Company: Pegasystems, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Entry Submitted By: PAN Communications
Company Description: Pegasystems provides Business Process Management solutions designed to unify business rules & processes, & empower businesspeople & IT staff to Build for Change®. Pega’s SmartBPM technology drives revenue growth, productivity & agility for the world’s most sophisticated organizations. Customers use SmartBPM to improve customer service, reach new markets & boost operational effectiveness.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Executive of the Year - Computer Software

Nomination Title: Planning for Success with Alan Trefler

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

A teacher at heart, Alan Trefler, founder and CEO of Pegasystems, has a deep
desire to help others succeed and realize their full potential. This holds true
whether he is mentoring the employees of the company he founded, working with a
customer whose business was saved from bankruptcy with Pegasystems’ process
automation, or the students he has empowered through educational opportunities
provided by the Trefler Foundation(1), which he founded with his wife, Pamela.

As a teenager, Trefler staged one of the greatest upsets in the history of
professional chess by winning the 1975 World Open Chess Championship(2), and
since that day he has carried the same winning strategy into everything he
does.

What started as a vision to unlock the potential of computers in the business
world has grown into the leading BPM solution provider today. (3)

With a half-decade of steady annual growth under its belt, Pegasystems entered
2008 with a cautious eye as the global economy began to show signs of turmoil.
It quickly became clear to Trefler that organizations, more than ever before,
would need to reevaluate their daily business operations and processes for
greater cost and agility savings.(4)

In a time when other software and technology companies saw business slow
dramatically, Trefler was leading Pegasystems to new heights and record growth.
Understanding and anticipating the changing landscape in early 2008, he aligned
Pegasystems’ award-winning BPM expertise with the needs of global organizations—
helping companies successfully cut costs, increase agility and ultimately
weather the economic storm.(5)

As a result of Trefler’s keen foresight, Pegasystems recorded $212 million in
revenue for 2008—an astonishing 31 percent increase over the prior year.(6) As
the company moves into 2009, the momentum gained throughout 2008 has put it on
track to surpass $250 million in revenue and realize an increase in net income
of 55 percent. Additionally, the company signed a record number of new license
agreements in 2008, clearly illustrating Trefler’s intuition, leadership and
business approach.

Paul Rolfes, assistant business editor at Kentucky’s The Courier-Journal, wrote
in a July 2008 article that Trefler was “a boy wonder of the software business,
and the fact that he survived in such a tumultuous industry is a clear
indicator of his accomplishments. The chess master applied his board game
wizardry to get computers to do what he wanted through complex rules.” (7)

Gregg Speicher, senior analyst and founder of Moss Creek Capital in McKinney,
Texas, said “Pegasystems is quite a story. The CEO realized that things needed
to be done to take the company to the next level…and made those changes. For
many companies, BPM is a must-have now.”(7)

Clearly, Alan Trefler is well prepared for success and continues to lead
Pegasystems to even greater glories.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

1.            http://www.treflerfoundation.org/pdfs/Overview_of_Grantmaking.pdf
2.            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upset
3.            http://www.pega.com/content/document.asp?ci=381
4.           http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/03/15/what_will_business_as_usual_look_like/
5.           http://blogs.cioinsight.com/lundquist/content/real_companies_pegasystems.html
6.            http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090310-713211.html?mod=wsjcrmain
7.            http://www.smallcapinvestor.com/stockresearch/spotlight/2008-07-11-pegasystems_taking_flight_as_software_demand_grows

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:

As the Founder and CEO of Pegasystems, Alan Trefler oversees the company’s
daily operations and works closely with the executive team to set its strategic
tone and direction. Under Trefler’s leadership, Pegasystems has risen to a
position of leadership in the Business Process Management (BPM) industry today.
As a former co-champion of the World Open Chess Championship, Trefler
approaches business the same way as he does a game of chess—prepared to win. He
frequently consults in the use of advanced technologies, customer service
processing, expert systems, and work automation and has presented before
numerous international audiences.