Mike Donnelly Promoted to President of Hinda

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Hinda is excited to announce the promotion of Mike Donnelly to the position of President.  Formerly Executive Vice President/General Manager of Hinda, Donnelly’s promotion provides expanded leadership responsibilities covering all aspects of the business, including sales, marketing, product development, strategic direction, quality, operations, technology and program administration along with leading the efforts in helping Hinda’s partners and clients to achieve their goals with well developed and managed programs.

“I am incredibly proud to be leading the Hinda Incentives team, and I am excited about our future. We have an aggressive and value-based model that will continue to position us not only as a leader in the incentive/loyalty/engagement industry, but will ensure that we continue to realize joint success with our partners,” said Donnelly.

Donnelly joined Hinda Incentives in March 2014 after serving as a consultant for the company.  His career includes over 30 years in the marketing services and incentive and loyalty business. Prior roles include executive management and leadership positions with Donnelly Creative Partners, Maritz Rewards’ Motivation & Loyalty business units, and with InteliSpend, formerly American Express Incentive Services.

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Hinda Welcomes Mike Donnelly

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Hinda Incentives has announced the appointment of Michael J. Donnelly to the position of executive vice president and general manager. Donnelly reports to Brett Tharpe, president and chief executive officer for Hinda-TharpeRobbins. 

Donnelly most recently served as president and owner of Donnelly Creative Partners, Inc., where he provided consulting services to businesses, including full-service marketing and communications services. Previously, he served as an executive with Maritz Inc. There he held leadership positions with Maritz Rewards, Maritz Motivation Solutions and Maritz Loyalty Marketing.

“With Mike’s years of experience in the incentive, loyalty and marketing industries, we are honored to have him join our team,” says Brett Tharpe. “He comes to us with an extensive and diverse background and will work closely with the Hinda team to ensure that it continues to be the undisputed leader in the incentive and loyalty industry.”

"I am excited and eager to take this leadership role and work with a talented group of individuals,” says Donnelly. “We have tremendous opportunities ahead of us and I look forward to guiding this respected organization into the future."

Mike has received several industry honors including awards from the St. Louis Direct Marketing Association and the national Direct Marketing Association and he is a winner of the William E. Maritz Award from Maritz, Inc.

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Farewell to a Friend

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It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of a great friend. Dennis Driscoll, a longtime Hinda Partner and customer, passed away February 5, 2014, after a brief illness. He was surrounded by his family, who he loved so very much. 

Dennis was a professional to emulate. Know your topic, speak intelligently and with enthusiasm, be generous with your wisdom, teach younger generations and pay it forward.

In the words of Dennis himself, “The opportunity overwhelms the peril. Carpe Diem!” Dennis was a remarkable person and will be missed greatly. Godspeed, friend. Full obituary

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Hinda Welcomes Greg Whitacre on Board as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing

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Hinda Incentives is pleased to announce the hiring of Greg Whitacre as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During the past five years, Greg held sales leadership roles with Marriott International, Inc., most notably its Global Individual Incentives business.

Prior to Marriott, Greg amassed an impressive career in the incentive marketing/employee engagement industry, spending 13 years at Maritz and 10 years managing his own company, G-FORCE Incentives, Meetings and Events. His undergraduate degree and graduate studies were at Northern Illinois University while on a full football scholarship, followed by a graduate assistant coaching position.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Greg join our senior executive team,” says Dave Peer, President of Hinda Incentives. “He’s a tremendous leader who has a great passion for incentive marketing and employee engagement strategies. Hinda, as well as the whole industry, will benefit greatly from his experience, knowledge of the business and long-standing industry relations.”

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Superstorm Sandy, Safety Incentives and Spot Recognition

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Hurricane Sandy, the superstorm that pummeled the Northeast late last October, left an incredible wake of destruction in its path. From massive power outages to fires to flattened buildings, Sandy showed no mercy – but she did create a perfect opportunity for local safety and recovery professionals and emergency response teams to shine.

Incentive Magazine covers this topic in its January/February 2013 issue. “A Safe Recovery” by Andrea Doyle talks about how safety incentives played an important role in East Coast efforts to rebuild after Sandy. Hinda relationship manager Linda Wodele offered some insight on the importance of safety incentives, both with regard to Sandy and in other facets.

“The most successful safety incentive programs have successful safety habits at their core,” she says. “People are creatures of habit and fall back on what they know. If their habits are strong, they will hold up in a crisis situation such as Hurricane Sandy and the groundwork for working safely will be in place.

“We have seen an uptick of at least 15 to 20 percent in safety incentives in the last year,” she continues. “[Hinda’s] safety solutions take a behavioral approach to remind people to do the right thing on a daily basis.”

Reinforcing behavior is a great way to spread a culture of safety and instill safe habits within employees’ daily lives. An effective method for reinforcing behavior is with spot recognition – one example of which is Hinda’s “Scratch and Win” cards, which are pre-loaded with points that can be redeemed for merchandise.

“These types of awards are particularly popular as they encourage companies to take a preventative, day-to-day approach to safety,” Wodele says.

Michael Kelleher, Director of Sales and Operations for Kelleher Enterprises (Ann Arbor, MI), and a partner of Hinda, agrees and confirms the importance of having a culture of safety in place.

“The firms that have successful safety programs in place will be at an advantage because their employees will have safety protocol engrained in their daily work,” he says. “Safety incentive programs can effectively complement the training and communication programs that firms use to influence the behaviors of their employees while on the job.”

What does your company do to ensure a culture of safety among its employees? Does your company recognize its employees for following a high standard of safety protocol? Talk to Hinda if you’d like to learn more about how we can help establish a safety incentives program at your company, and read more about this topic here.

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