Last Wednesday, Kay, Caitlin, and Catherine of Symplicity Communications, Inc. attended the Athena Scholarship Fundraiser put on by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.  This event was held in the beautiful private dining room of Cygnus 27, atop the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.  The ladies of Symplicity along with other attendees enjoyed spa treatments from the students of Douglas J Aveda Institute and a chance to browse through the showcase of Beijo handbags and LaTasia jewelry.

This fundraising event contributes to the Athena Scholarship, which awards women over the age of 30 with funds to contribute to their pursuit of higher education.  Since 2000, the program has provided over $30,000 in scholarship funds, which has been obtained mainly through event sponsorships and individual contributions.  View more photos from the event!

Join the West Michigan Technology Association this Thursday, August 19 beginning at 11:45am for lunch and a discussion on Google Apps Cloud Computing.

The presentation will focus on cost savings and collaboration through the use of the various Google Applications.  Whether your business is considering moving to the cloud, just wants an affordable email solution, or struggles to give employees access to critical information from anywhere, Google Apps Best-In-Class Cloud Solution can help you address the issue.

This month’s Google Apps presentation is brought to you by Keith Torno, Rick Penn, Mike Sweany, and Marc Creviere of Maximize Technologies, LLC.  Maximize Technologies will also sponsor lunch at the event.  As always, the meeting will be held at ITT Technical Institute located at 1980 Metro Court SW in Wyoming, Michigan from 11:45am until 1:30pm.  First time guests and WMTA members may attend the meeting free of charge, while returning guests pay $15, or $5 for students.

To register for this event, please email rsvp@wmta.biz.  If you have questions, feel free to call Caitlin or Catherine at 616-717-5750.

This month, Symplicity Communications is pleased to welcome a new member to the team. Lorie Munson will join our Symplicity family as the Michigan Region Vice President. A West Michigan native, Lorie has 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, providing her with skills in management, event planning, and entrepreneurship to name a few of her areas of expertise. After graduating from Western Michigan University, Lorie went on to work at companies such as ITS Communications and Voice Data Systems providing her with more than 18 years of experience in the telecommunications field. “We are confident that Lorie’s experiences over the years will be beneficial to our clients. She possesses the skill and knowledge to get our clients the best value and service in the market based on the needs of their company,” says Catherine Lazarock, President.

Lorie can be contacted at lmunson@symplicitycom.com or 616.717.5750.

In June, Symplicity Communications, Inc. was recognized at the Corp! Magazine breakfast event as one of Michigan’s Economic Bright Spots Award winners! Companies that received these awards were businesses that have continued to grow despite a downturn in the economy. Along with Symplicity, other recipients of this award included companies such as Henry Ford Health Systems, Burke E. Porter Machinery Co., C/D/H of Grand Rapids, DK Security, Open Systems Technologies and many others. These influential businesses have helped drive Michigan’s economy in order to make our state a better place to live and work. Learn more about all of the award winners here.

Inforum—A professional women’s alliance, is an organization that aims to empower professional women to “lead and succeed”. The organization puts on numerous programs throughout the year providing social, educational, and networking opportunities to women business owners. These events allow women entrepreneurs to learn more about other women-owned businesses in their area so that they can continue to empower the women within their community. On Thursday, June 17, Inforum held a networking dinner event at the Thousand Oaks Golf Club in Grand Rapids. The event entitled “An Evening with Entrepreneurs” provided attendees with a beautiful dinner and the chance to learn from influential West Michigan women entrepreneurs. After dinner, a panel discussion was held in which four entrepreneurs shared their professional struggles and experiences in opening and owning a business. The panel included Amy Engelsman, CEO of Proos Manufacturing, Joan Epperson, President of Global Business Solutions & Associates, LLC, Dr. Barbara Helms, Owner of Helms Family Optical, and Catherine Lazarock, President of our very own Symplicity Communications, Inc.

Read more about this event on Inforum’s web site or check out a radio interview to hear several panelists give their thoughts on the event.

Symplicity would like to congratulate all of the nominees, finalists, and winners of the First Annual Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce 2010 EPIC Awards.  The award ceremony was held on Wednesday, May 19 at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids.  For more information about the winners, please visit the Chamber Website.  Again, congratulations and thanks to the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce for putting on such a magnificent event.  We were so pleased to be a part of it!  Watch the video below to see how the finalists define success.

Check out this article on the Rapid Growth GR website!  It’s all about how Symplicity got its start, a truly inspirational story.

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/042910symplicity.aspx

The ladies at Symplicity Communications, Inc. have been raking in the awards over the past few months in recognition of their continuous hard work and drive to go above and beyond expectations.

As you may already know,Catherine Lazarock, President of Symplicity Communications, Inc. was named Woman of the Year by the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs back in January.  Since then, she has been nominated for several other awards including the Grand Valley State University Internship Supervisor of the Year, Corp! Magazine’s Michigan Economics Bright Spot Award, and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of commerce EPIC Awards, all of which have led to great things for the company.

On March 31, Catherine was recognized at the Grand Valley State University Career Services award ceremony as winner of the Internship Supervisor of the Year Award.  Her Intern, a marketing student at Grand Valley State University who has since been promoted to the position of  Marketing Coordinator, was also recognized at the ceremony as Outstanding Intern of the Year.  It was a very exciting day for the ladies at Symplicity.

Furthermore, as a nominee for the 2010 EPIC Awards, Symplicity has been selected as a finalist in the Woman-Owned Business of the Year category.  Awards will be presented by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce on May 19.  Click here to view an article about the event and all of the finalists.

As Vice President of the West Michigan Technology Association (WMTA), Catherine works very closely with the organization.  Below is more information regarding WMTA’s upcoming events covering topics of interest within the telecommunications field.

WMTA monthly meetings take place at ITT Technical Institute located at 1980 Metro Court SW in Wyoming, Michigan beginning at 11:45am and usually conclude around 1:30pm.  Registration is free for WMTA members with a $15 fee for guests and lunch is included.  If you are interested in attending any WMTA events, please contact Samantha at sgorton@symplicitycom.com.

We hope you can join us for these upcoming meetings.

April 15, 2010

Topic: Virtualization & the Eco-System of the Data Center

This presentation is going to talk about what virtualization is at the Compute, Network , and Storage levels. There may be small portions where we get really technical and geeky.

* Virtualization benefits

* Virtualization pitfalls to be aware of

* Some unique features that can make IT departments more agile

* Virtual Machine and Data Center portability

* Business Process aware virtualization

Speaker: Craig L. Chapman, MCPc

Craig started his IT career in 1995 assisting system admin at East Kentwood High School, setting up a state-of-the-art CAD lab during one of his course hours. After getting bitten by the “technology bug”, Craig worked at both customer end-user and VAR positions. Accenture, Northrop-Grumman, Trivalent Group, and MCPc to name a few. Craig’s focus is to assist businesses in virtualization acceptance and help them see the value of it’s implementation. Holding a large number of technical certifications and over 15 years experience, Craig looks to empower IT to understand its impact on the business user community that IT is asked to support and enhance.

May 20, 2010

Topic: Why cellular reporting and bill management is more critical than ever!

Speakers Steve and Catherine will present the latest software from Matsch that puts cellular reporting at the fingertips of the users.  Finally, an easy solution to managing hundreds, and even thousands of cellular phones.  The latest from Sprint, Verizon and AT&T will be discussed.

Speakers: Steve Schafer, Matsch Systems and Catherine Lazarock, Symplicity Communications, Inc.

Working in the corporate world, it is well known that recognition is not always paid where it is due. Fortunately for Catherine Lazarock of Symplicity Communications, Inc., the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) set out to recognize influential female entrepreneurs at the 2010 AWE Conference on Thursday, January 21. The conference was held at the Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville Michigan where Lazarock and two other influential business women were rewarded for their unique success in business.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Redefining the Face of Business,” which AWE selected as a way to recognize and encourage women to transform the way business is conducted. The event held true to AWE’s focus of educating and connecting women business owners in the West Michigan community. The conference turned out to be a great success with instructive workshops and networking opportunities for all attendees.

The conference concluded with an award ceremony in which Lazarock was presented with the prestigious Woman of the Year Award. Competing for the title with other influential business women, Lazarock was chosen among her peers for her dedication to her clients, her time spent volunteering, and her role as a mentor.

Catherine Lazarock with fellow award winners, Jamie Mills (left) and Deborah Tacoma (center) who were awarded the Growing Entrepreneur and Excellence in Innovation Awards respectively.

Lazarock dedicates her business to making telecommunications management “Symple” for her clients. Her customers can attest to her persistent work in finding them the best value in the marketplace. On top of her involvement at Symplicity Communications, Inc., Lazarock volunteers countless hours to various organizations. As a board member of the Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW) and Vice President of both AWE and the West Michigan Technology Association (WMTA), Lazarock spends much of her spare time in organizing and planning monthly meetings and events. Furthermore, Lazarock is viewed as a mentor by young business women in her community. It is clear that she is committed to the education of up-and-coming entrepreneurs as demonstrated by her involvement in AWE and GROW.

From her community involvement to her dedication to her own company, it is clear that Catherine Lazarock was a perfect fit for the Woman of the Year Award. Congratulations to all winners and nominees at the 2010 AWE Conference!