Nora Senior was the winner of a Stevie Award for Best Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations Executive in The 2007 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. She is a member of the Distinguished Board of Judges and Advisors of The 2008 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Where did you spend your summer break?
China: Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong. We spent part of the time at the Olympics, which was a fantastic spectacle, and we saw Scottish track rider Chris Hoy win his three gold medals in the cycling events—brilliant!

What book are you currently reading?
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

What was the last movie you saw, and would you recommend it?
No Country for Old Men.  I would recommend it but did not think it lived up to its Oscar-winning reviews

What is your favorite sport or hobby?
Motorsport (Grand Prix).  My husband got me interested in it as he is an ex-racing driver. Also running, which I do a lot.

Who is your favorite historical figure?
Elizabeth I—a most able politician, and passionate about her people and her role.

Who is your favorite living person or persons?
My husband, Stuart; my son, Ryan; and my daughter, Caolan.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Lawyer.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work?
Not listening to people.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Creativity, dynamism, seeing things from a different perspective, integrity, and humor.

Is there anything you'd like to improve about your own work practices?
Having more time for learning, and spending more time with friends around the globe—a time-management problem perhaps??

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
Basically, I love what I do.  I get a real buzz from the variety of the work. It is both challenging and creative.  Every day there is a problem to solve, and every day we get great media hits for clients and build more advocates for their products and services.  There is always more to do, more new sectors to get involved in, new areas of learning, and new people to meet.

What do you consider has been your greatest achievement in business?
Being named Scottish Businesswoman of the Year in 2003, winning Consultancy of the Year for Weber Shandwick Scotland by our professional trade body CIPR, and being awarded a Stevie for Best Communications Organization in The 2008 International Business Awards.

What advice or useful tip would you give to someone who is just starting out in business?
Remove the word “can’t” from your vocabulary. Have a goal and go for it. Never be told by anyone that what you are trying to do is impossible. And surround yourself with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses. Oh—and get a good financial adviser you can trust.

About Nora Senior
Nora is a senior PR practitioner with over 20 years experience in media and marketing.  She is currently managing director in charge of Weber Shandwick’s Scottish operations and a member of the Weber Shandwick UK Management Board.  

Prior to that she was managing director of start-up company, The PR Centre, established by her in 1990.  This followed five years with Saatchi & Saatchi’s Scottish-based PR consultancy, Hall Associates, where she was also managing director.  Before that she was marketing manager in a UK construction company.

Nora’s experience covers the planning and implementation of corporate communications programs for UK and international organizations, focusing on image enhancement and profile-raising activities, and including economic development and large-scale government projects.  Her professional skills on client accounts include strategic counsel, reputation management, and crisis management.  She has significant expertise in planning and implementing media-relations programs for corporate clients, as well as start-up companies, across a wide range of sectors including property, finance, healthcare, technology, and FMCG.

Voted Scottish Businesswoman of the Year in 2003, she is vice chair of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, a board member of the National Trust for Scotland, chair of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Group, a member of the Regional Advisory Panel for the London Stock Exchange, a Member of Talbot Rice Advisory Board and a member of Women in Property. She was presented with a Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for services to the PR industry in 2006 and in November 2007 was recognized with a Stevie Award for Best Executive in a Service Business Company.

About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is one of the world's leading global public relations firms with offices in major media, business and government capitals around the world. The firm specializes in strategic marketing communications, media relations, public affairs, reputation management, and crisis and issues management. It also offers corporate communications counseling services. The firm provides specialized integrated services including Web relations, advocacy advertising, market research, and visual communications. Weber Shandwick received the highest client-satisfaction honors in the 2007 Agency Excellence Survey by PRWeek U.S. and in 2006 was named Large PR Firm of the Year (PR News U.S.), European Consultancy of the Year (The Holmes Report), and Network of the Year (Asia Pacific PR Awards). The firm also won the 2005, 2006, and 2007 United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations. To learn more, please visit www.webershandwick.com.

Based in Norcross, Georgia, LXE Inc. was awarded the Stevie Award for Best Customer Services Organization in the Computer Hardware & Software industries in the 2007 American Business Awards. Here we look at how this developer of mobile computing systems is winning over customers.

Famous for its born-rugged, not made-rugged mobile computers, LXE Inc. develops industrial wireless computing solutions that improve supply-chain performance. LXE also offers a full range of turnkey services including project coordination and wireless network design and installation.

Inside this tough company exterior beats the warm heart of LXE's service & support organization.

The management of LXE knows that outstanding service and support adds value to products. There are many companies that talk about excellent service and support, but very few companies that consistently deliver it. Says Bob Colvin, Manager, Field Services:  "It's our aim to help customers having problems with installations, whether they be related to LXE products or not."

ServicePass
To extend LXE's support leadership position, the company orchestrated the development and fielding of LXE's industry-leading service offering, ServicePass. This offers customers an additional safety net in the form of a contract.
ServicePass provides a convenient, cost-effective solution, bundling critical services and ensuring maximum performance, hassle-free maintenance, and consistent care for users of LXE equipment.

Says Colvin: "It's like an extended warranty on a car: it means there'll be no unpleasant surprises in your annual budget due to network problems."  For a single per unit-per-year price, ServicePass members receive unlimited access to technical support, depot repair, and other ServicePass services, with no annoying "nickel-and dime" charges.

ISO Certification
LXE obtained ISO 9001:2000 quality certification for its technical support to ensure that the proper processes, procedures, and metrics were in place to provide continuous improvements in customer satisfaction.

LXE’s US customer service organization is based in Norcross, Georgia, with field service engineers located nationwide. Support calls are answered in Norcross by a live person (no IVR) and are immediately addressed. If the issue cannot be resolved over the phone, a field service engineer is dispatched to the customer location.

The LXE Difference
Although this may sound like a standard structure for a customer-service organization, it is far from it. What sets LXE apart from the competition is that its service organization is not a profit center. Although LXE does charge for field services, operating outside of the profit center status allows for more flexibility when ownership of a problem is in question. The service organization is able to concentrate on customer satisfaction instead of the bottom line.  In this way, LXE is able to provide service to customers—whether they are ServicePass members or not—in ways other organizations cannot.

Following are two of many examples of LXE going above and beyond for its
customers:

Example 1: The Trucking Company
A large trucking company installed LXE’s mobile computers along with a non-LXE mobile computer management software package. The trucking company quickly realized it didn’t have the expertise in-house to effectively install and run the management application. Its software company was unable to appropriately assist, so it turned to LXE. LXE sent a field service engineer who had experience with the specific application. For a minimal charge he spent over a week onsite installing, configuring, and testing the management software. If LXE’s service organization had been a profit center, this would never have been possible. The customer was delighted with the experience.

Example 2: The Food Distributor
A food distributor purchased computers from LXE to run on a wireless backbone installed by another company. When the computers went live the system didn’t operate as expected. The customer assumed the problem was with LXE. Knowing that it was a network problem, LXE nonetheless sent a field service engineer to the site. The problem was, as expected, with the network. Even though it was not the problem’s source, LXE resolved the issue without thinking twice.

Fixing customer's faulty network installations is standard fare for LXE. These two examples represent a small sampling of LXE’s service organization’s commitment to going above and beyond. These service and support efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by customers. LXE recently finished its sixth year of record year-over-year revenues, and has won its fifth consecutive Mobile Star award for best customer service selected by readers of a leading online mobile-computing newsletter.

Key to Success
A key to LXE’s successful service program is a comprehensive set of service-oriented management metrics. LXE tracks, manages, and pays bonuses to its
service and support organization based on a broad range of metrics ranging
from on-time delivery to out-of-box acceptance, repair turnaround time, and
overall customer satisfaction.

About LXE Inc.
LXE Inc. improves supply chain performance by applying over 38 years' experience developing wireless products and solutions.  From rugged mobile computers, advanced auto-ID technologies, and secure wireless network infrastructure, to its award-winning customer support —LXE’s easy-to-use products are as reliable as the people who install and support them.

Based in Norcross, Georgia, LXE offers a full range of turnkey services, including radio integration, project and installation management, network design, technical support, and repair services. LXE is a wholly owned subsidiary of EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG), and has offices worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.lxe.com.

About EMS Technologies, Inc.
EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG) is a wireless and satellite solutions leader serving the aeronautical, defense, maritime, commercial space, and supply chain markets. Through its LXE, EMS SATCOM, and Defense & Space Systems divisions, EMS keeps people and their data connected, wherever they are—on the ground, in the warehouse, in the sky, or in space.  Headquartered in Atlanta, EMS employs approximately 1,000 people worldwide and operates major manufacturing facilities in Atlanta and Ottawa, Canada. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ems-t.com.

Blogs, or web logs, are all the rage these days. Each month in this space we'll point you to several blogs that we think might be of interest to you.

Curbed: Worried about the value of your property? Check out the latest info at this NYC real estate blog (also links to Curbed LA and Curbed SF).
The Expertise Marketplace : Perspectives on marketing in the professional services sector.
Espresso Pundit : Political blog by Arizona Republican Greg Patterson, who in 2001 became Director of the Arizona Competitive Power Alliance.
Juke Box : A great site for Golden Oldie music fans.