Yunta Awarded the 2003 Thomas Crowley Trophy

Nelly Yunta, regional sales manager for Crowley's liner services group in Miami, was awarded the 2003 Thomas Crowley Trophy, Crowley Maritime Corporation's highest honor, at ceremonies this week in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Created more than a decade 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 award at the ceremony, which was attended by dozens of local employees, sales executives from throughout Latin America and the United States and members of the senior management team. Also included in the group were previous Thomas Crowley Trophy recipients: Rinus Schepen, senior vice president and general manager, Latin America services; Jay Brickman, vice president, Mexico and Cuba services; Mike Hopkins, vice president, operations, and Jose Roberto Bodewig, general manager, El Salvador

"Nelly has been instrumental to our success in the South Florida market for some time now," said Crowley. "Her talent in developing customer relationships and solving problems along with her thorough knowledge of our industry, strong work ethic and respect she has earned from her team members make her a very worthy recipient of this award."

Yunta is widely credited with establishing relationships and securing new business from some of Crowley's most important customers today. Several years ago, she was a leader in the organization and supervision of the company's very first apparel services department many years ago, which has become a model for the industry. And early in her Crowley career, after a reorganization of the company's Central America liner operations, Yunta was a key contributor to the consolidation of systems and personnel into one cohesive freight services group.

"I am very honored and grateful to be named the recipient of this very special award," Yunta said. "It has such great meaning to everyone in our company. I look forward to sharing the award with all the other talented Crowley employees who work with me to make our company the best in the business, and with our customers who have supported me personally as well as the company."

Yunta joined Crowley in 1988 as a senior coordinator in the Miami traffic department. A month later, she was promoted to supervisor of traffic. In 1989, she was promoted to manager of freight services where she supervised the booking, traffic, documentation and customer service departments. She assumed her present position as regional sales manager in 1998

Prior to joining Crowley, Yunta worked for various freight forwarders, including Danzas International. She earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Earlier this month, a Thomas Crowley trophy was presented to Jim Van der Veen, director of contract services for Crowley's energy and marine services group in Seattle.