Management Team
Pete Chambers
Chairman & CEO
Pete Chambers has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inspirus since he acquired the company in 1997. Through his leadership, Inspirus has more than quadrupled in size and has expanded its service offerings to fulfill the complete needs of companies seeking service recognition solutions. In 2007 as well as 2010, Inspirus, as the former Diamond H, was recognized as "One of the Best Companies to Work for in Texas."
He led the industry in the application of technology to the service award business and, more recently, has assembled a management team to develop and implement a technology solution for managing enterprise-wide recognition and workforce performance solutions for Fortune 1000 companies. In 2010 Pete was recognized as an HRO Today Superstar for his contributions to the HR industry.
Prior to Inspirus, Pete was active in plant operations, human resources, sales and distribution functions in Europe, California and Texas for his family's business, Chemical Lime Company. Following the sale of Chemical Lime, he was involved with the family's investment firm.
Pete is a 1992 graduate of Texas Christian University and also attended the University of Texas MBA program. He is a member of Recognition Professionals International and is a Certified Recognition Professional. Other associations include WorldatWork, Society for Human Resource Management, Incentive Marketing Association and Leadership Network. Pete is a past president of the West Texas chapter of Young Presidents' Organization and continues to be an active member.
Michael Cobb
President
Michael Cobb was named President of Inspirus in 2007. He brought more than 20 years of senior marketing and management experience to the challenge of developing and deploying the company's industry-changing Inspirus™ Technology platform.
Michael spent the early part of his career building global consumer brands such as Pizza Hut, Burger King, Hardee's, Pepsi, Lipton, GTE, KFC, Dannon and Frito-Lay as a senior executive with Omnicom (NYSE:OMC), one of the world's leading marketing companies. While at Omnicom, he served as president of PGC Advertising, a full-service mid-size agency dedicated to creating marketing momentum for branded products and services; Managing Partner of Tracy-Locke a $400M independent operating unit of Omnicom; and Tic Toc, an Omnicom unit that provides a broad array of business building solutions designed to accelerate brands at retail.
Michael received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising from Sam Houston State University and is a graduate of Omnicom's Global Senior Management Undergraduate and Graduate Programs. He is a member of Recognition Professionals International and is a Certified Recognition Professional.
Kimberly Smithson-Abel
VP, Strategy and Business Development
Kimberly Smithson-Abel joined Inspirus in 2006 as Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. She previously had been Vice President of Business Solutions and then President at Prosperiti, a privately held company focused on providing enterprise performance management and total reward systems to Fortune 1000 companies.
At Inspirus, Kimberly is responsible for leading the product development effort for the company's Inspirus Technology™ platform, used to design, develop and manage recognition and reward programs that are truly measurable. She is the company's resident expert in total recognition and is a recognized leader in the field.
Kimberly is a co-founder of the National Association of Employee Recognition (now called Recognition Professionals International) and is a leading industry author and spokesperson on the subject of enterprise recognition. Her books include "Middle Management; Your Lifeline to Recognition Buy-In," "The Power of Delivering People-Pleasin' Praise," "Six Secrets of Successful Recognition" and "Value of Impact on Recognition Programs."
Before Prosperiti, Kimberly founded and served as Vice President of Product Visioning and Performance Services for Cultureworx. Previously, she had been Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Incentive Automation.
Kimberly earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communications from North Central College in Naperville, Ill. and an Executive MBA degree from Loyola University in Chicago. She also has over 15 years of experience in Performance Solutions Consulting and Total Recognition Product Management.
Tim Hough
VP, Technology
Tim Hough joined Inspirus in 2008 as Vice President of Technology, primarily responsible for the deployment and integration of the company’s Inspirus Technology™ platform to Fortune 1000 customers worldwide. He is a recognized leader in business process transformation, large system deployment and the management of the software as a service (SaaS) method of software deployment.
Tim joined Inspirus from Centex Title & Insurance, where he was Vice President and Chief Information Officer and was responsible for supporting branch offices nationwide, as well as hardware and software purchasing and support, systems development and strategic planning.
Before Centex, Tim was Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Trammell Crow Residential, where he developed a national information services department based in Dallas. His previous experience includes managing information service operations for a national clothing manufacturer and a $75 million St. Louis-based construction company. From 1990-1994, Tim was President of Professional Choices Unlimited, a consulting firm providing systems engineering, application and database design and development.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from St. Louis University. He is a member of the DFW Technical Executive Networking Group.
Robbie Floyd
VP, Sales
Robbie Floyd is an industry veteran who has led the development and execution of hundreds of personal recognition efforts for category leaders across multiple business verticals.
Robbie joined Inspirus in 1997 as a sales representative. The following year, he was promoted to manager of the dealer division. In 2000, he was promoted to national sales manager, a position he held until his promotion in 2002 to Vice President of Sales.
Robbie earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1998. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Recognition Professionals International and is a Certified Recognition Professional.
Lesa Blakey
VP, Client Engagement
Lesa A. Blakey, Vice President of Client Engagement for Inspirus, is responsible for accounting, client services, media services, manufacturing, fulfillment, merchandising and packet assembly, as well as for all personnel programs and policies within Inspirus, including its reward and recognition program.
She also helps manage the internal Excellence Committee teams — the C.A.R.E Team, (which stands for Creating a Rewarding Environment) and the ISO Team of Champions and Auditors which does the behind-the-scenes work of auditing the company's ISO system to ensure compliance.
Lesa joined Inspirus in 2004 as Controller and was promoted to her present position in 2006. She was previously assistant controller for Master Meter Inc., responsible for handling the preparation of consolidated financial statements, bi-annual audits and GAAP compliance.
Lesa earned an MBA degree from Texas Woman's University and is a magna cum laude graduate of Texas Christian University, where she received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Dallas Human Resource Management Association.
Christopher Cheney
VP, Operations
Christopher Cheney officially joined Inspirus in February 2010 after 5 months as an Executive Operations Consultant for the organization. Cheney has experience in and executed implementations of Total Quality Management (TQM) process improvements, as well as 5S Lean Manufacturing principals.
Prior to joining Inspirus he was the SVP of Operations for Summit Marketing and was formerly the Senior Vice President of TharpeRobbins Company. While at TharpeRobbins, Cheney assisted in development and execution of strategic planning that established international partnerships that supported product sourcing, procurement, and fulfillment activities for customers with international locations in Canada, Europe and the Far East. He was also the executive owner of the Lean Manufacturing and Office Initiative, as well as ISO recertification within the facility.
Cheney attended the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.