Company: Cognos Inc
Company Description: Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management (CPM), delivers software that helps companies drive, monitor and understand corporate performance. Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries and are also available from over 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Product Development or Engineering Executive

Nomination Title: Don Campbell, vice president of product innovation and technology

1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (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:

Don Campbell, vice president of product innovation and technology, is an integral
member of Cognos’ innovation team. With a "think outside the box" mentality and
a flair for conceptualizing and developing innovative products, including two award-
winning products: data visualization business intelligence platform 'Cognos
Visualizer,' and Cognos PowerPlay, the first Web version of the highly successful
Cognos OLAP tool, Don has been recognized as a leading mind in the industry. 

Several years ago, during the .com boom, Don Campbell had an idea to turn
boring, cryptic data into visual, decision-making information. Through multiple
attempts to push the idea forward, he became both frustrated and more convinced
his idea was valuable. Instead of taking the route of many in the industry at that
time and starting up his own business, he fought through the system and
eventually was granted the necessary time and resources to complete the project.
 
Years later, this small idea has turned into two multi award winning products. In
2004 alone, Cognos PowerPlay has received multiple awards including Best OLAP
Tool category of SQL Server Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards and the Intelligent Enterprise Readers’ Choice Award for best multidimensional analysis tool. In addition, PowerPlay reached $1 billion in cumulative sales in 2004.  Reaching the $1 billion mark was a feat in itself as well as a testament to its innovation and adoption as few companies reach the $1 billion mark as a company, let alone one product.
 
There are a lot of stories about the successful entrepreneur who starts their own
company and makes it big. What happens to the intrapreneur, working from inside
a large corporation? While the difference for Campbell has meant monetary
benefits, a bigger bonus, a promotion, some company and community recognition,
etc., the biggest thing he received was the responsibility to institutionalize the
process within the company and mentor others to follow in his footsteps. Now, as
the Vice President of Product Innovation and Technology, his full-time
responsibility is to encourage and enable young minds, both within the
organization and at educational institutions across the country, to follow the
intrapreneurial path and invent for the good of the company.

By leveraging a culture that is open for new ideas, Cognos has continued to
increase its market position and thrive in what most companies consider a difficult
time in the technology industry. Success and innovation has been an ongoing
process happening every day, all over the company, as a normal course of
business. At Cognos, the intrapreneur is no longer the soldier of counter-culture.
Instead, he or she is a valuable and necessary part of the future of the
organization. It’s because of people like Don Campbell that pave the way for young
minds everywhere and encourage people to share their thoughts and ideas.  Such
is the life of Don Campbell, intrapreneur.

2. 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]:

Business Intelligence Pipeline, July 28, 2004, “Q&A With Cognos VP Don
Campbell”
http://www.bizintelligencepipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=UOL35YEUGV
3DAQSNDBESKHA?articleId=26100455

Cognos PowerPlay® Tops $ Billion in Revenue-to-Date;
Cited as Leading OLAP Solution, June 8, 2004
http://www.cognos.com/news/releases/2004/0608_2.html

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

As Vice President of Product Innovation and Technology, Don Campbell oversees
the company's technology strategy and its application to the decision-making
infrastructure of today and tomorrow. He leads the charge on leading-edge
technologies such as intelligent agents, dashboards, collaborative systems, voice,
and wireless information delivery in a business intelligence context.

Don's message on technology, performance management, and entrepreneurship
has taken him around the globe, speaking to over 30,000 people in a dozen
countries. In addition, he has authored several published articles and a weekly
technology column. Don holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from
Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada