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HOUSTON (August 21, 2008) — EquaTerra today announced Joe VanLoy, a client executive in its Governance Practice, has been selected as one of the judges of  the first annual “RMMY” Awards, a joint initiative from the Outsourcing Institute and Vantage Partners. RMMY awards will be bestowed upon nominated outsourcing service providers with proven innovative relationship management capabilities, the best transition process and the best performance management process, to name a few.

The other RMMY award judges are: Hugh MacDonald, previously Vice President of Strategic Alliance Management for CIBC and now owner of a Toronto-based consulting  firm; Chris Bouvier, CIO and CSO for the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Keystone Peer Review Organization (KePRO); Karen A. Morris, AIG Product Development’s Chief Innovation Officer; Vaughn Hovey, lecturer at Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business; and Richard Webber, Managing Director, Business Process, for the New York Times Media Group.

Said Danny Ertel, a founder and director of Vantage Partners, “Effective governance and relationship management is what sets apart the outsourcing deals that deliver the greatest value from those that fail. Many providers have learned it takes more than a few good people to manage a complex relationship to its full potential. The RMMYs will shine a much-needed spotlight on those providers that have gone beyond 'talking the talk' to actually investing in developing the skills, processes, tools, and metrics to manage relationships effectively."

EquaTerra’s VanLoy, who possesses nearly 20 years of buy-side and consulting expertise in the outsourcing industry, said, “These new awards will not only recognize the significant relationship management achievements of outsourcing service providers, but also highlight the critical nature of professionally-designed relationship management initiatives. It’s vital to acknowledge, however, that outsourcing buyers hold equal responsibility for truly successful relationship management, and both parties must jointly leverage their knowledge and advanced relationship management tools to drive the requisite results from this crucial component of the outsourcing process.”

Nominations for RMMY awards close on August 29, 2008, the last day for submitting award applications is September 15, 2008, and the awards will be presented at a New York City gala in October 2008.

EquaTerra sourcing advisors help clients achieve sustainable value in their IT and business processes. Our advisors average more than 20 years of industry experience and have supported over 2000 transformation and outsourcing projects across more than 60 countries. Supporting clients throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, we have deep functional knowledge in Finance and Accounting, HR, IT, Procurement and other critical business processes. EquaTerra helps clients achieve significant cost savings and process improvement with internal transformation, shared services and outsourcing solutions.  For more information, please contact Lee Ann Moore at +1 713.669.9292; leeann.moore@equaterra.com; www.equaterra.com.