SMART awarded Canada’s 50 Best Platinum Club distinction
SMART honored for exceptional growth, global commercial success and sound management
CALGARY, Alberta --- December 14, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces it has requalified for Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies Platinum Club for its continued excellence and leadership in all areas of business practices. This prestigious national award, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking, the National Post and Queen's School of Business, recognizes outstanding Canadian companies that have qualified in the 50 Best program for at least six consecutive years. Before being inducted into the Platinum Club in 2004, SMART was awarded the 50 Best distinction for seven consecutive years. All 50 Best companies are evaluated on how they manage key challenges such as new technology adoption, globalization, branding, leveraging and developing core competencies, facilitating growth, and managing the new generation of people entering the labor market. Thirty-one elite companies across Canada have been awarded Platinum Club membership this year. The honored companies will be recognized at a ceremony on February 6, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario.
Since winning its first 50 Best award in 1996, SMART has introduced more than 225 new and upgraded products domestically and internationally – increasing its overall sales by 1,971 percent. Today, with a growing team of more than 700 employees, SMART is a strong Canadian company with headquarters in Calgary and plant operations in Ottawa. As a result of strong global demand for SMART products, the company has also opened offices in Bonn, Tokyo, New York City and Washington DC. SMART is the global market leader in interactive whiteboards, with a growing installed base of more than 250,000 units (as of January 2005) – more than any other interactive whiteboard manufacturer in the world. SMART has sustained a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent over 10 years and currently sells its products through resellers in more than 75 countries worldwide. Earlier this month, SMART was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Canada Export Award from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
“The renewal of our 50 Best Managed Companies Platinum Club designation is a testament to SMART’s clear vision, teamwork and world-class products,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “As a Canadian company, we’re proud to be leading the global interactive whiteboard market.”
About Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies
Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies is a national awards program recognizing the 50 best managed businesses from a wide range of industries that have implemented world-class best business practices. Established in 1993, the program recognizes 50 well-managed Canadian companies based on a rigorous and wide-ranging interview process designed to assess and examine its management practices. Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program also recognizes Platinum Club companies that have qualified for the 50 Best program for the past six consecutive years. National sponsors of the program are Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking, the National Post and Queen's School of Business. Information about Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies is available online at www.canadas50best.com.
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For more information, contact
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 – 11th Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
403.802.2595
pr@smarttech.com
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.