The CEI Group, Inc. won a 2013 Bronze Stevie Award for Contact Center of the Year in the seventh annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service last night.

CEI, which provides fleet accident, risk management and driver safety services, won in the category of business and diversified services companies operating call centers with fewer than 100 seats. The awards were presented to honorees during a gala banquet on Monday, February 25 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. More than 300 nominated customer service and sales executives from the U.S.A. and several other countries attended

“We’re honored that the judges recognized our customer call center’s accomplishments last year under the leadership of its senior manager, Carol Gillespie,” said Vincent Brigidi, CEI’s president and chief operating officer. “We’ve always been committed to providing excellent customer service to our client fleets and their drivers, and it’s the reason we’ve maintained a high rate of fleet client retention.”

In its award entry, CEI highlighted its success in providing continuous service for the two days that its call center was without electrical power because of Hurricane Sandy. Before the storm, the company assembled an emergency team of 18 call center employees, put them up in a hotel adjacent to the call center, and operated its headquarters on power supplied by on-site diesel generators.

More than 1,100 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2012. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 120 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. More than 100 members of eight specialized judging committees determined Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging this year.

The awards were presented to honorees during a gala banquet on Monday, February 25 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. More than 300 nominated customer service and sales executives from the U.S.A. and several other countries attended. The Business Talk Radio Network will broadcast a recording of the presentations this Wednesday, February 27, at 8:00 pm ET.