Jim Novo Award - 2013 Winner

Congratulations to Tania Flagg and Katrin Sauerwein, 2013 winners of the Jim Novo Award of Academic Excellence!

The Digital Analytics Association (DAA) and the University of British Columbia (UBC) Continuing Studies are pleased to announce that Tania Flagg and Katrin Sauerwein Ha have earned the 2013 Jim Novo Award of Academic Excellence.

Tania Flagg and Katrin Sauerwein

Winners of the 2013 Jim Novo Award and graduates of the UBC/DAA Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics

The University of British Columbia Continuing Studies and the Digital Analytics Association (DAA) are pleased to announce that both Tania Flagg and Katrin Sauerwein have earned the 2013 Jim Novo Award of Academic Excellence which recognizes the graduate with the highest average over all four courses of the UBC/DAA Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics. This award is generally presented to only one recipient, but this year both Tania and Katrin completed the program with a stellar 99.25% grade average in their courses.

"I was thrilled to learn that I was one of the recipients of the Jim Novo Award for my work throughout the UBC/DAA program," says Tania Flagg, who lives in Texas, USA. Katrin Sauerwein, who lives in Berlin, Germany, says that "winning the Jim Novo Award was quite a surprise for me; I did not expect it at all." In addition to their outstanding academic performance in the program, both graduates share in their first online course experience.

Tania's passion for a career in digital analytics arose from previous work experience focused on email marketing, eCommerce and social media. "This was the first time I have taken online courses, and it was great to be able to work on the assignments and projects on my own time, without impacting my work schedule," she explains. As a digital analytics senior consultant with IBM, Tania provides analytics strategy, best practices and advice for clients. "The topics of these courses all directly related to my overall role, so I was happy to get the opportunity to expand my knowledge in this field. The reading material was extremely helpful," she says. The online interaction was also valuable, "the tutors were all very knowledgeable whenever I had a question, and the courses flowed very smoothly. I also enjoyed online discussions with my classmates because it was great to get insight on the discussion topics from classmates in different industries."

Katrin's background in computer science and multimedia fostered her affinity to eCommerce, statistics and design, which led to her current role as senior consultant digital analytics at Webtrekk GmbH, a leading global provider of digital intelligence solutions with headquarters in Berlin, Germany and offices in China, Italy, Spain and the USA. As a senior consultant, she works with her clients to setup and integrate their analytics solution most efficiently and gain actionable information out of their data. "In order to do my work, I need to understand both sides: platform technologies and data structures as well as how to translate and visualize that huge amount of data into a language understandable by everyone in that company."

The flexibility of online learning was perfect for a consultant like Katrin who is travelling a lot and interested in diving into the world of digital analytics on a flexible schedule. "Participating in the UBC/DAA courses was not just the best chance to improve my analytics skills, I was also able to gain insights into new topics and talk with interesting people in my classes also dealing with digital analytics," she says. Katrin graduated from the inaugural Digital Analytics Deutsches Intensivprogramm led by German-speaking tutors and industry practitioners and provided her with a "vivid mixture of different business cultures to compare" whilst in the program.

About the Jim Novo Award

Launched in 2007, the Jim Novo Award of Academic Excellence honors Jim's dedication, knowledge and extensive volunteer time applied towards creation of the UBC/DAA Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics program. Jim is the education director of the Digital Analytics Association, and a customer analysis consultant with a 25 year track record of generating exceptional returns on customer marketing program investments.

About the UBC/DAA Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics

First launched in 2005 by the University of British Columbia Continuing Studies, the UBC/DAA Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics is comprised of four 100% online courses designed to teach students how to create and manage a digital analytics program to drive measureable business improvement within their organizations. To date, the program has graduated over 1,000 students from 40 countries around the world and was recently awarded the 2014 UPCEA Outstanding Program Award: Non-Credit recognizing excellence in achievement.

About Digital Analytics Association (DAA)

The DAA is a not-for-profit, volunteer powered association that helps members become more valuable through education, community, research and advocacy. The DAA was founded as the Web Analytics Association (WAA) in 2004. The organization has more than 2,000 members worldwide, representing 40 countries and a broad spectrum of expertise. For more information about the DAA or to become a member, visit the DAA website at digitalanalyticsassociation.org.