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AMP Announces Employee Innovator Award Winners

Published on: 02/16/2022

Award recognizes oustanding innovation and creative thinking

COLUMBUS, OH:: In honor of National Innovation Day, American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP), is proud to announce the most recent recipients of the AMP Employee Innovator Award.

Rama Kuppa, senior director of business systems, was named as an individual winner; and the Communications Team, including Holly Karg, assistant vice president of communications and public relations; Michele Lemmon, manager of public relations and digital media; Zachary Hoffman, manager of communications and publications; and Julia Grimm, digital content specialist, are receiving the award as a team for their collective efforts in 2021.

Kuppa was honored for the innovation he demonstrated while working with users and vendor support teams on Oracle applications and for how he contributed to innovative solutions for the Oracle Re-Implementation Project, including defining the testing strategy and plans. He has also coordinated work for AMP and AMP Transmission on various projects, including bank interfaces with Oracle,  the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Enterprise Command Center and fixed asset data resolution. In addition to these larger tasks, among the best examples of innovation that he provides is the daily support of Oracle where he assists users in resolving issues, both short- and long-term. 

Throughout 2021, the Communications Team developed and produced the AMP 50 Years - Stronger Together campaign — a celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary. The successful campaign accomplished an innovative, multi-pronged approach to celebrate the organization’s service to its members, reflect on major milestones, highlight key turning points, spotlight growth in generation and membership and look ahead to the future. By largely producing the campaign in-house, the Communications Team demonstrated their strength in teamwork and an innovative approach to utilizing the skills and resources available to them.

The AMP Employee Innovator Award was established in 2021 to promote and support a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the organization. The award is given up to twice annually to recognize an employee or team of employees who demonstrate innovation through creative thinking, solutions or programs and/or cost-cutting mechanisms that benefit AMP and its members.