SAS is excited to announce the winners of the 2023 Customer Recognition Awards. We want to give a big “thank you” and round of applause to all our SAS customers and partners around the globe who help us change the world through analytics. Below we recognize the winners in each category for their stand-out contributions over the past year. Please see our Customer Recognition Awards eBook for more information on each winner.
Awards from Customer-Submitted Entries
Community Uplift Award
Awarded to a SAS customer who made an impact in their community at large using SAS products.
1st Place Winner: Gilead Sciences, United States
2nd Place Winner: BioMerieux, United States
3rd Place Winner: 180.works + Notilyze, The Netherlands
Curious Thinker
Awarded to a SAS customer who embodies curiosity, one of SAS’ guiding principles.
1st Place Winner: Simru Delen Ípek, Istanbul Airport, Türkiye
2nd Place Winner: Gül ğir Aydin, Hopi, Türkiye
3rd Place Winner: Daniel Wanjiru, ICON, Kenya
Distinguished Partner
Awarded to a SAS Partner whose actions exceeded the customer’s expectations. This Partner went above and beyond their duties and was essential to the customer’s success.
1st Place Winner: Linktera, Türkiye
2nd Place Winner: Timestamp, Portugal
3rd Place Winner: Partner Republic, Türkiye
Innovative Problem Solver
Awarded to a SAS customer who uses SAS in innovative ways to solve a business problem.
1st Place Winner: QNB Finansbank, Türkiye
2nd Place Winner: Brooks Rehabilitation, United States
3rd Place Winner: Optum Serve, United States
Professional Growth Award
Awarded to a SAS customer who uses SAS resources for personal professional development or for developing their team.
1st Place Winner: Virgin Money, United Kingdom
2nd Place Winner: Canada Revenue Agency, Canada
3rd Place Winner: Mercury Financial, United States
ROI Rock Star
Awarded to a SAS customer demonstrating the greatest business benefit and return on investment (ROI) using SAS products.
1st Place Winner: Migros, Türkiye
2nd Place Winner: Mediclinic, South Africa
3rd Place Winner: Hopi, Türkiye
Rookie of the Year
Awarded to a new SAS customer (within the last five years) that is using SAS to make a positive impact on their organization.
1st Place Winner: Migros, Türkiye
2nd Place Winner: Taurex Drill Bits, United States
3rd Place Winner: Hopi, Türkiye
SAS Analytics Explorers Advocate
Awarded to a SAS customer who is using the SAS Analytics Explorers program to grow their skills, career and/or network..
1st Place Winner: Markus Weick, EY ifb, Germany
2nd Place Winner: Tarik Arayi, Türkiye
Visual Storyteller
Awarded to a SAS customer who has mastered the art of using data visualizations to help educate their company and tell a story about their data.
1st Place Winner: Satya Ly, Blue Shield of California, United States
2nd Place Winner: Utkan Menteş, Yildiz Tech, Türkiye
3rd Place Winner: Trine Storjord, University Hospital of North Norway, Norway
Awards Selected by SAS
SAS Customer Impact Award – Public Sector
Awarded to a public sector customer who has had the most impact through a willingness to share their analytics journey, successes and lessons learned with others.
Winner: North Carolina Department of Insurance, United States
The North Carolina Department of Insurance Criminal Investigation Division partnered with the North Carolina Government Data Analytics Center and SAS to build the Insurance Crimes Investigation System (ICIS). ICIS went live in 2020 and allows the DOI to better detect fraud and track investigations from intake through prosecution. As a leader in this space, the NC DOI has tirelessly shared their experience, knowledge and best practices with other government agencies as well as private sector entities over the last year in many different ways, including in person meetings and presentations, phone calls, e-books, and insurance and government publications. We would like to recognize Marty Sumner and Chet Effler for the impact they’ve had with their willingness to share the successes of the ICIS to better the investigative community and for the NC Department of Insurance’s partnership with SAS.
SAS Customer Impact Award – Private Sector
Awarded to a private sector customer who has had the most impact through a willingness to share their analytics journey, successes and lessons learned with others.
Winner: Ulta Beauty, United States
Ulta Beauty has been a SAS advocate since January 2020, when they first partnered with SAS to share their experience with other retailers at the National Retail Federation conference. They have shared their voice consistently since then. Just since last summer, they have partnered with SAS to create a customer success story including a video testimonial of the success they’ve had using SAS Customer Intelligence 360 and the strength of our partnership. They’ve participated in multiple speaking engagements – SAS events, third-party events and podcasts. At SAS Innovate this May, Kelly Mahoney spoke in three separate sessions – Customer Intelligence Connections, a Retail Industry breakout and on the main stage for closing session. They are quoted in press releases, participated in calls with other customers and prospects, and are highlighted in a wide variety of other marketing assets and publications. The entire team from Ulta Beauty contributes to the success of our partnership. In particular, we recognize Kelly Mahoney and Melissa Berscheid for lending their voice to positively impact others in this space. We appreciate all you do for SAS!
SAS Support Community Hero
Awarded to a customer that goes above and beyond helping other users on the SAS Support Community.
Winner: Tom Abernathy, Pfizer Inc., United States
Tom is a long-standing member of the SAS Support Communities and has served seven terms as a community Super User. He consistently provides help and guidance to community members and is a welcoming presence in the community. He authored more than 520 solutions last year and published over 2,700 replies – an average of eight posts per day for the past year! SAS users around the world benefit from his knowledge and benevolence. We appreciate all you do, Tom.
Regional Users Group MVP
Awarded to a Regional Users Group leader demonstrating a dedicated passion for the success of user group members.
Winner: Quentin McMullen, President and Steering Committee Manager for the Boston Area SAS Users Group, Siemens Healthineers, United States
Quentin McMullen is a 20-year SAS veteran who has spent years planning and presenting at users group meetings (anyone remember NESUG?). In addition to his work with BASUG, Quentin lends his time and experience by providing best practices and guidance to other users group leaders looking to establish (or re-establish) their events. He is also a supporter of all users groups, as he can be found promoting events from across North America. We appreciate all you do for SAS users, Quentin!
User Feedback Award
Awarded to a customer who provides valuable feedback on SAS products and has been an essential reference for product improvements.
Winner: Lewis Lee, REA Group, Australia
Lewis has made a huge contribution to the enhancements of SAS 360 Match (formerly called SAS Intelligent Advertising). Lewis stayed in constant communication with the SAS Customer Success and R&D teams, to discuss the improvements and supportability of features of SAS 360 Match. These improvements were centered on the feature requests and business needs that REA Group came up with through their use of the product. I’m happy to report that we’ve added a number of new features based on Lewis’ feedback. Thank you, Lewis. You make SAS better! Congratulations!
Valuable Voice Award
Awarded to a customer who has consistently engaged in our Inner Circle Surveys over the last year and provided valuable feedback on our products and services.
Winner: Dave Oesper, Land’s End, United States
Dave filled out the SAS Global Customer Satisfaction Survey three times (2018, 2020, 2022) and is very active with our Inner Circle Surveys (most recently on March 27, 2023). He is a level 7 in communities and is a member on the new Inner Circle community. Also, he is active on sas.com and is a SAS Analytics Explorers member. Thank you for all your valuable feedback, Dave!
