“We have such a great team here at Liberty – it’s truly amazing. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to settle on winners for these annual awards because so many have done such a great job and brought so much of themselves and their passion and energy into the company this year,” said Liberty’s founder and chairman, Bill Johnson, about choosing this year’s Liberty culture and leadership awards.
During the (first ever virtual!) The Annual Awards ceremony, Johnson made sure to point out what a challenging year 2020 has been, while also making the point of how proud he is of everyone for overcoming so many obstacles to make 2020 one of Liberty’s best years to date. Part of that is due to Liberty’s ability to provide a unique and beneficial work-life balance before, during, and after quarantine, but the much larger part is due to all of the wonderful colleagues that have worked hard to make 2020 an energetic, positive, and successful year!
Liberty Award Winners
Rookie of the Year: Jacob Kiley
CEO Spotlight: Carmen Orsini & Tony Oertel
Passion Award: DJ McKenna
Mr. Wonderful: Tom Moody
Industry Newcomer of the Year: Matt Moran
Innovation Award: Tony McIntosh
Spirit of Captain Liberty: Tracey Appling
Good Vibes: Maria Reyes
Core Value Awards
Integrity: Jeff Shibata
Excellence: Michelle Cassidy & Andrea Barrios
Caring: Elizabeth de la Fuente
Kindness: Melissa Silvera
Fairness: Kimaili Davis
Teamwork: Operations Team (OPS/HR/IT); Cheri Amaro, Roy Caswell, Jay Verma, Melissa Merrick, Shelley Werfelmann, Heather Zuckerman, Aida Dutra, Dominique Sebastians, Rachel Ortega, Madelyn Ovsepyan
Good Feelings: Sanjay Mehta
Fun: Kip Tryon
Regional Awards
Employee of the Year Novato: Tony Oertal
Employee of the Year Orange: Eddie Dowling
Employee of the Year Irvine: Kathleen Panganiban
Employee of the Year Los Angeles: Christine Wigginton
Employee of the Year San Jose: Monica Escobedo
Employee of the Year Ft. Lauderdale: Carmen Orsini
Leadership Awards
Manager of the Year: Gina Gardner
Producer of the Year: Roger Hechema
Employee of the Year: Adam Baillie
Looking Toward the New Year
As Liberty looks forward to the new year, new goals, new challenges, and new growth, we reflect on our eight core values – Integrity, Excellence, Caring, Kindness, Fairness, Teamwork, Good Feelings, and Fun – and our mission statement: Promoting Peace of Mind with Great Care. Liberty is extremely grateful and proud of everyone in the Liberty Family for accomplishing so much, and we are excited for what is to come in 2021!