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UCOP honors 90 staff for impact, innovation and service milestones

The Web Application Services team received the Kevin McCauley Community Award for its work with the SF Marin Food Bank.

The Web Application Services team received the Kevin McCauley Community Award for its work with the SF Marin Food Bank.


President Janet Napolitano, Provost Aimée Dorr, Chief Operating Officer Rachael Nava and Vice President of Human Resources Dwaine Duckett celebrated the winners of this year’s Innovation and Impact Awards and staff members who have reached service milestones of 10 years or more on April 29 at the Elihu Harris State Office Building.

The service awards are held twice a year. The Innovation and Impact Awards, now in their fourth year, are given annually to recognize employee achievement in three categories.

Nominations were reviewed by selection committees made up of past Innovation and Impact Award winners and staff affinity group leaders, who made recommendations to President Napolitano.

“The nominations represented a remarkable range of achievement from across UCOP,” Dorr noted before asking each honoree to step forward.

From a pool of 24 nominations, three individuals and four teams were honored in three categories.

In the category of Commitment to OP Culture and Principles:

  • Tracy FitzGerald (Marketing Communications) was honored for her multiple contributions supporting staff and community volunteerism, from serving on the OP Staff Assembly Steering Committee, to organizing a book drive and Earth Day events, to helping to launch the Oakland Partnership Initiative.
  • Candace Jones, Siena Sarmiento (HR) and Karla Wood (UC Health) were honored for their creation of a Linkedin group where UCOP employees can collaborate with colleagues.

    Candace Jones (ITS), Siena Sarmiento (HR) and Karla Wood (UC Health) were honored for their creation of a Linkedin group where UCOP employees can collaborate with colleagues.

    The UCOP Connect team — Siena Sarmiento (HR), Karla Wood (UC Health), Candace Jones (ITS), Ginny Cox-Delaney (formerly with UC Path) and Chris Noble (formerly with Communications) — was recognized for their creation of a Linkedin group where UCOP employees can collaborate with colleagues. Its purpose is to boost engagement and make it easier to reach colleagues in different parts of the organization. It provides an informal way to raise issues, ask for help, exchange information and break out of work “silos” that sometimes limit OP’s effectiveness.

For Advancing the Mission, one individual and two team awards were given:

  • Cathy O’Sullivan (interim chief of staff, COO Division) leads the Working Smarter Initiative and in the past year served as Chief of Staff for the CFO division during the realignment of the CFO and COO divisions. She also chaired the President’s Efficiency Review initiative. In this role, she brought together a diverse group of employees to make a material impact on OP, with 34 specific changes implemented in 2014.
  • Peggy Fiedler and Erin Marnocha developed the NRS Field Studies Program, a unique undergraduate experience that takes advantage of the largest and most diverse suite of university-run protected areas that will be a transformative learning experience for the UC undergraduate student body.
  • George Getgen, Mark Byron and Shehzad Wadalawala of the Energy and Sustainability Office started a utility company that produces electricity for five campuses and three medical centers. Implementation of the Wholesale Electrical Power Program (WPP) in January 2015 and the signing of two solar energy power purchase agreements are critical steps toward achieving President Napolitano’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative.

The Kevin McCauley Community Award recognizes active and meaningful service in a nonprofit community-based organization resulting in a significant impact on the external community, or voluntary individual effort with positive impact on the local community or its residents.

  • Teresa Johnson (Research Grants Program Office) — working with groups and organizations such as the Hayward Unified School District, the Hayward Promise Neighborhood Program and the African American Student Initiative Leadership Team — has consistently taken a leadership role in establishing programs to help disadvantaged youth realize their academic potential and move on to attain a college education.
  • The SF Marin Food Bank volunteers from Web Applications Services (ITS) — William Guinto (Undergraduate Admissions Systems), Allen Hom (Undergraduate), Nivedita Kumar (Web Support Services), Allan Perry (Web and Application Development), Aymen Manai (Web and Application Development), Patrick Rogers (Web and Application Development),  Rick Kehret (Web and Application Development), Elena Tolpygo (Web and Application Development), Jaymeson Beck (SharePoint Services), Latha Srinivasagopalan (SharePoint Services) and Candace Jones (Web and Application Services) — devoted an afternoon in December to sorting and packaging food for community members at the SF Marin Food Bank. The group has committed to serving as a unit twice a year.

Recognized for service milestones were the following:

  • 10 years: John Barrett, Lynda Choi, Danny Haughton, Thembi Jackson, Sandra Kim, John Lewis, Vicki Lovotti, Tricia Lyall, Kirill Mazin, Jane Schnorrenberg, Sonia Scott, Debbie Shen, Frank Thomson, John Valva, Pu Wang-Fackler and Harvey Wong
  • 15 years: Teresa Alvarez, Jolene Arroyo, Samson Bali, Gwen Banks, Jennifer Bunge, Kevin Cunningham, Mary Daughtry, Bea Deering, Amal Smith, Thomas Herz, Jill Lee, Terrell McQuitta, Liz Rodrigues-Diaz, Nestor Sampang, Sharon Thomas, Alfred White, Doris Wildeman, Jian Wu, Irene Yamamoto
  • 20 years: Cindy Barber, Eva Hom, Cheryl Hyland, Steven Ong, Evelyn Oronos, Joyce Smith, Rita Torres, Thomas Trappler, Henry Vu
  • 25 years: Peter Cataldo, Lourdes De Mattos, Eva Devincenzi, Ron Franck, Jerlena Griffin-Desta, Carolyn Mini, Heather Pineda, David Rhee, Nina Robinson, Sandi Small, Heidi Speare, Leslie Van Houten
  • 30 years: Karla Holmberg, Sharon Howard, Bruce Kennedy, Gordon Schanck, Daniel Scuiry, Margery Tibbetts, Janna Tom
  • 35 years: Penny Edgert, Jon Good, Marie Johnson

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