Team Building

Our office is buzzing as we await the arrival here later today of our judging panel that will select the 2009 Top Small Workplaces from the 35 Finalist organizations. These firms were paired down over the last few months from the hundreds that applied earlier this year based on their exemplary team building activities for the workplace.

While you'll have to wait until September 28 to read about the 2009 Winners in The Wall Street Journal – click here to subscribe to it if you don't already – I will be updating here in the meantime with video interviews of our judges, which we will also shoot today.

Following is a list of this year's judges. We thank them for their time, talent, and concern for the leading-edge people practices that show that investing in your workplace can lead to stunning business outcomes.

Colleen Barrett

President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines
Years as a TSW judge: 3
Other TSW affiliations: Keynote speaker at our 2008 annual conference
For more information: Read our interview with Barrett on our website

Peter Cappelli

Director, Center for Human Resources, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Years as a TSW judge: 3
For more information: Watch this interview with Cappelli we shot in 2008

Judith Cone

Vice President of Emerging Strategies, Kauffman Foundation
Years as a TSW judge: 3
Other TSW affiliations: Workplace session moderator at our 2007 annual conference
For more information: Read our interview with Cone on our website

Timothy Feddersen

Director, Social Enterprise Program, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Years as a TSW judge: 1
For more information: See Feddersen's faculty/research page on the Kellogg School website

Bart Houlahan

Co-founder, B Lab
Years as a TSW judge: 1
For more information: Read Houlahan's bio on Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner

Nancy Kramer

Founder and CEO, Resource Interactive
Years as a TSW judge: 1
Other TSW affiliations: Resource Interactive is a 2008 Top Small Workplace
For more information: Get our 2008 TSW DVD containing an interview with Kramer

Ken Lehman

Founder and Chairman, Winning Workplaces
Years as a TSW judge: 3
Other TSW affiliations: Ken participated in a panel entitled "60 Ideas in 60 Minutes" at our 2007 annual conference
For more information: Watch this video that features Ken on our website

Kevin Trapani

President and CEO, The Redwoods Group
Years as a TSW judge: 1
Other TSW affiliations: The Redwoods Group is a 2008 Top Small Workplace
For more information: Get our 2008 TSW DVD containing an interview with Trapani

A number of our judges will be at our ROI of Great Workplaces Conference in Chicago on October 1 and 2. Join them – register to attend today.

Comments for 2009 Top Small Workplaces Judges Meeting Here Today

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 by Laurie White:: My biggest concern is you have no people of color on the judging staff. One of last year's winner has a major problem with lack of diversity in their recruitment and hiring. 99% of New Belguim Brewing employees are white, young, non-disabled. A model workplace if you're a white supremest.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 by Mark:: I appreciate your comment, Laurie, but those are pretty strong words. I checked and according to the 2000 Census, Ft. Collins, CO (where New Belgium is based) is 82% white, and even more when you factor in African and native American, Hispanic and others who are mixed race with white being one of them. So their racial demographic is probably not out of line for their area. As far as the judging panel, I guess it just worked out this year that we have no people of color represented. We certainly did not try to exclude them. You will note that 3 of 8 judges are women. One more point I would add is that even if our 2009 TSW judging panel and New Belgium aren't as diverse as you'd like to see, I can show you photos we gathered from most of our other 2008 TSW winners that shows many African Americans, Hispanics and other non-whites in their workplaces. Drop us an email at info@winningworkplaces.org if you'd like to see these pics. Thanks.