The spirit of giving and celebration was alive and well in Morristown, New Jersey.
The 39th Annual Awards & Charities Gala hosted by The Cannata Report brought together a vibrant mix of industry leaders to celebrate another year of remarkable achievements. Held at The Madison Hotel in Morristown, New Jersey, the evening showcased the office technology industry’s unity and commitment to making a difference. Attendees representing manufacturers, service providers, software innovators, and dealerships came together to honor excellence within the industry and support a cause close to the heart: advancing breast cancer research.
Emcee Bob Goldberg kicks off the 39th Annual Awards & Charities Gala.
This year’s theme, “Higher Ground,” inspired by Stevie Wonder’s 1973 song, highlighted the industry’s ongoing evolution to adopt changing technologies and to meet customer demands through diversification. Incidentally, The Cannata Report’s mission has not wavered much since the beginning as we continue to provide dealers with insights into diversifying their product offerings.
Generosity Rules
The event raised over $220,000 for Hackensack Meridian Health’s Center for Discovery and Innovation, contributing to a total of $1.75 million raised in recent years for the foundation. Since its inception, The Cannata Report’s annual gala has raised $3.25 million for charities nationwide.
A highlight of the evening was an auction of three autographed record albums, including Tina Turner Turner’s Greatest Hits, a duets album signed by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift’s Midnights album. Auctioneer Scott Cullen did his best to keep up with the competitive bidding, with the final tally for the three albums reaching $2,600. The high bidders included Frank Cucco of Impact Networking, Ed Carroll of TGI Office Automation, and Jennifer Healy of Ricoh USA. A fourth signed Taylor Swift album was added after the event at the request of one of the winners, raising the final total for the four signed albums to $3,600.
Award Winners
A total of 14 Frank Awards were presented, with Ricoh USA and Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America earning multiple awards. The winners were determined by The Cannata Report’s Annual Dealer Survey conducted earlier in the year.
Best Diversification Partner: Intermedia Cloud Communications. CJ Cannata; Mike Fontanella and Noel O’Dwyer, Intermedia Cloud Communications; Scott Cullen.
Diversification has been a long-standing mantra of The Cannata Report, and three awards recognized companies actively helping dealers diversify. The Best Diversification Partner award went to Intermedia Cloud Services, a provider of cloud-based communication systems. This is the second time the company has been honored with this award.
Best Production Print Manufacturer: Ricoh USA. Jim Coriddi and Jennifer Healy, Ricoh; Johnny Coates and Mary Jo Johnson, EO Johnson Business Technologies.
Best IT and Security Services Provider: ConnectWise. Larry Weiss, Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office; Jenna Miner, ConnectWise; John Lowery, Applied Innovation.
Best Technical Service Provider: Ricoh USA. 
Kyle Lowery, Applied Innovation; Chris DeMars, Ricoh; Dawn Abbuhl, Repeat Business Systems.
Readers of The Cannata Report know that Frank G. Cannata is bullish on production print, which he maintains is an exceptional diversification opportunity. This is typically a three-way competition between Canon, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh for Best Production Print Manufacturer. This year’s winner was Ricoh USA, a company with an extensive production print portfolio. Managed IT represents an equally viable diversification opportunity. The award for Best IT and Security Services Provider went to ConnectWise, the only company that has won this award since it was introduced four years ago. As service is an essential component of every successful dealership, for the past few years, we’ve been presenting an award for Best Technical Services Provider. This year’s winner was Ricoh USA.
Best A4 Manufacturer: Kyocera Document Solutions America. Frank Cucco, Impact Networking; José María Estébanez, Kyocera; Mike Lepper, Impact Networking.
Best-in-Class: Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. Jerry Blaine, LDI Connect; John Sheehan, Sharp; Melissa Confalone, Fraser Advanced Information Systems.
The Frank Award for Best A4 Manufacturer was presented to Kyocera, which edged out Sharp and Toshiba. Best Manufacturer, an award recognizing the manufacturer with the best overall product line, went to Sharp for the fifth consecutive year. Sharp also received the Frank Award for Best-in-Class, which honors the manufacturer with the best A3 and A4 products. Because service is such an essential component of any technology offering, the Best Technical Service Provider—the company that provides the best support in this area—was Ricoh. Sharp received the Frank Award for Best Marketing Strategy.
Best Marketing Strategy: Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. Deb Dellaposta, Doing Better Business; Bob Madaio, Sharp; Jim George, Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises.
Best Print Management Software Provider: ACDI for PaperCut Mitchell McMahon, Milner; Deana Dearry and Laura Rather, PaperCut; Mark Hart and Josh Lane, ACDI; Anthony DelGrosso, Milner.
Best ECM/Document Management Software Provider: DocuWare Michael Gale and Rick Bartlett, DocuWare; Richard Van Dyke, Advanced Office; Jim Roberts, Caleb Wolfe, Alex Solliday, DocuWare.
As the office technology industry has evolved over the past two decades, software has become a popular offering throughout the dealer channel. For the fifth year, we’ve presented two software awards, one for Best Print Management Software Provider and one for Best ECM/Document Management Software Provider. ACDI for PaperCut dominated the voting for this award once again, while the ECM/Document Management Software Provider Frank Award was presented to DocuWare for the fourth consecutive year.
Best Leasing Company: GreatAmerica Financial Services: Key Kain, Tawnya Stone, Sarah Burnes, Hannah O’Donnell, Jennie Fisher, Sally Brause, GreatAmerica; Susie Woodhull and Robert Woodhull, Woodhull LLC.
One category that has been surprisingly competitive for the past two years was Best Leasing Company where GreatAmerica Financial Services once again maintained its excellence in this category. GreatAmerica has won every year since this award has been presented. The company received strong competition from De Lage Landen (DLL) and LEAF Commercial Capital.
Best Manufacturer: Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. James Olson, Les Olson IT; Mike Marusic, Sharp; Troy Olson, Les Olson IT.
Best Male Executive: Jim Coriddi, Ricoh USA. Adam Weiss, Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office; Jim Coriddi; Brent Simone, Stratix Systems.
Best Female Executive: Laura Blackmer, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U.S.A. Noah Maphis, Cobb Technologies; Laura Blackmer; Toni Gorveatt, Cobb Technologies.
Sharp received the evening’s top award as Best Manufacturer. Winning the Best Male Executive Frank Award for the first time was Ricoh’s Jim Coriddi over Sharp’s Mike Marusic and Toshiba’s Larry White. For Best Female Executive, Konica Minolta’s Laura Blackmer was recognized once again by dealers.
Excellence in Innovation: Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America: Joe Blatchford, Image 2000; Dino Pagliarello, Sharp; Rick Bastinelli, Centric Business Systems.
This year, a new award was presented: Excellence in Innovation, recognizing a company that excels with its innovative technology offerings. Sharp received the award, receiving tight competition from Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and Toshiba.
Special Recognitions
In addition to the vendor awards, two special awards were also presented, including The Cannata Report’s Outstanding Veteran Award and the Frank G. Cannata Philanthropy Award.
Outstanding Veteran Award: Luke Oldenburg, Impact Networking. Oldenburg; Chris Johnson, Sharp.
Luke Oldenburg of Impact Networking received The Cannata Report’s Outstanding Veteran Award in recognition of his military service and dedication to helping promote the hiring of veterans like himself in the office technology industry. The award was presented by the 2023 recipient, Chris Johnson of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America.
The Frank G. Cannata Philanthropy Award: John Lowery, Applied Innovation. Eric Auman, Hytec Dealer Services and Lowery.
John Lowery, president and CEO of Applied Innovation, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was recognized with the Frank G. Cannata Philanthropy Award for his support for more than three hundred charitable organizations, including A Kid Again, Catholic Charities of West Michigan, Children’s Healing Center, and Aquinas College, where he serves on the Board of Trustee Executive Committee. Eric Auman of Hytec Dealer Services, the 2023 recipient, presented the philanthropy award to Lowery.
A Little Help from Our Friends
The event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, including lead sponsors Hytec Dealer Services and TD Synnex. ConnectWise, Static Control, Distribution Management, First Citizens Bank, Katun, and MPS Monitor served as presenting sponsors. HP sponsored the evening’s Cocktail Reception, and Xerox sponsored the Gala’s After Party.
Mark Your Calendar
The 40th Annual Awards & Charities Gala will take place in November 2025 with the exact date and location to be announced at a later time.
