ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct 27, 2011 - Xerox Corporation's Sophie Vandebroek has been selected as this year's Champion Outie Award winner, at the annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit. Vandebroek, Xerox's chief technology officer and president of the Xerox Innovation Group, was presented with the award today, during the group's annual conference in Dallas.
The Out & Equal Workplace Summit provides employers and employees a place to share information and resources in order to create, develop, and foster an out and equal workplace environment for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees.
As the champion award winner, Vandebroek was recognized as the non-LGBT person who has played a pivotal role in championing equal treatment of LGBT employees on the job.
"The Champion Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to advancing workplace equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community," said Selisse Berry, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates founding executive director. "Sophie has repeatedly demonstrated her support as an enthusiastic friend and executive ally to the LGBT community at Xerox and beyond."
At Xerox, Vandebroek serves as the corporate champion of GALAXe Pride at Work, an official Xerox caucus group for employees who are or who support LGBT persons. As corporate champion, Vandebroek has helped GALAXe accomplish such goals as: transgender benefits, Xerox support of the New York Marriage Equality Act, the Self Identification Initiative, LGBT Employee roundtables, the Executive Ally program, and revitalization of the different chapters. Additionally, GALAXe has more than doubled its membership in the last two and a half years, since Sophie became the group's executive champion.
"Being the champion for the Xerox LGBT employees has been a wonderful experience, enriching my life and allowing me to help Xerox's GALAXe caucus group accomplish its goal of making our workplace and the communities in which we all live as inclusive as possible," said Vandebroek.
Vandebroek, named to her current position in 2006, is responsible for overseeing Xerox's research centers in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States, as well as the Palo Alto Research Center.
Vandebroek was born in Leuven, Belgium where she earned a master's degree in electro-mechanical engineering from Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
About Xerox
Xerox Corporation is a $22 billion leading global enterprise for business process and document management. Through its broad portfolio of technology and services, Xerox provides the essential back-office support that clears the way for clients to focus on what they do best: their real business. Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., Xerox provides leading-edge document technology, services, software and genuine Xerox supplies for graphic communication and office printing environments of any size. Through ACS, A Xerox Company, which Xerox acquired in February 2010, Xerox also offers extensive business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing services, including data processing, HR benefits management, finance support, and customer relationship management services for commercial and government organizations worldwide. The 134,000 people of Xerox serve clients in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit http://www.xerox.com , http://news.xerox.com , http://www.realbusiness.com or http://www.acs-inc.com . For investor information, visit http://www.xerox.com/investor .
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SOURCE: Xerox Corporation
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