2008 Crystal Service Award Winners
The Greenway Plaza Crystal Service Award is given for consistent excellence in job performance, creative or innovative approaches or ideas that lead to higher standards of customer service or extraordinary results in other areas as measured by standards applying to employees in the immediate peer group. Recipients of the Crystal Service Award automatically become candidates for Greenway Plaza's Employee of the Year Award.

2008 Employee of the Year

William "Billy" Sams, Senior Property Manager
Billy received the award at an All Team breakfast on February 19 that was held at the Houston City Club.

Billy Sams was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in February of 2008 by fellow employee, Connie Huckins. Billy is a dedicated, knowledgeable and professional employee. He is always willing to go the extra mile. While performing his normal duties Billy was tasked with the construction of a new office for the Phase II management team that had a deadline of 3 weeks. Not only did Billy complete this task for a seamless move but he also provided some innovative ideas that provided both cost and time savings to the project. Not only did he complete the office move providing each employee with the workspace that was needed but the old office space was also completed for the new tenant move in. Billy went above and beyond the call of duty working many long hours to get these two projects completed on time and to everyone's satisfaction.

Kenneth Bracewell, Chief Building Engineer

Kenneth Bracewell was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in May of 2008 by his supervisor, Kevin Saul, for his initiative in reviewing the HVAC system procedures and putting methods in place to reducing Kilowatt hour consumption by 8% and gross ton hour consumption by 15% over the previous year. Kenneth made changes in the HVAC time schedules, fine tuned the control valves, and reevaluated the long term overtime air programming of the buildings. These steps provided cost savings of $127,348 in KWH and $189,857 in ton hours even thought here was a 1% increase in building occupancy. Kenneth is an outstanding team member who is extremely knowledgeable in his field and is an asset to the Greenway Plaza team.

Dani Garcia, Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Property Management

Dani Garcia was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in April of 2008 by co-worker Tammee Garcia (no relation) for exhibiting excellence in job performance and for going above and beyond the call of duty when taking over the marketing and customer relations responsibilities along with her own after the Marketing Coordinator moved to Shanghai, China. She also took on additional responsibilities when a staff member was encountering some health issues. Dani managed to juggle her job and two other areas as a part time student and mother of a two-year old. She is a model employee who is meticulous in everything she does. She is ever ready and willing to help and always does it with a smile and the grace of a professional. Dani is a great asset to the Greenway Plaza team.

Donna Ross, Administrative Assistant to the General Manager of Phase I

Donna Ross was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in April of 2008 by fellow employee, Krys Givens for her team work and exuberant spirit. She always steps up to the plate to make sure that the team can reach its goals by providing assistance wherever needed. Most recently she provided immeasurable assistance by taking on additional responsibilities during a transition of personnel at Greenway while continuing to perform her job responsibilities in the same professional and thorough manner as always. Donna is a model of customer service striving to provide the best possible service to both customers and Crescent employees. She is an asset to the Greenway Plaza team.

Shellie Moore, Property Accountant, Phase I

Shellie Moore was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in March of 2008 by her Supervisor, Lisa McMillen, for her excellence in teamwork when assisting the Phase II Accounting Department through a transition of personnel. Shellie is not only a team player who is always ready to help but she is extremely knowledgeable in her field and a great source of information related to accounting policy and procedures. She is thorough and conscientious about the end product. Though Shellie spends a lot of time assisting others she always meets her deadlines. Shellie's knowledge, teamwork and enthusiasm make her a tremendous asset to the Greenway Plaza team.

Kevin Saul, Sr. Chief Building Engineer

Kevin Saul was nominated in March by Bob Carlen, Vice president of Property Management for being an extraordinary employee. Kevin is not only one of the most knowledgeable people in his field but is also a strong leader who is dedicated to his team and to Greenway Plaza. Over the years Kevin has instituted several programs that have saved Greenway Plaza thousands of dollars. Kevin came up with a lighting project idea for the garage which was completed in March 2008 that provides better lighting and lower electricity usage with a potential cost savings of $100,000+. Beside being pro-active and creative with cost savings ideas Kevin has proved himself to be a terrific manager of people. Last year Kevin was tasked with combining the engineers from both Phases into one engineering group. He realigned the engineering staff which has proven to be a great success. He also instituted a cross-training program that enables each of the engineers to become completely familiar with all areas of Greenway Plaza. Kevin is an all around model employee with outstanding integrity and work ethics. He is well liked among his peers and co-workers and is a great asset to Greenway Plaza.

Pete Gonzales & Steve Carlson

Pete Gonzales and Steve Carlson were nominated for the Crystal Service Award by Kevin Saul, the Senior Chief Engineer over Building Engineers for their professionalism, actions and team work related to a fire that occurred in one of the food service areas of The Shops at Greenway Plaza. The fire occurred at 11:30 PM on Saturday, September 6 of 2008. Security called Mr. Saul to advise him of the fire and at the time could not provide details. As he made his way to Greenway Plaza Kevin called the Central Plant and spoke to Steve Carlson who advised him that he and Pete Gonzales were on duty and that Pete was on site at the fire. Steve contacted Pete and had him call Kevin to provide him with the details. Pete not only provided the details that were needed, he also assisted the Fire Department in keeping damage to the property to a minimum. Pete was able to shut off the sprinklers after the fire and divert the water to the loading dock instead of into the 5 Greenway Plaza building. Additionally, Steve Carlson called Kevin every 5 minutes as he was making his way in to let him know the status and passed information back and forth between Kevin and Pete. Steve Carlson and Pete Gonzales established a line of communication with Mr. Saul so that they were able to work as a team to minimize the damage.

James Bell

James Bell was nominated for the Crystal Service Award I October of 2008 by Don deGregorio a Central Plant Engineer. In his nomination Don stated that over the years James has spent many hours on property for various emergencies including Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Rita, a major power outage in Phase II and the latest being Hurricane Ike. His knowledge and diligence, helped speed up repairs and keep the property/buildings down time to a minimum during these emergencies. James was also involved in the ION Meter project where he spent many hours wiring and programming the meters for operation which was a preventive maintenance project that will provide energy cost control that will provide savings for the property. James has implemented and overseen many capital projects that have transformed the Central Plant into a much more efficient asset. He is a strong leader with exceptional skill and knowledge in the field of engineering. He is a man of integrity and has a strong work ethic. He strives for perfection which carries over to all of his team members.

Jeff Williams

Jeff Williams was nominated for the Crystal Service Award in October 2008 by fellow Central Plant Engineer, Don DeGregorio. Don stated that Jeff handles himself professionally at all times and is knowledgeable and extremely resourceful in performing his responsibilities. Jeff leads the maintenance crew at the Central Plant. Any in house repairs of plant equipment that is performed saves the company thousands of dollars and keeps the down time of plant equipment to a minimum. Jeff always has a positive attitude and has been more than willing to go above and beyond any task that is asked of him. His positive attitude is reflected in his willingness to assist team members, customers and outside contractors. He is always looking for ways to improve the standard for job quality and customer care with his attention to details.

David MacLeod

David MacLeod was nominated for the Crystal Service Award by his supervisor Greg Autry, Senior Security Manager at Greenway Plaza for his professionalism, team work, attitude, knowledge, skills, and for going above and beyond the call of duty. David was hired at Greenway in April of 2008 as Assistant Security Manager. Within a month of his hire the Access Control Administrator announced her resignation. David was able to learn the complicated access system and the procedures associated with the operation of the system within two weeks time.

Not long after, the Security Manager also left. At that time, David ran the entire security operation for approximately two months, including supervision of the contract security provider and the duties of the access control administrator. During this period he evaluated the upgrade of Greenway Plaza’s video recording system. After looking at the original course the project was taking, he re-evaluated the options and through tough negotiating was able to not only upgrade the video recording to digital but also upgrade the current dispatch console under the same budget. David is an invaluable asset to Greenway Plaza.