Charlie Dominguez, vice president of sales and marketing, Latin America, for Crowley Maritime Corporation's liner services group in Jacksonville, and Jerry Dowd, vice president of labor relations in Seattle, were awarded 2006 Thomas Crowley trophies, the company's highest honor, at ceremonies in Jacksonville.
Created 20 years ago, the Thomas Crowley Trophy award honors employees with outstanding performance, whose dedication, leadership, initiative and productivity most clearly reflect those of the company's founder. The trophy, a limited edition, bronze sculpture depicting young Thomas Crowley as he ferried goods to and from ships on San Francisco Bay in the early 1890s, is a tribute to the founder of the company as well as the winners of the award.
Tom Crowley, Jr., chairman, president and CEO, presented the awards at the ceremony, which was attended by about 100 area employees. Also included in the group were eight previous Thomas Crowley Trophy recipients: Dennis Derby, vice president of business development; Rudy Leming, vice president of Caribbean services; Tom Farmer, vice president of pricing and yield management, Puerto Rico/Caribbean; Charlie Nalen, vice president of environment, safety and quality assurance; Cole Cosgrove, general manager of ship management, and Arthur LaMoureaux, director, internal audit.
"Charlie and Jerry have been major contributors to the company's success for a number of years and are very worthy recipients of this recognition," said Crowley. "Charlie has helped our Latin America business achieve unprecedented results, while carving out enough time in his busy schedule to be an instructor and facilitator for our Leading One Crowley training - a program for all employees that is designed to help build a high performance culture at Crowley. He has handled both tasks admirably and with great success."
"Jerry has helped us develop and implement a labor strategy based on trust and cooperation that has given us an unparalleled working relationship with all of our unions," Crowley said. "Instead of having adversarial relationships with our unions, Jerry has helped build partnerships, where everyone benefits from the growth and success of our business."
Dominguez and Dowd were completely surprised at the recognition and expressed thanks to their coworkers.
"The team we have here at Crowley is very special," Dominguez said. "While I am grateful for the personal recognition, I know that it wouldn't be possible without the support of my Crowley teammates, our loyal customers and most of all my family."
Dowd said, "I too am very appreciative of this special recognition - particularly because I know this award means so much to Tom, to the employees that have received it previously and to all those who one day aspire to receive it. The trophy may have my name on it, but in reality it should have the names of everyone who has worked together with me over the years, including labor leaders, with whom we have forged excellent working relationships."
Dominguez joined Crowley in 1983 as director of marketing and sales in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Over the past 24 years, he has been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility within the liner services sales organizations, and he attained his present position as vice president of sales and marketing in 1999.
Dowd joined Crowley in 1984 as director of personnel and labor relations in the company's then California division. He was promoted several times to positions of increasing responsibility within the human resources and labor relations fields - primarily for the company's Marine Services business unit. He attained his present position as vice president of labor relations for the entire corporation in 2003.
