Credera Introduces Annual Cornerstone Award

Credera Team

Credera Introduces Annual Cornerstone Award

Every year in Credera’s history, we’ve recognized one outstanding employee with our annual Living the Core Values Award. This award was presented to a Credera employee who exemplified the firm’s core values.

In November 2021, Credera reimagined the single Core Values Award to the six Cornerstone Awards. This allows us to celebrate more Credera employees and highlight the core values more frequently throughout the year. Each of the firm’s five core values (people first, tenacity, integrity, excellence, and humility) have an individual winner along with the one overall Cornerstone winner.

Credera’s core values define who we are, what we stand for, and how we do business. They are embedded in the DNA of our company culture, and we love celebrating our people who bring these values to life.

We are excited to announce the following as our first Cornerstone Award winners!

People First: Kathryn Thompson, Senior Manager, Dallas
Tenacity: Hannah Seliskar, Manager, Dallas
Integrity: Nickoria Johnson, Chief Diversity Officer, Dallas
Excellence: Callie Teeter, Manager, Houston
Humility: Peter Yobo, Principal, Atlanta
Overall Cornerstone Award: Emily Crawford, Manager, Dallas

The following are several excerpts from peer nominations that highlight why each of these individuals won their respective awards.

Credera’s 2021 Cornerstone Awards Winners

Overall Cornerstone Winner: Emily Crawford

The core values are our cornerstone.

“Emily goes above and beyond every time and grits her teeth to get the job done, while caring for her team as she does it. She owns strategy on her projects, coaches people well, and thrives in the day-to-day grind of execution. [Emily] Crawford absolutely displays tenacity, grit, hustle, and excellence.”

“You can tell Emily cares more about the person than the work. The great thing is the work doesn't suffer at all by this, in fact the opposite. Because she invests in her team, she enables everyone to do better work while also having fun, learning, and being a part of a family.”

“Emily has shown humility in every conversation I have had with her. She will always give credit to her team and doesn't seek attention for the great things she does, she is truly servant hearted and leads by example.”

People First: Kathryn Thompson

What ‘people first’ means: We treat each person with value and care. We are kind with our words and actions, seeking understanding, so that everyone is authentically known. Individual differences bring strength.

“Kathryn embodies our people first core value in everything she does. This is particularly seen in how she approaches staffing for the Management Consulting Practice. Kathryn goes above and beyond to know as many personal details about our teammates as she can, including their prior client experiences, career goals, personal preferences, development needs, etc. She understands each client assignment is an integral part of someone's experience at Credera as well as their own career progression. She therefore approaches staffing with a great level of respect and excellence.”

“Kathryn leads staffing efforts for the Management Consulting cohort and is always seeking to staff individuals on projects consistent with their career goals and skillsets. There are many ways she could lower her workload by cutting corners in this process, but she takes on the extra work and is diligent to ensure team members are staffed on work they will enjoy and be able to succeed in.”

Tenacity: Hannah Seliskar

What ‘tenacity’ means: We're focused on driving a program from strategy to successful completion. We address obstacles head-on with grit, curiosity, and a deep drive to make an impact.

“When it comes to the word tenacity, I cannot think of anyone who embodies this quality more than Hannah. As the campus recruiting manager she has completely reimagined, restructured, and rebuilt the campus recruiting program in only a year and a half. She is consistently thinking about the future of the program and the people she manages to ensure we are all moving toward positive growth and change. This season the campus team saw a 40% increase in campus hiring goals and in just the fall season, under Hannah's fearless leadership, we were able to achieve or exceed almost all of our goals. In addition to building out the campus recruiting program, Hannah is consistently looking for ways to improve what she has built season over season and never moves away from taking on new challenges.”

“Hannah is one of the most driven, determined, smart, and efficient people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She embodies Credera’s core values of tenacity and people first and I'm very grateful for her hard work to ensure the success of the campus program and her team members.”

Integrity: Nickoria Johnson

What ‘integrity' means: We seek honesty and consistency with what we say and pledge our integrity with our actions. We do the right thing, even when no one is watching and no matter the cost.

“Nickoria has exhibited honesty and vulnerability in telling her story, and I cannot overstate how valuable that honesty is. I think it is eye-opening for those who have not experienced anything like her story, and it is comforting to others to know that many paths have led to Credera.”

“Whether it's championing individuals in candid conversations with practice leaders, challenging how much we're investing into programming in budget considerations, or formal discussions with partners in a two-day DE&I Summit on topics like pay transparency, recruiting, learning and development, and globalization, Nickoria is not only having those conversations but is actively creating spaces for others to do the same.”

Excellence: Callie Teeter

What ‘excellence' means: We never try to "sell" a client on a perfect plan or solution, there’s no such thing. But we do take time to understand the real-world issues and apply our experience to achieve remarkable results.

“Callie Teeter's impact in her first year in her operations team role has been tremendous and that is in large part due to the fact that she exemplifies all of our core values so well.”

“Callie goes above and beyond to make sure the job is done right—excellently. She doesn't settle for the easiest way and is driven to find the best way to do something. This enables Credera to continue to scale our communications through the different mechanisms she has put in place. I think Callie also shows humility in that she understands the nitty gritty of what it takes to get something done. She is willing to do what needs to be done and doesn't feel like things are ‘below’ her.”

Humility: Peter Yobo

What ‘humility' means: In every decision we consider our clients' and colleagues' interests as more important than our own. When we are wrong, we own our part, learn from our mistakes, and work to rebuild confidence and trust.

“Peter routinely places me in positions where I can excel and advance in my career, and he will never claim any credit despite his involvement. One such example is how he positioned me to be the craft area lead for our experience design and front-end development specialty. I have been able to grow our practice through revamping our interview process, and introducing a new quarterly learning series, which has bolstered both our team's headcount and our culture of excellence. However, our FED specialization has been recognized as the most profitable aspect of the practice, which is directly attributed to successful business development wins and extensions spearheaded by Peter—yet he never claims the credit he deserves as he will always be the first to redirect the success to another member of the team. I truly believe that Peter evaluates the success of his career based on the positive impact he has on those around him.”

“I like to refer to Peter as my personal ‘hype man.’ I have never in my career had a manager more motivating, encouraging, and supportive than him. His level of investment and interest in me as both a professional and a friend is beyond anything I could have ever asked for from a manager, and he sets an incredibly high bar for the type of leader I aspire to be. The outpouring of encouraging text messages, phone calls, and even meals he sent our way as my wife and I welcomed our first child to the world are just a few examples of how he routinely expresses how he cares about me as a person.”

Our Values Are Our Cornerstone

Credera’s five core values are the foundation, or cornerstone, of who we are. We strive to live these values every day in how we interact with clients, colleagues, and the community.

To our six winners, thank you for living out Credera’s core values. Your contribution to the team cannot be overstated. We are proud and immensely grateful to have you as members of the Credera family.

Interested in Working at Credera?

Are you seeking a career at a great workplace? We help both new and experienced professionals take the next bold step in their careers. If you are seeking a similar opportunity at a firm that truly lives out our values, we encourage you to check out our open opportunities.

To learn more about Credera, visit Our Firm page at Credera.com. Additionally, explore what our employees are saying candidly on Glassdoor.com.