[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 21, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E791-E792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE 2021 EXCELLENCE IN SALES HONOREES PRESENTED BY THE 
        INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2021

  Mr. CONNOLLY. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the 2021 recipients 
of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Woman in Sales Leadership Award, 
IES Member of the Year, and the Rising Star Award presented by the 
Institute for Excellence in Sales & Business Development (IES).
  IES was created to foster excellence in business sales and 
development practices and to help sales professionals and organizations 
maximize their efforts. IES conducts a variety of workshops and 
programs designed to provide the knowledge and tools necessary to 
advance the careers and growth of those who attend. Each year, IES 
recognizes individuals, teams, and organizations throughout the

[[Page E792]]

United States who demonstrate exemplary performance through leadership, 
risk taking, innovation, vision, and customer development.
  The Sales Excellence awards seek to promote and advance corporate and 
organizational sales excellence by recognizing organizations that have 
demonstrated outstanding leadership and strategic vision in Enterprise 
Sales. These honorees will each respectfully fall into the award 
categories of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Woman in Sales 
Leadership Award, the Member of the Year Award, and the Rising Star 
Award.
  The recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award is Ms. Toni 
Townes-Whitley, President, U.S. Regulated Industries, Microsoft. As 
president of U.S. Regulated Industries at Microsoft, Toni Townes-
Whitley leads the U.S. sales strategy for driving digital 
transformation across customers and partners within the public sector 
and commercial regulated industries. Her organization is responsible 
for executing on Microsoft's industry strategy and go-to-market for 
both public sector and regulated industries in the United States, 
including Education, Financial Services, Government, and Healthcare. In 
addition to leading a sales organization, Townes-Whitley is helping to 
steer the company's work to address systemic racial injustice.
  The recipient of the 5th Annual Women in Sales Executive Leadership 
Award is Ms. Courtney S. Bromley. Courtney S. Bromley has been with IBM 
for 31 years serving federal, state and local government agencies. In 
her current role she manages all the Federal Government (non-DOD/Intel) 
as well as the State and Local Government and Education markets across 
the United States as part of IBM's U.S. Federal and Public Sector 
Market. Her business units are responsible for IBM's cross brand 
execution with all the Federal, State and Local Agencies and 
Educational institutions including all IBM lines of business--hardware, 
software and services.
  John Asher is the IES Member of the Year. John is the CEO of ASHER 
Strategies, a preeminent sales and marketing advisory services company. 
His team has trained more than 80,000 executives, salespeople and other 
customer facing managers in 22 developed countries over the past 19 
years. His team has advised a number of Global Fortune 5000 companies 
including Goldman Sachs, General Dynamics, Alibaba, China Mobile and 
1400 other small and medium sized companies. John is a graduate of 
United States Naval Academy with degrees in mathematics and nuclear 
engineering.
  Veronica Poissant is the recipient of the IES Jay Nussbaum Rising 
Sales Star Award. Veronica Poissant is a Director of Inside Sales for 
the North American Public Sector at Red Hat, the world's leading 
provider of enterprise open source solutions. During her 12-year tenure 
at Red Hat, she has directly contributed to the strategic development 
of the public sector inside sales organization which has grown in size 
and scope by 500 percent.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Toni 
Townes-Whitley, Courtney S. Bromley, Veronica Poissant, and John Asher 
for their exceptional dedication and leadership within the business 
community.

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