From championing conversations on equity, diversity and inclusion on Viva Engage, to empowering thousands of frontline workers with the ability to connect with colleagues, our 2023 Viva Engage Community Champions boast impressive resumes.

It wasn’t an easy task working through the stack of nominations for the 2023 Viva Engage Community Champion, with so many worthy recipients who are making positive impacts in their workplace by initiating and nurturing Viva Engage conversations and connecting colleagues.

While we’d love to celebrate and recognise all the nominees, we’re sure you’ll agree this year’s winners are fully deserving of their accolade.

Drumroll please! The 2023 Viva Engage Community Champions are:

The 2023 winners were announced at the 2023 Viva Engage Festival. Enjoy watching the announcements of the champions and each recipient’s response in the recordings below.

Colum Coomey - Australia Post

Colum Coomey has been the driving force behind the introduction of Viva Engage to Australia Post's 70,000 team members. Lucinda Tippett, who nominated Colum for the award, said the introduction of Viva Engage means it’s the first time Australia Post’s frontline team members have been able to connect with each other and the business.

“He set up the architecture of our platform, drives amazing campaigns through it, has created a champions network and runs training each week for People Leaders, Support Office team members and also our frontline teams,” Lucinda said in her nomination.

Colum takes SWOOP Analytics to Australia Post’s leaders and meets with the executive leadership team to guide them on how they can improve their personas and engagement on Viva Engage, Lucinda said. She said everyone wants to tap into Colum’s knowledge, skills and enthusiasm.

“He shares what is the best content methods, is teaching the team how to create engaging content across videos, graphics and normal posts,” Lucinda said.

“He is so busy because everyone wants Colum in their corner helping them to explain Viva Engage or partnering with them to 'sell' the benefit to their teams.

“He is, of course, a leader across all of the platforms leader boards and overall doing this with so much energy and engagement.”

Watch the announcement of Colum’s award in the video below.

Stacey Brown - HCSC

Words like “amazing”, “inquisitive”, “we love working with her” are used to describe Stacey Brown from US health insurer HCSC.

Stacey was nominated for the Viva Engage Community Champion award by her colleague Evan Krause, who was full of praise for Stacey’s efforts to get colleagues engaged and using data to show the effect of having conversations on Viva Engage.

“Stacey does a great job coordinating our Viva Engage metrics campaign, including educating our community admins/communication consultants on how to use key engagement metrics, and measuring the metrics against goals to share with leadership,” Evan said in his nomination.

“This includes strategic Viva Engage posts, conducting multiple events throughout the year to promote Viva Engage best practices and getting community admins up to speed.

“Stacey’s outstanding efforts are helping ensure employee engagement on Viva Engage.”

Watch the announcement of Stacey’s award in the video below.

Rajinder Pryor MBE - Network Rail

Rajinder is dedicated to connecting colleagues and improving communication across Network Rail, and her words are inspirational for any Viva Engage community facilitator.

"I write with purpose, I write with a deep passion and I write with power," Rajinder said after being announced as this year's Community Champion for the EMEA region, and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Debora Marsh, who nominated Rajinder for the award, said Rajinder’s Storyline on Viva Engage was the first to start trending, and her influence stretches across communities and topics.

“She champions equity, diversity and inclusion and uses (Viva) Engage to raise awareness and start discussions,” Debora said.

“From mental health to parenting, faith and festivals, to praise she does it all! She's helping us showcase the versatility of Engage and bringing more users onboard every month!”

Watch the announcement of Rajinder’s award in the video below.

Congratulations to Colum, Stacey and Rajinder

Congratulations to Colum, Stacey and Rajinder on being crowned the 2023 Viva Engage Community Champions! We also want to acknowledge the dozens of others who were nominated for the award by their peers. We’re on the lookout for the 2024 Viva Engage Community Champions so please start thinking about your nomination for the year ahead.