The Admin Awards

And this evening's Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Jane Parker of athenahealth! Jane is the Executive Assistant to the Office of the CEO at athenahealth, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past five and a half years, of her 38-year career in the profession — a career that began, fittingly, in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, interviewing departing hotel guests and typing their feedback letters on an actual typewriter. No spell-check. No undo button. Just instincts she's been sharpening ever since. Chairman and CEO Bob Segert calls her the person “others turn to when they need someone who will get it right.” Jane is a trusted advisor not just to him but to athenahealth's board members and their own executive assistants as athenahealth EA community's de facto sponsor, pushing to open doors for admins pursuing growth. As Bob puts it: “She is the reason I can do my job with confidence, knowing that the people and details I depend on are in the best possible hands.” In Jane's own words: “administrative excellence is about more than managing a complicated calendar… it is about anticipating needs, building trust, exercising sound judgment, and making people feel welcomed, respected and supported.” Please join us in congratulating Jane Parker — the 2026 Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence winner!

We're excited to share the 2026 Leadership Award Winner at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region... Colleen Meader of Babson College! Colleen is the Executive Assistant to the President at Babson College, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past four years, arriving with more than a decade of administrative experience already in hand. Babson's President runs a college ranked #1 in entrepreneurship education by U.S. News & World Report for 29 consecutive years running, and he says Colleen doesn't just manage that agenda — she helps set it. Case in point: Colleen encountered the concept of calendar analytics at a professional conference, decided Babson needed one, and built a presidential calendar dashboard with IT that maps how the President spends his time against the college's strategic priorities each quarter. When the data revealed gaps, they made changes. She also keeps the President's Council's Critical Few Objectives Dashboard humming, translating institutional strategy into accountability the entire senior team can see. As President Spinelli puts it, “Colleen does not wait to be told what to do. She understands where we are trying to go, recognizes where she can contribute, and takes initiative. That is entrepreneurial leadership in practice.” High praise from the person literally in charge of teaching entrepreneurial leadership for a living. Please join us in congratulating Colleen Meader — the 2026 Leadership Award winner! Admins Run the World.™ #AdminAwards #AdminsRunTheWorld #ExecutiveAssistant #AdminProfessionals #Boston

And this evening's Strategic Partnership Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Holly Hudon of Concord Hospital Health System! Holly is the Senior Executive Assistant and Governing Board Liaison at Concord Hospital Health System, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past three years, of a 26-year career in the profession. Holly stepped into a role that had been held by one person for nearly three decades and, instead of tearing it up and starting over, took the time to understand why it worked before she started improving it. Concord's President and CEO, Robert Steigmeyer who she supports directly, says the two of them have built a partnership where Holly can “anticipate needs, identify dependencies, and move important initiatives forward with minimal direction” — trust built on shared context, not just delegation. Her signature project is CHHS's Achievement Letter, the document that translates the hospital system's entire strategic plan into annual accountability for its leadership and Board — and Holly is the one person who can see every moving piece of it at once. She also redesigned how the system's Executive Assistants work, building a matrix team model that let admins keep their individual executive relationships while functioning as one unified group, no small feat of diplomacy. As her leader puts it, that confidence “is not based on delegation alone. It is based on trust, shared context, sound judgment,” the kind of foundation that lets him focus his attention where it's needed most, knowing the work keeps moving without him. Please join us in congratulating Holly Hudon — the 2026 Strategic Partnership Award winner! Admins Run the World.™ #AdminAwards #AdminsRunTheWorld #ExecutiveAssistant #AdminProfessionals #Boston

37 years in the making... This evening's Loyalty Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Colleen Sailer CAP PM OM TA RM and HR specialties of Merck! For 37 years, Collen has demonstrated that loyalty is about much more than longevity. It is about continuing to learn, adapt, serve and show up when people need you most. Today, Colleen serves as Lead Associate, Administrative Services in Merck’s Global Communications organization, supporting senior communications leaders while bringing decades of administrative experience to an increasingly complex profession. Throughout her career, she has evolved from traditional executive support into project management, event planning, process improvement, technology adoption and administrative leadership. Earlier in her career, she supported employee engagement efforts for more than 2,500 employees during a major organizational integration and managed corporate events with budgets exceeding $300,000. Colleen is described by Merck's Chief Communications Officer as their “go-to person” who “will make the extra call, ask the next question, find the right contact, or work through the process until there is a path forward,” never showing up with a problem she hasn't already started solving. And her service extends well beyond the office. Colleen serves on the IAAP Foundation Board, has held numerous IAAP leadership positions, volunteers with the Merck Fire Department and has served as a certified EMT for more than 25 years. After 37 years, Colleen hasn’t simply stayed the course. She has helped others move forward with her. Please join us in congratulating Colleen Sailer — the 2026 Loyalty Award winner!

The 2026 Spirit Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Linnette Speel, MBA of Benchmark Senior Living! Linnette is the Senior Executive Assistant at Benchmark Senior Living, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past four years, of a 17-year career in the profession. Linnette has a way of making even demanding work feel lighter. When she joined Benchmark Senior Living in 2022, she entered a new industry, supported a newly assembled executive team and learned an entirely new organization in the middle of a global pandemic. Through it all, she showed up with warmth, humor and an unmistakable willingness to help. Today, as Senior Executive Assistant to Benchmark’s Chairman and CEO Thomas Grape, Linnette is known for delivering what colleagues describe as “white-glove service,” protecting executive time while making every person she encounters feel welcome and valued. Her generosity extends to colleagues as well. She mentors newer administrators, shares what she has learned, volunteers for company events and stepped up significantly during a period of administrative team turnover, helping recruit, interview, hire and train new Executive Assistants. Her instinctive response when someone needs something is often simply: “Of course!” Her CEO says Linnette doesn’t merely support him — she makes him better at his job, makes the people around her better at theirs, and makes Benchmark “a better, brighter place simply by being a part of it.” Please join us in congratulating Linnette Speel — the 2026 Spirit Award winner!

The 2026 Above the Call Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Daurin Naranjo of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company! Daurin is the Executive Coordinator for the Gastroenterology Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past ten years, of a career that spans more than 25 years in the profession. Associate Director Tricia Haut says the working processes the two of them built together have been “recognized by Research Leadership as a model for other organizations” in large part because Daurin “approaches every interaction with humility, selflessness, and an egoless commitment to the team's success,” even through restructurings, new department stand-ups, and layoffs, all while keeping patients top of mind. Daurin's most above-the-call moment might be Research's FY25 Strategy in Action Workshop, where she served as lead organizer scheduling nearly 30 full-day training sessions for close to 1,000 colleagues across the organization. She also sits on the planning committee for Takeda's Massachusetts Admin Professionals group, mentors newcomers as a “Tomodachi” (Japanese for “friend”), and independently organized AI training sessions for her peers this year — because apparently a full plate wasn't enough. Fellow nominator Rachael Mumgaard sums it up simply: Daurin “takes immense pride in making a positive impact on the leaders, teams, and colleagues she supports.” Please join us in congratulating Daurin Naranjo — the 2026 Above the Call Award winner! Admins Run the World.™ #AdminAwards #AdminsRunTheWorld #ExecutiveAssistant #AdminProfessionals #Boston

Tonight's Achiever Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region belongs to... Nicole De Voe of Brigham and Women's Hospital! Nicole is the Administrative Assistant to the Chair of Dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past eight years, of a 25-year career that began at Massachusetts General Hospital. When her department's Academic Project Manager went out on maternity leave, Nicole didn't wait for a handoff memo. She taught herself the entire academic-promotions process from scratch, mid-merger, mid-leadership-transition, with faculty careers riding on getting it right — then took on a second uncovered task nobody had trained her for, researching requirements from scratch and tracking down peers at other institutions to figure out how to file a first-time academic appointment. When her colleague returned, the files were so clean the whole handback took exactly one question. Dr. Thomas Kupper, Chair of Dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, calls Nicole “the very best assistant I have had” in nearly 25 years as Chair — a stretch during which his faculty roster grew from 35 to almost 70, and Nicole's own career-conference scheduling grew right along with it, from about 50 faculty reviews in 2018 to 65 to 70 today. She's also part of the reason his department was recently called, by external academic reviewers, “one of the three best, if not the best, academic department in the nation.” Dr. Kupper doesn't hedge on the credit: “I simply couldn't do my job without her.” Please join us in congratulating Nicole De Voe — the 2026 Achiever Award winner! Admins Run the World.™ #AdminAwards #AdminsRunTheWorld #ExecutiveAssistant #AdminProfessionals #Boston

This evening's Administrative Excellence in Public Service Award at the Admin Awards – Boston & New England Region goes to... Chrissy Malon of Combined Jewish Philanthropies! Colleen is the Executive Support Specialist at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, where she's served as an Admin Professional for the past eight years. Before CJP, Chrissy had an entire first career as a performer, which turns out to be surprisingly good training for executive support: “taking direction, deep commitment to the work, improvising when things changed suddenly,” as she puts it. She just traded the spotlight for the wings, on purpose. Her EVP says Chrissy does her job with the understanding that CJP's work will “positively impact thousands of members of the Greater Boston Jewish community” — and calls her “one of the most hardworking and dedicated professionals I have had the privilege to work with in my entire career,” someone who “consistently steps forward when others step back.” When new senior leaders join CJP, Chrissy is the one who gets them oriented, connected, and staffed, often building out their entire executive support teams from scratch. As one of the organization's longest-tenured admins, she's also become its de facto mentor-in-chief, convening fellow assistants to trade knowledge and support one another. To quote her leader: “She simply sees what needs to be done and does it — with grace, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to helping others… She makes everyone around her better, and our community is stronger because of her service.” Please join us in congratulating Chrissy Malon — the 2026 Administrative Excellence in Public Service Award winner! Admins Run the World.™ #AdminAwards #AdminsRunTheWorld #ExecutiveAssistant #AdminProfessionals #Boston

Story 2 of 15.... Fifteen years ago, the Admin Awards started in Dallas, Texas with an idea, a ballroom I was terrified I'd never fill, and absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. Since then, thousands of Administrative Professionals have walked our red carpets. 27,000 nominations later. 10 host cities. Executives have shared what makes their Admins indispensable in ways that have made us laugh and cry. So, as we celebrate 15 years of the Admin Awards, I'm going to share some of my favorite memories, things we've learned along the way and a few things that still surprise me - all part of this crazy, wonderful journey.   We're counting down from 15. Here we go! Story 2 of 15... The Admin Award was almost a glass superhero cape. True story. The original concept for the Admin Award was a crystal cape. I assembled an advisory board early on as I began building the Admin Awards who politely explained that if we wanted this thing to be taken seriously, as it should be, perhaps handing Winners a superhero cape wasn't the way to go! Fair. The award you see today is loosely shaped like an A, and each one is hand-crafted by artists from a glass blowing studio in Texas. I love knowing that deeply deserving career Administrators like @kathleen earley have this beautiful, tangible reminder of the impact they've made on so many throughout their careers.

Fifteen years ago, the Admin Awards started in Dallas, Texas with an idea, a ballroom I was terrified I'd never fill, and absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. Since then, thousands of Administrative Professionals have walked our red carpets. 27,000 nominations later. 10 host cities. Executives have shared what makes their Admins indispensable in ways that have made us laugh and cry. So, as we celebrate 15 years of the Admin Awards, I'm going to share some of my favorite memories, things we've learned along the way and a few things that still surprise me - all part of this crazy, wonderful journey. We're counting down from 15, starting now. Here we go! 1 of 15: We planned our first Gala aware that people might not come. When I went to the Westin Galleria to confirm our event space 15years ago, I chose a ballroom that held 300 people. I remember thinking, If nobody shows up, we'll just spread out the tables and hopefully it won't look too sparse. We sold out within a week. 310 people attended year one. We made grown men cry. And this idea that public recognition of Administrative Professionals was long overdue was also cemented early on by Brint Ryan, CEO of Ryan who wrote: "Cheryl Portillo could literally run my company in my absence.” In that inaugural year, 2012, Cheryl would go on to make history as the first Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence winner. And we went on to make history as the world's first public recognition program for Administrative Professionals. Do you know a 'Cheryl'? Nominate them now for our final Admin Awards of 2026, the 15th Annual Admin Awards in the Dallas Fort Worth & Southwest Region at https://hubs.la/Q04xScX60 and we'll see you on November 13th at the Hyatt Regency Dallas!