Rackspace Cloud University (CloudU) earned a bronze award for excellence in the Best Custom Content category on September 10 as part of the 20th Annual Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards.

CloudU is a free vendor-neutral cloud education program developed by Rackspace and industry analysts for students, business decision makers and IT professionals who want to learn about the cloud and related topics. Since moving the program to a social learning management system (LMS) this year and adding new course offerings in the form of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), the program has averaged over 1,000 new registered users every month.

We’re very pleased to be recognized by the Brandon Hall Group in the Best Custom Content category. We collaborate with the brightest minds in academia and the cloud industry to create unique and engaging learning experiences for the global CloudU audience and we feel this award is a reflection of those efforts.

The award-winning entries – the updated CloudU Certification program and Introduction to Web Hosting MOOC – were evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Innovation
  • Fit the need
  • Program design
  • Functionality
  • Overall measurable benefits

The Brandon Hall Group is a preeminent research and analyst firm with data and expertise in learning and development, talent management, leadership, talent acquisition and human resources. Now entering its 20th year, the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program is considered the most prestigious awards program in the learning industry. The awards, often referred to as the “Academy Awards” by learning, talent and business executives, recognize the best organizations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems and tools that have achieved measurable results.

Entries for the award were judged by a select panel of industry professionals, including Brandon Hall Executive Leadership, university professors, business and technology executives and instructional designers from corporations, nonprofits and government organizations around the globe. Check out the complete list of winners here: http://go.brandonhall.com/past_award_winners

“I’m honored to recognize this group of elite organizations with phenomenal programs across Human Capital Management (HCM) functions. The winners truly exemplified excellence around the critical business dimensions across the award categories, including a high standard of performance in their organization and demonstrated clear, measurable business results through these innovative programs,” said Rachel Cooke, COO of Brandon Hall Group.

Originally published on the Rackspace blog

Rachel Cooke

Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke Rachel is responsible for business operations including overseeing client services, research events and project management. Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Rachel was the Chief Operating Officer Co-founder of AC Growth. Rachel has over 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, business development, and sales performance management. Prior to AC Growth, she held several senior management roles and was on the leadership team at Bersin & Associates, a pioneer analyst firm in e-learning and now industry leading HR and talent Research Company. In her Senior Director role, Rachel developed the strategy and led the commercial execution of the solution provider vertical, and grew the vertical into the company’s largest market segment. In her role as Director of Sales, Rachel developed and led a team of senior account executives focused on acquiring global strategic accounts. Rachel was solely responsible for developing key business relationships with over ninety companies including industry icons, such as: Adidas, Hewlett-Packard, Toyota, Oracle, Starbucks, Avnet, Boeing, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway Inc., Wells Fargo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Clorox and Affiliated Computer Services. Rachel began her career in the banking, media and hospitality industries. In these industries, Rachel held several key senior management and executive sales positions. Rachel received a BA in social science and interdisciplinary studies with honors from Florida Atlantic University. Rachel continued her postgraduate education by completing a series of executive management education courses from American Management Association.

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