Staff

Michael Gallagher, Executive Chairman
Michael Gallagher’s career reflects his passion for recognizing achievement across the diverse spectrum of business.

To honor the millions of business executives and workers worldwide who quietly accomplish innovative and extraordinary things in the workplace every day, Michael founded the Stevie® Awards in 2002. The name Stevie comes from the Greek name Stefanos, which means "crowned."

Michael’s commitment to honoring excellence was sparked during his tenure as Vice President of The New York Festivals, organizer of the some of the world’s largest international awards competitions for film, television, advertising, and other media. Under his leadership from 1982 to 1988, The New York Festivals significantly expanded its global influence by adding new awards competitions in fields such as radio and print advertising.

Michael holds a bachelor of arts from Fordham University in New York City and a master of business administration from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Maggie Gallagher, President
Maggie was the Communications Manager at the Stevie Awards for 6 years before accepting the role of President. She works as a jack of all trades for the eight Stevie Awards competitions by managing marketing, accounting, HR efforts, and more with her amazing colleagues listed below. She loves how the Stevie Awards allows professionals all over the globe, from entry level to executives, to be recognized for their daily efforts and innovations.

Maggie holds a Bachelor of Science from James Madison University and a Master of Business Administration from George Mason University, both in Virginia.

Ruslana Milikhiker, Conference & Event Manager
As the Conference & Event Manager, Ruslana manages the Women|Future Conference as well as all logistical, creative and programmatic elements of eight award programs. From venue contracts, to vendor negotiations, and food & beverage selections, Ruslana leverages her relationships from planning to execution. With her dynamic communication skills, strong attention to detail, and organizational skills, Ruslana is dedicated to producing a memorable experience, every time. 

Ruslana is Certified in Exhibition Management and holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Katina McCrory, Office Administrator






 

Daniel Ferguson, Marketing Coordinator
Daniel serves as the Marketing Coordinator for the Stevie Awards, bringing with him five years of marketing and sales experience from multiple industries, including modeling, nonprofit, broadcasting, and higher education. His role involves maintaining the Stevie Awards' social media presence, responding to media inquiries, organizing the Stevie Awards blog, and preparing the weekly newsletter.

Daniel is a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies with concentrations in Public Communication and Digital Media Production.
 

Vinay Thadem, Web Master
Vinay has over three years of experience as a Web Developer & Software Engineer. His passion to work in a product-based environment as well as work closely with executives led him to the Stevie Awards. He loves working in smaller teams and manages the websites and various digital assets of the Stevie Awards.

Vinay holds a Master's in Information Technology and two undergraduate degrees in Computer Science Engineering and Electrical Engineering. He was recognized as an emerging IT leader by HIMSS Global (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) in 2018 and has represented his state at ACM ICPC Asian Finals (World's Largest Programming Contest).

May Hassan; Communication Consultant for the Middle East Stevie Awards
May has over 20 years of experience with large multinational organizations as a Marketing/Communications professional. She has a strong managerial background with executive-level and cross-sector exposure. May takes pride in her strategic skills and vision and is able to build and implement sophisticated plans in her role. She has a proven track record explicitly supporting business needs. May promotes the Middle East Stevie Awards program for 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa regions by providing marketing support for the awards and its sponsors.
 

Clara Im, Communications Director for Asia
Clara Im has 13 years experience in public relations and corporate communications with Hanaroadcom, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, and the Korea Leadership Center Group. Clara works to raise awareness of the Stevie Awards, particularly our new Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards program, throughout the 22 nations of the APAC region; to provide communications support to our marketing representatives in key Asian markets; and to support the needs of media, entrants, and judges throughout the region.

Hal Goldberg, Entry Processor
Hal Goldberg has 20 plus years of experience in the business and commercial media awards recognition industry as an entry processor and customer service associate and administrator. He was previously attached to the New York Festivals where each year he processed thousands of entries, providing technical assistance to entrants with nominations into the festivals for its many different competitions.

He is now doing the same for entrants of the Stevie Awards and its many competitions.

 

Anne White, Judging Coordinator
Anne has extensive experience in marketing and public relations, working in Europe and the United States in the fields of awards competitions, information technology, broadcast media, travel and leisure, and consumer products. From running her own PR agency in London, UK, Anne moved to the United States and joined the Stevie Awards in 2006, where she provided articles for the blog and online newsletter. She is now the Judging Coordinator, organizing and overseeing international judging committees for all Stevie Awards competitions. Anne holds a Certificate of Business Management from Baruch College, New York, and studied German, French, and Spanish at the University of Vienna. She speaks fluent German and French.

Elizabeth McGinn, Assistant Judging Coordinator
Elizabeth started as a temp before becoming the Assistant Judging Coordinator and has been with the Stevie Awards since 2017.  As Assistant Judging Coordinator, Elizabeth is involved in the assigning of judges to suitable categories and in overviewing the judging process.  With the increasing number of judges required for the Stevie Awards programs, she also plays a key role in keeping records of each judge’s performance. Elizabeth can typically be found at the Stevie Awards events in New York assisting at the Ticket Desk or at the Interview Station.