MBX Systems CEO named Executive of the Year

Tom Crowley, founder and CEO of server appliance manufacturer MBX Systems in Wauconda, has been named the Executive of the Year/Computer Hardware in the Stevie Awards’ 2011 American Business Awards. The awards recognize business excellence in a wide variety of categories.

Crowley earned the honor for leading MBX’s entry into the server appliance market and for driving 16 years of consecutive growth. Enterprise software vendors and service providers contract with MBX to manufacture purpose-built hardware appliances and embedded systems that optimize the performance of their applications or services, providing a reliable and easy-to-deploy alternative to delivering their applications in the cloud or loaded onto general-purpose servers.

“Business recognition usually goes to brand-name companies like Google and Groupon, but there are hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses toiling in the trenches. The Stevie Awards put us all on a level playing field and provide an opportunity to demonstrate achievement regardless of size,” Crowley said. “My name is on the trophy, but this award really goes to every employee at MBX for helping to fuel continuous growth in a crowded marketplace.”

Crowley was among more than 2,800 Stevie Awards nominees from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry that were submitted this year for consideration in more than 40 categories, including Most Innovative Company of the Year, Management Team of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

Finalists were chosen by business professionals nationwide during preliminary judging in April and May. Winners were selected from among the finalists in each category by members of 10 specialized final judging committees and announced at the award banquet on June 20 in New York City. The ceremonies were broadcast nationwide by the Business TalkRadio Network. The event benefited Camfed (camfed.org), which fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change.

The 2010 winner in the Executive of the Year/Computer Hardware category was Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of winners in all categories are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba.