The Best Product Person of 2013 Announced!

On Thursday, February 6th, the 4th annual winner of The Best Product Person (TBPP) was announced at The Product Group!

This year saw such record turnout the official announcement was moved from January to February to allow us enough time to carefully consider the flood of 100+ nominations from all around the world!  Again, many received multiple nods for recognition in excellence in Product Management!

The Product Guy & The Product Group are very pleased to announce The Best Product Person of 2013 is Adrian Jank!

Adrian Jank’s career in product management and entrepreneurship led him to spearhead efforts in agile methodology and product strategy with multiple Internet startups, including TheLadders.com, ThissHowIWork.co, Gust.com, Healthasts.com, Bloomberg LP, Zingy, BurnLounge, and Borderfree. He volunteers his time with First Person American, a non-profit initiative that explores stories of modern immigrants in the US. He studied Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts, and has a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from Old Dominion University. Adrian has a strong competitive background in triathlons, skiing and distance running. Endurance sports fuel Adrian’s passion to succeed in the most grueling training session on the track, in the pool, on the bike, or on the slopes, which help prepare him for the most demanding days at the “office.” He is a frequent guest lecturer and workshop leader at universities. Adrian also bakes the world’s best red velvet cupcakes. For more about his work, visit about.me/adrianjank or connect with him on http://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianjank.

Runner-up

Only under extraordinary circumstances do we award a runner-up — where product excellence is clearly displayed and proximity to TBPP is especially close.  This year, join us in also congratulating the TBPP Runner-up, Matthew Smith of Shutterstock!

Matthew is currently the General Manager of Offset.com, a subsidiary of Shuttertsock, the largest global image marketplace. Prior to running Offset, he was the Director of New Products at Shutterstock, where he lead the company’s video, mobile, and new product strategy. Previously he was a Senior Product Manager at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), the world’s leading expert network, where he built and ran the company’s survey and Q&A business.

More to Come

Over the coming weeks we will be speaking with and learning more from Adrian Jank and Matthew Smith.

Thank you to everyone who participated, nominated, interviewed, AND passed on the word! The nomination period for The Best Product Person of 2014 has begun!  The individual who first nominates TBPP is also awarded!  This year, the first nominator of Adrian received a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com.  Nominate your pick for The Best Product Person right now!

http://tbpp.wufoo.com/forms/the-best-product-person-of-2014/

And, don’t forget, take a moment and congratulate The Best Product Person of 2013: Adrian Jank. (tweet)

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

About ‘The Best Product Person’

The Best Product Person (TBPP) is the leading international award honoring excellence in Product Management. Established in 2010, TBPP is awarded annually in association with The Product Guy (http://tpgblog.com) and The Product Group (http://meetup.com/theproductgroup).

TBPP Recognizes 1 person each year, invites them to speak and share their knowledge and experience with the larger product community. The nominations can be submitted by anyone. And, if you are the first to submit the winning nominee, you too will be rewarded  Over the course of the year, the various nominees are interviewed and the finalists narrowed down to: The Best Product Person of the year . The finalists are interviewed and evaluated for excellence in Product along the following lines… Becoming a Product Person, Your Product, Advice to Product People, and Future & Trends.

TBPP is both (1) the way the Product community gets together to recognize excellence amongst our ranks as well as (2) provide, to a large audience, insights into that excellence in a manner we can all learn from and leverage in our own Product journeys.

For more information about The Best Product Person award and past winners visit https://tpgblog.com/tbpp

About ‘The Product Group’

The Product Group is an opportunity for Product Managers, etc. to come together to meet, interact, and network. It’s an awesome way to meet fellow Product People in a laid-back, conversational environment within which sharing and learning can flourish and complement the knowledge base for all on a peer-to-peer basis. The NYC chapter of The Product Group meets the first Thursday of each month. If you are interested in a establishing chapter near you, please contact The Product Guy or The Product Group for more information. (https://tpgblog.com/theproductgroup/ )