Recognized for international country development, active participation in the global community, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) [caption id="attachment_1574" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Timor-Leste"][/caption]Ottawa, Canada (April 8, 2011) - FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth, is pleased to announce that FreeBalance President & CEO, Manuel Pietra, won the Next Generation Executive Award at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) Awards Gala last night.OCRI explains that the Next Generation Executive Award was given to Pietra in recognition of the dynamic change he has led at FreeBalance. This change has resulted in a new corporate culture that includes Corporate Social Responsibility as the core to company mission. FreeBalance financial results continue to improve thanks to a growing international client roster.“This honour is very much a recognition of the positive change that people at FreeBalance are helping make around the world,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO at FreeBalance. “Corporate social responsibility is core to decision-making at FreeBalance. As a for profit social enterprise, our mission is to help governments leverage our government resource planning technology to improve development outcomes for country growth.”In mid-2006 following his appointment as FreeBalance President & CEO, Mr. Pietra initiated a new business strategy. This new business plan better addressed the global government market. Strategic goals were changed. The company re-organized. The new FreeBalance business model and planning process was based on the premise of earning “customers for life”.Social responsibility at FreeBalance extends beyond providing tools for country growth and government transparency. FreeBalance is committed to supporting children’s programs in the developing world. FreeBalance has established partnerships with organizations such as SOS Children’s Villages to directly impact the lives of thousands of children.Refining processes to be more customer-centric has resulted in improvements in FreeBalance sales execution and operational efficiency. The company is growing at a rate of 18-20% per year thanks to operationalizing and adapting the strategy originally developed in 2006. FreeBalance is active in 19 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Panama, Canada, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Uganda among others.FreeBalance software manages more than a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. More than 70,000 users around the world use FreeBalance software to manage a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000.About FreeBalanceFreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com. About Manuel Pietra, FreeBalance President and CEOManuel Pietra is a global executive with more than 20 years of successful management experience from companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Latin America. As President and CEO of FreeBalance, Mr. Pietra leads global growth strategies, organizational restructuring and customer engagement. Manuel Pietra has held executive positions on the boards of several international companies and actively participated in the venture capital arena. He holds a degree in Business Management from the South African Institute of Management and is a board member for the International Consortium on Government Financial Management (ICGFM). Mr. Pietra is multilingual and often speaks at high profile investment seminars and technology conferences across the world in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. About Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI)Leading the way for Ottawa, OCRI is the city’s economic development agency. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education, research and talent together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa’s knowledge-based companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life. For more information on OCRI visit our website at www.ocri.ca and for more information on the Ottawa Region please visit www.ottawaregion.com. In 2010, Ottawa was named one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). ###
