Since CANA's beginning, we have lauded high performance within our company. In our initial off-sites in earlier years, we made a point to recognize the superlative efforts of team members who made extraordinary contributions in person. These were the people on the team doing the work that gave you goosebumps. Recently, we created the CANA Excellence Award to recognize incredible CANAers and their efforts.
The award is, first, recognition, and second, a cash gift in two parts. The awardee receives a portion, and an equal amount is given as a contribution to a non-profit or charitable organization of that awardee's choice. This aligns with our ethos, why statement, vision, and values. We’re not just in the CANA business for ourselves but also for our team, our clients, and our communities. We're proud to announce this year's CANA Excellence Award recipients, whom we recognized at our in-person offsite in Airlie in Warrington, Virginia, are CANA Graphic Artist Koa Beam and CANA Principal Program Manager Kolleen Young.
CANA’s first awardee is Koa Beam. Koa works tirelessly and is always available to our entire team. Koa’s "above and beyond" work demonstrates his dedication to CANA, including last summer, when he worked through the night to deliver to one of our clients. Koa took a tremendous variety of media and information provided by numerous stakeholders and created an exceptional narrated video for the client’s use and distribution. His ability to adapt to last-minute changes and direction ensured the video perfectly met expectations in the short timeframe needed.
During the CANA Fall Wellness Challenge, we requested Koa's expertise to create an interactive map showing each CANA team's progress during the several-month event. He created this map and all of the banners, backgrounds, and animations, greatly enhancing the experience.
Everyone on the CANA team can speak to Koa's artistic talent, attention to detail, and willingness to jump in to do whatever is asked. He is a dedicated team member and is appreciated by all. This March, Koa celebrated his 9th year with CANA! His dedication and talents make him well deserving of the CANA Excellence Award. Koa decided to make his cash donation to the Community Arts Center of Cambria County!
Our second awardee is Kolleen Young. Our team has consistently praised Kolleen's leadership, and her colleagues describe her as exceptionally skilled at keeping the team engaged, informed, and focused on achieving project goals. Kolleen has demonstrably exceeded expectations by excelling in dual roles on her projects. She functioned as the Project Leader and Logistics Subject Matter Expert (SME), leveraging her expertise to significantly improve data accuracy and enhance the customer's experience with CANA.
Her dedication and commitment to CANA these past four years are also evident in her responsiveness to the customer, her communication back to the team, and her consistent management of activities to keep a laser focus on contractual delivery and exceeding customer expectations. Kolleen’s exceptional leadership and technical skills make her a highly deserving recipient of the CANA Excellence Award. Kolleen decided to make her charitable donation to the Blessing Bags Project!
Not only did Kolleen receive the CANA Excellence award at our off-site, but she was also recently promoted from Project Manager/Senior Logistics Analyst to Principal Program Manager! Congratulations, Kolleen, well deserved.