Centre of Excellence services
Providing tailored guidance on rewards budgeting, programme deployment, implementation and much more to ensure impactful employee experiences.
- Strategic guidance backed by experience leading global recognition programmes
- Deep product knowledge paired with benchmark-driven insights
- Focused solutions that deliver measurable business impact
- Support for every stage of the recognition journey
- Custom strategies aligned to business goals and scale
- Guidance across ROI, governance, communication and adoption
- Insights driven by industry research and client collaboration
- Programme design rooted in connection, growth, and evolution
- Access to a community of practitioners and proven best practices
meet our team
Leaders in strategy,
partners in success
With decades of global experience, the COE delivers tailored support in programme design, strategy and execution, building and optimising proven solutions that drive real results.
With over nine years of experience in SaaS and professional services, Cali Hyde brings strategic depth and business acumen to the Centre of Excellence. Currently Awardco’s Head of Strategic Sales, Cali has led enterprise sales, proposal strategy and global development across markets in both the U.S. and Europe. Her cross-functional leadership and passion for scalable, strategic solutions make her an essential voice in aligning COE initiatives with client needs and business growth.
With over nine years of experience in SaaS and professional services, Cali Hyde brings strategic depth and business acumen to the Centre of Excellence. Currently Awardco’s Head of Strategic Sales, Cali has led enterprise sales, proposal strategy, and global development across markets in both the US and Europe. Her cross-functional leadership and passion for scalable, strategic solutions make her an essential voice in aligning COE initiatives with client needs and business growth.
Chantale Callingham is Vice President of Client Success and leads Awardco’s Centre of Excellence, bringing 15+ years of experience in SaaS and enterprise strategy. A certified PMP and MBA, she’s known for people-first leadership, building inclusive global teams, and driving measurable impact. Chantale’s career includes roles at Fortune 500s and leading tech firms, always focused on transforming customer experiences. Passionate about equity, belonging, and innovation, she challenges the status quo and fosters strategic partnerships to scale meaningful workplace recognition and culture.
Christi is an Employee Experience executive with leadership roles at Qualcomm, Okta, and Cisco, bringing deep expertise in building and scaling global recognition programmes for organisations of 40,000+ employees. With hands-on experience across the full programme lifecycle—from business case development and securing executive buy-in to change management and successful launches—she understands the client perspective inside and out. Now consulting with Team Awardco, Christi serves as a practitioner resource, helping clients drive meaningful employee engagement and operational excellence through strategic recognition initiatives.
Katie Bundy brings deep strategic expertise to the Centre of Excellence after 17 years at J.P. Morgan, where she led initiatives across Sales, Finance and Employee Experience. She co-led the rollout of Awardco’s platform to 290,000+ global employees, boosting recognition satisfaction by 17%. Katie’s strength lies in aligning programme strategy with business needs through thoughtful design, change management and executive engagement—making her a key player in shaping scalable, effective client programmes.
A trusted expert in programme implementation and optimization, Laura Shanley has led Awardco initiatives from the client side and now consults for multiple organisations navigating complex launches. With hands-on experience from Okta, DocuSign and Qualcomm, Laura brings unmatched insight into the nuances of R&R vendors and platform design. Her ability to build scalable, efficient programmes on tight timelines makes her an essential partner in delivering client success through the COE.
Nick Frazier serves as Senior Director of Client Success and Operations for Awardco EMEA, bringing years of operational expertise and global leadership to the Centre of Excellence. With a background in human resource management, data analytics and a tenure of over seven years at Awardco, Nick has played a pivotal role in scaling service operations across regions. His strategic oversight and cross-functional insight into client success operations help the COE deliver scalable, sustainable processes that meet the evolving needs of a global customer base.
As Awardco’s Global COE Lead, Sarah Marrs combines academic insight with real-world experience to help clients create high-impact, evidence-based programmes. With nine years at Qualtrics leading EX strategy for global enterprises and a doctorate in Evidence-Based HR in progress, Sarah brings both credibility and creativity to every initiative. Her passion for organisational psychology and hands-on collaboration makes her a driving force behind the COE’s mission to elevate the employee experience at every stage.
As Director of Technical Account Services, ShaNae McCleskey brings cross-functional expertise in technical implementation, client management and operational delivery. With a background spanning enterprise rollouts, emergency services, education and wellbeing industries, ShaNae is uniquely equipped to manage complexity with precision and care. Her ability to lead with clarity and anticipate client needs makes her an invaluable resource to the COE—bridging strategy and execution for seamless, scalable outcomes.
Thought Leadership & Resources
Discover how to unlock your recognition potential
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How does the COE support implementation and change management?
Implementation and customer teams typically help configure the platform and move the project forward. The COE may complement that work with strategy guidance, best-practice resources, change-management materials, communication planning, manager enablement, or workshops, depending on the agreed scope.
Resources may include implementation or change-management playbooks, budget guidance, branding or communication considerations, training support, and examples that help program owners make decisions. Organizations can adapt these materials to their own workforce and internal processes.
A successful rollout still requires customer ownership of decisions, data, approvals, communications, manager participation, testing, and launch readiness.
Can the COE help with budgets and the business case?
Where supported, the COE can provide budget-planning guidance, examples of how organizations structure programs, and a framework for connecting investment decisions to the outcomes the organization wants to create.
A budget discussion may include where to use points or monetary rewards, where nonmonetary recognition may be appropriate, how to allocate budgets by program or employee group, how to start with a focused population, and how to plan for future expansion.
The COE can offer perspective and planning support, but the customer determines its budget, approval process, accounting treatment, tax position, and investment priorities. Budget examples are not guarantees, benchmarks, or recommendations for every organization.
Can the COE help design or redesign a recognition strategy?
Yes, where the engagement and scope support it. The COE can help organizations assess their current state, clarify objectives, identify employee moments and behaviors to recognize, define program principles, and prioritize an initial launch or redesign.
Strategy discussions may cover the role of monetary and nonmonetary recognition, manager and peer participation, service awards, onboarding, employee listening, incentives, global consistency, local flexibility, and how recognition should connect to the broader employee experience.
Organizations should leave the design process with clear decisions about audiences, eligibility, programs, budgets, ownership, communications, governance, success measures, and what will be deferred until a later phase.
What can the Centre of Excellence help organisations with?
Where supported and included in scope, the COE can help with program design, recognition strategy, budget best practices, stakeholder buy-in, change management, communication planning, manager enablement, adoption, and ongoing optimization.
Organizations may engage the COE when they are defining a new strategy, consolidating fragmented programs, moving from another provider, expanding globally, supporting a deskless workforce, adding new initiatives, or reviewing whether existing programs are producing the intended experience.
The guidance should be tailored to the organization’s workforce, culture, operating model, goals, systems, and current programs rather than copied as a universal template.
What is Awardco’s Centre of Excellence?
Awardco’s Center of Excellence is a group of strategic advisors, practitioners, consultants, and employee experience executives who help organizations think through recognition and rewards strategy.
The COE is designed to bring practical perspective to questions such as how to build a culture of recognition, how to structure programs, how to engage leaders and managers, how to plan a budget, and how to evaluate whether a strategy is working.
The COE complements the Awardco platform and customer teams. It does not replace the customer’s program owner, executive sponsor, HR or finance decision-makers, implementation team, or legal and tax advisors.
