Manuel Pietra Nominated for Next Generation Executive Award

Global customer-centric strategy and corporate social responsibility recognized by leading research and innovation organization

Ottawa, Canada (April 7, 2011) - FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth, today announced that FreeBalance President & CEO, Manuel Pietra, has been nominated for the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) Next Generation Executive Award. This “award recognizes an individual who has had a significant impact on the success and/or transformation of their organization as a direct result of their leadership.”

Winners will be announced at the OCRI Awards Gala on Thursday April 7, 2011 at the Hilton Lac-Leamy. The OCRI Awards Gala is the premier awards event for the region’s business, research and academic community. The annual event recognizes the achievements of successful entrepreneurs and in National Capital region.

"This award validates the positive changes that people at FreeBalance are helping make around the world," said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. "Global citizenship commits FreeBalance to international country development, active participation in the global community, and corporate social responsibility."

In mid-2006 following his appointment as FreeBalance President & CEO, Mr. Pietra initiated a new business strategy. This new business plan better addressed the global government market. Strategic goals were changed. The company re-organized. The new FreeBalance business model and planning process was based on the premise of “customers for life” The company added new customers in Canada, Pakistan, Palestine, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, and Liberia. FreeBalance is committed to supporting children’s programs in the developing world. FreeBalance has established partnerships with organizations such as SOS Children’s Villages to directly impact the lives of thousands of children.

Mr. Pietra spearheaded a transition to a FOPSE software company where Corporate Social Responsibility is core to decision-making. FreeBalance solutions for Public Financial Management (PFM) help developing nation government improve governance and improve development outcomes.

Refining processes to be more customer-centric has resulted in improvements in FreeBalance sales execution and operational efficiency. The company is growing at a rate of 18-20% per year thanks to operationalizing and adapting the strategy originally developed in 2006. FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 19 countries, including Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Southern Sudan. FreeBalance operates in 15 customer time zones. FreeBalance has more than 70,000 users around the world. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and also manages a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

About Manuel Pietra, FreeBalance President and CEO
Manuel Pietra is a global executive with more than 20 years of successful management experience from companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Latin America. As President and CEO of FreeBalance, Mr. Pietra leads global growth strategies, organizational restructuring and customer engagement. Manuel Pietra has held executive positions on the boards of several international companies and actively participated in the venture capital arena. He holds a degree in Business Management from the South African Institute of Management and is a board member for the International Consortium on Government Financial Management (ICGFM). Mr. Pietra is multilingual and often speaks at high profile investment seminars and technology conferences across the world in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

About Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI)
Leading the way for Ottawa, OCRI is the city’s economic development agency. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education, research and talent together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa’s knowledge-based companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life. For more information on OCRI visit our website at www.ocri.ca and for more information on the Ottawa Region please visit www.ottawaregion.com. In 2010, Ottawa was named one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

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