Rideau = Educational Excellence

In 2009, Recognition Professionals International (RPI) developed a new recognition program to honor achievements and excellence in education. At each annual conference, an individual or corporation is recognized for their outstanding achievement in education.

I’m pleased to announce that Rideau received the Excellence in Education Award this year!

The citation read out at the conference stated, “Rideau received the award in recognition for the overwhelming ongoing commitment to education in the field of recognition and for their outstanding support of Recognition Professionals International.”

I’m so proud of Rideau’s educational efforts in the field of recognition. Almost 40 of my teammates are RPI Certified Recognition Professionals (CRP)! This is more than any other company in the world. It represents almost 16% of Rideau’s entire staff and almost 25% of all CRP graduates!

Rideau’s latest graduate is Jayanth Narayanan CRP who hails from Bangalore, India. Jayanth literally travelled half way around the world to become certified!

Two of my colleagues, Roy Saunderson CRP and Max Brown CRP from the Recognition Management Institute just finished taking an intensive two day course titled “Proving the Value of Recognition - Measuring the Application, Impact and Return on Investment for Recognition Programs/Projects.” This course was given by Dr. Jack Phillips of the ROI Institute.

We were also very fortunate to have Arne Carlson present when I received the award on behalf of my Rideau colleagues. Arne Carlson joined Rideau’s board in 2004 and serves as Vice Chairman. Arne was a two term Governor of Minnesota. I once asked Arne what his proudest accomplishment was as Minnesota’s Governor. He told me it was in the field of education where he created the nation's first K-12 school choice program and received awards for educational reform. Arne has supported all of Rideau’s educational efforts and it was a pleasure to have him and his lovely wife Susan on the podium with all my other colleagues when we received the award.

I truly believe Rideau’s educational efforts set us apart from other providers and it shows in the quality of our solutions, products and services we provide to our clients and the millions of recipients we honor.