The Soft Pitch

I frequently write in this blog about things Avnet is doing in the community – like the food drive that’s  or the pillow drive of a month or so back.  Part of why we have so much going on in the community is our people.  Especially our leaders.  One leader in particular.  Who was recognized as the Outstanding Volunteer Executive of the Year – Al Maag, my fellow blogger for Soft Pitch. You probably already know Al founded the Maag Toy Foundation more than 20 years ago, providing toys to children whose families might not be able to afford them.  It was great seeing Al recognized for all his work by the Business Journal of Phoenix and Hands On (formerly Make-a-difference).  Not only is he the founder of the Maag Toy Foundation, he’s the mastermind behind much of Avnet’s community involvement, including the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation (awards chair this year), president of the local chapter of Business Marketing Association (he instigated the formation of the local chapter last year), the B2B classic softball tournament  , Avnet Tech Games, etc. etc.  He roped me into the MDA executive telethon earlier this year and inspired other Avnet leaders to get more involved personally in a wide range of activities.

So, I’m talking about him and his award, because he won’t.  Too shy (not).   Maybe too modest(perhaps).  But probably just too busy.  I’m sure he’s already cooking up his next community event.

A record crowd and a record 36 Valley-area businesses competed in Avnet’s 7th Annual 16-Inch B2B (Business-to-Business) Softball Desert Classic tournament on Saturday, November 14 in Tempe, AZ. The 16-inch softball classic is one of Avnet’s key annual community outreach programs, attracted more approx. 1000 players and fans.

Men’s champion again for 5th year was Dirks Moving and Storage over Open Lane and Avnet’s warehouse team also going for 5 in a row failed as Infusionsoft upset them in the bottom of 7th with 2 runs in best game of the day.  The first-place co-ed team and men’s team won a Phoenix Coyote suite tickets; second-place teams won a $25 gift certificate for every team member to Don and Charlie’s, a local Scottsdale restaurant.

The big highlight was the XTRA Sports 910 beat the valley CEO’s 7-3. Lead by pitcher Gene Holmquist from Ensynch, Brad Casper from the Dial Corporation their MVP, Avnet’s Ed Smith, Ecoedge Barbara Johnson, Vince Adam and Bob Anderson our valued suppliers and Stephen Dow from Emerson, and ss Chuck Vermillion from OneNeck, among others competed, but failed to beat XTRA’s Bickley and MJ’s stars including Howler from the Coyotes. The CEO’s were coached by Avnet’s Vallee and Smith from SCF AZ.

The event benefit Spark of Hope, a Tempe-based organization that focuses on providing assistance directly to disabled children and their families who are not supported by traditional charitable programs.

It’s about fun, networking, employee morale and helping needy children — a grand slam. I’m so proud the game of 16″ softball is making a difference in the valley. I want to thank our sponsors and team behind the scenes lead by Lisa DeBride and Spark Design. Our brand is enhanced in so many a positive ways as we do these programs…one; as business improves some of these folks will become employees.

“There are not a lot of events that can bring so many local businesses together, especially one that benefits one charity,” said Ensynch President and CEO, Gene Holmquist. “It’s an opportunity for our coworkers to give back while also having the chance to meet other Valley professionals.”

The championship games and CEO vs 910 will be broadcast on Avnet’s web based video network, Avnet OnDemand , December 7 at

Hensley donated beverages, Vienna Chicago hot dogs were served and a children’s area included face painting, animal balloons and other events.
Tournament sponsors were: SCF Arizona, Ensynch and Computer Associates and the presenting sponsor is Spark Design. Also lending support: The Phoenix Sports Commission, PrismaGraphic, XTRA Sports 910AM, Brodeur Partners, Vienna Beef and BMA

It used to be that that quote “Good things come in small packages” made me think of the ruby bracelet my husband bought me for our 10^th wedding anniversary. Nowadays I veer off to thoughts of an iPod Shuffle the size of lapel pin or my newest toy, a Flip Mino HD.  I decided to give it a try and jump into video blogging after I heard Brad Whitworth from Cisco talk about how the ease of use convinced a top Cisco executive to blog for employees and customers using it.

 My first try? Definitely shaky cam style. I used it to interview the judges for the Avnet Marketing and Communications Awards.  I haven’t heard of other companies doing this – but Avnet has been holding an internal awards competition for its marketing professionals for more than 10 years now.  It recognizes the best of our marketing efforts, but also encourages Avnet marketers to try new things and benchmark themselves against their colleagues globally.

 (Hold on there Avnet employees – I’m not giving away any secrets here of who won.  You’ll have to wait for the awards ceremony to learn that!)

I wanted to write about Avnet’s award for the “greening” of its data center, then I saw that one of our IT directors has written about it internally and he has provided a much better write up than I could – so this comes from Bruce Gorshe, IT Director – Data Center Operations.  The list of small and big things show, Kermit the Frog got it all wrong. It can be easy to be green, you just have to be a little bit innovative:

Green Computing, Energy Efficiency and the Data Center – Avnet won!

Avnet was selected as the winner of InfoWorld’s 2009 “Best Practices in Green Computing, Energy Efficiency and the Datacenter.”

Jennifer McConnell (Director, IT) accepted the award for Avnet at the “Storage Networking World” annual storage convention held in Scottsdale, Arizona. The award represented the cumulative efforts of multiple teams and demonstrates how Avnet is a leader in the Green IT space.

Jennifer McConnell Accepting SNW Award

The winning entry included these main points, specifically, Avnet:

• Consolidated more than 300 pieces of hardware by retiring or collapsing systems into larger vertically-scaled servers.
• Created a heavily virtualized environment with 24 VMware ESX hosts supporting 378 virtual guests
• Deployed 15 product AIX frames, representing 538 systems across only 39 physical systems.
• Installed StorageTek’s Virtual Storage Manager system to move a storage area network environment.
• Replaced older less efficient air conditioners with newer air conditioners, which were more power efficient.
• Re-foamed the ceiling of its datacenter roof and applied additional insulation.
• Installed “subzero” air flow leakage cubes and high-flow perforated tiles.
• Replaced 250 T12 lighting ballasts with more efficient T08 ballasts.
• Developed a script that would run on all desktop and laptop systems connected to the datacenter to automatically place idle systems in hibernation.

The gains from these changes included:

• Avoided spending more than $5 million to expand the power supply to its datacenter.
• Decreased power consumption by 44% per image through its vertical scaling and virtualization efforts. It also freed a considerable amount of valuable raised flooring space within Avnet’s datacenter. Avnet now has 5,000 square feet of available raised flooring, up from 1,000 square feet, allowing Avnet to avoid structural build-outs costs.
• The new room air conditioners are 20% more efficient.
• Re-foaming the datacenter ceiling and applying additional insulation lowered Avnet’s datacenter cooling costs by $7500 per year, and increased the longevity of the cooling systems and roof.
• The “subzero” air flow leakage cubes and high-flow perforated tiles helped improve air flow by 90%.
• The new power efficient lighting reduced related costs by 30%.
• By placing idle computers in hibernation during non-business hours, Avnet will save an estimated $150,000 annually. Also, it significantly reduced Avnet’s power consumption. A desktop PC consumes approximately 137 watts of electricity; however, by placing it in hibernation, it only consumes one watt.

Blogging from the cell block today … locked up for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

 I’m doing my best to raise money for MDA   and looking for a little help from my friends. 

The jailbird raising funds for MDA!

Believe me, there have been moments when I wondered why I agreed to this.  But now that I’m here talking to these kids, there’s no doubt.  Kids just want to be kids – even if they’re in wheel chairs or wearing braces.  I like knowing we’re helping them.  At camp, they can do what all kids do at camp – go horseback riding, crafts, roast marshmallows – they just need a little extra help in case they have medical emergencies.  That’s where MDA comes in.  In between calls, e-mails and tweets to raise money, I’m talking to staffers and listening to kids talk – they all say the same thing: Camp is the best week of their life!  Imagine that, helping someone to have the best week of their life. 

These are the times I’m proud to work for Avnet.  First for getting me involved (through Al – thanks), second for supporting me with taking the time to do this (thanks again) and for giving me wonderful connections to colleagues and friends willing to support me (thanks a third time).

No surprises here, though.  Avnet has long had a commitment to the communities we serve. It’s part of our culture and how we do business.  One of the things I learned a long time ago is that people don’t care how much you know or how much you do, until they know how much you care.  Care about their business.  Care about them as people.  Care about those around them.  Sure we make good, sound business decisions based on long-term strategy and the drive for results.  BUT, deep down we’re all human and we like to do business with people we like.  And at the end of the day, we’re all in this together, so if we can do a little something good to help the community along the way, GREAT!

 So, time for me to go back to fund raising for MDA and see if I can’t raise enough to send another kid to camp.  For every $800 I raise, another kid gets to roast marshmallows under the stars and make a sand candle.  Want to help?  Here’s the website to donate.

 And let me take a moment here to thank a lot of folks who have already donated: Gail, Al, Steve, Roy, Joal, CarolAnn, Chris, Jun, Michele, Charlie, Ed, Steve, Bret, Grant, Teri, MaryAnn, Sean, Kathy, Jan, Mark, Jim, Linda, Erin, Philip, Rick, Stephanie, Steve, Julie, Joal, Cheryl, Michaelle, Ed, Sonia, Jane.  Thanks to all!  I started off wondering how I was going to do this – and now together we’ve raised more than $5,000 so far.  Now I know how I’m going to do this.  With a little help from my friends.