SMA hosted the largest user group meeting in company history on October 24-26, 2012 at the Woodlands Resort & Conference Center, just north of Houston, Texas.

Guests were invited from across the nation to learn about SMA’s latest developments in event-driven business automation. Several SMArt Sessions attendees opted to take advantage of a full day of pre-conference training to gain more knowledge about advances in OpCon, SMA’s flagship technology.

Following the training, SMArt Sessions kicked off with a Welcome Reception where guests kicked back and relaxed with music by SMA’s own Cordy Ramer. General Sessions got underway the following morning with opening remarks from SMA’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael W. Taylor, the President of SMA USA, Kathy Hooker Burress, and SMA’s Chief Technology Officer, Todd Dauchy and included presentations from a variety of skilled OpCon experts.

For the first time in the event’s history, SMA took part in a live competition for an Annual Automation Innovation Award. Presenters included Peticia Strickland and Raul Ramon from AirForce Federal Credit Union, Damien Trachsler from Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, James Webster from Baxter Credit Union, Dustin Ganfield from Veridian Credit Union and Bruce Jernell from BayPort Credit Union.

This annual award is presented to the IT professional and organization that displays a combination of creativity, complexity, risk mitigation and/or significant ROI. Voting on presentations was done via live text. Everyone did a commendable job and this year the award went to Dustin Ganfield. Congratulations Dustin!

Everyone at SMA would like to offer a big thank you to all who attended, contributed and helped to make SMArt Sessions a great success this year!