this cannot violate our trade secrets and business confidentiality.”

While acknowledging the importance of Roland’s concerns, the EPA must show the way and tread a fine line between protecting our members’ business confidentiality and providing the necessary data to power new sustainable mobility.

Ronald Frijns, head of business intelligence/artificial intelligence (BI/AI) at Q-Park, believes it is a question of stakeholders in the sector adapting quickly and efficiently to the inevitable changes.
‘The parking game is changing. Every parking (related) company is taking its first steps in a new strategic, digital, and commercial era. Mobile, apps, digital, cloud, application programming interface (API) integrations, and real-time reservations are all ways to expedite data delivery to our customers, facilitating their journey and instant decision-making across different modes of transport, urban needs, and mobility.

“The only way to go is to share data on a common base standard, with a close eye on confidentiality and data security. Only standards and conscious data strategies can avoid unmanageable, architectural chaos and inefficiencies in development, data integration, and related data security issues.”

Alliance Parking Data StandardsThis brings us to an initiative close to my heart – the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS). Industry experts developed the APDS specifications to meet our sector’s needs. They now constitute the global standard for parking data. This is a significant achievement in a period of only five years.

However, like all standards, the APDS specifications are only useful if people and organizations adopt, specify, and implement them widely. It is now up to the EPA’s members, and their members and clients, to do just that.

Content republished from the September 2023 newsletter of the European Parking Association with permission.

 

 

It’s All About IPMI’s Professional Recognition Awards

It’s All About IPMI’s Professional Recognition Awards

By Kathryn Hebert

Hello fellow IPMI members or should I say family!

During my recent tenure as an IPMI Board Member, I had the honor and privilege to Co-Chair the Professional Recognition Awards Committee for several years with my friend and colleague, Josh Cantor.  Every year I looked forward to reading everyone’s story and ultimately such joy, giving out these awards on stage at the annual conference in front of 1,000s of attendees from all over the world.

These awards are very special, recognizing and showcasing individuals and organizations that have contributed enormously to our industry with incredible initiatives and innovations impacting our communities everywhere.  The awards are judged and selected by a committee of IPMI members who represent municipalities, universities, airports, hospitals, technology, operations, equipment, consulting, domestic and international.  Each application is specifically considered, no matter how big or small.  All submissions are carefully vetted through a focused and intentional judging process.

There are so many ways to recognize these amazing individuals and organizations representing lifetime achievements as well as representing customer service, finance, frontline service, human resources, innovation, leadership, marketing, management, operation, technology, and much more.

We know in the parking and mobility space, many times, these jobs are thankless – peppered with complaints and innuendos.    But it doesn’t stop people from creating innovative initiatives and leading teams and organizations that impact so many and that we can all learn from.  I encourage you to look at your team(s), friends, colleagues, yourself and submit a free application.

We love giving out these awards; we are so happy when you share your wisdom about your fabulous programs and projects.  Click here for more information, criteria, application, dates, and last year’s award winners.

Kathryn Hebert is president and CEO of TPMConnect.