Brian Koenig and Cox Orange County-Palos Verdes First to Receive CTHRA Honors

This spring, CTHRA announced the debut of CTHRA’s Excellence in HR Awards program. The purpose of the program is two-fold: to spotlight HR achievements within the industry and to elevate the industry’s awareness of the strategic importance of human resources and its impact on business results. CTHRA was honored to receive several highly qualified nominees, and we’re pleased to join with the award sponsor, Multichannel News, to announce the first award recipients!

Cox Orange County and Palos Verdes (OCPV) earned CTHRA’s HR Best Practices Award for its Essential Pieces strategy. In response to competitors’ claims of superior technology and localism, the Cox OCPV team developed a comprehensive program involving business models, customer relations and employee involvement. First, Cox OCPV identified six key success factors: engaged associates, competitive technology, strong local presence, excellent customer relationships, new revenue drivers and value pricing. Next, the Cox OCPV team developed tactics to achieve goals related to the success factors and launched “You’re the Essential Piece,” a comprehensive employee communications and participation campaign. The Essential Pieces program successfully engaged employees throughout all levels of the organization and resulted in achieving business goals related to revenue, customer satisfaction, employee turnover, and cost control.

Brian Koenig, senior vice president of human resources for Scientific Atlanta, A Cisco Company, was selected to receive CTHRA’s Leadership and Excellence Award for his role in strategically addressing numerous complex human resources issues related to Cisco’s acquisition of Scientific Atlanta, Inc. Koenig’s leadership helped the two organizations navigate distinctly different corporate cultures, organizational structures, compensation and benefit packages. A key factor in the success is attributed to the collaboration between the organization and a comprehensive communication program with employees. While many companies struggle through an acquisition, Scientific Atlanta maintained its low employee turnover rate and achieved a 30 percent year-over-year growth increase. He is a former past president of CTHRA and has served on our board of directors for 10 years.

“The caliber of CTHRA’s inaugural award recipients sets a very high standard for future candidates. Brian Koenig and Cox Orange County-Palos Verdes epitomize excellence,” shared Pam Williams, CTHRA’s executive director.

All members are encouraged to join us to celebrate the achievements of our award recipients. Both honorees will be formally presented with their awards during a special luncheon on October 23 in Atlanta during CTHRA’s Achieving HR Excellence Symposium. The luncheon is free for registered symposium attendees, so register today! Also, be on the lookout for a special feature of the winners in an October issue of Multichannel News.