Recognizing Our Supplier Award Winners!
The 2024 Supplier Awards Ceremony was held on May 16th from 2-3:30 PM in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union to celebrate our 2024 Supplier Award Winners, Suppliers Receiving an Honorable Mention, and the individuals who nominated them!
The Supplier Awards Program consists of 6 awards, each with a different emphasis. Each of the suppliers recognized as an award winner or honorable mention went above and beyond for Iowa State University, made an impact, assisted with new issues when they arose, and/or promoted sustainable practices.
The criteria for each of the Iowa State University Supplier Awards as well as how to nominate a supplier for an award, can be found on our Supplier Award Page.
Nominations for the 2025 Supplier Awards are now open!
Iowa State University 2024 Supplier Award Winners
- The Vernon Company – 2024 Customer Service Award Winner
Customer experience is always at the forefront for The Vernon Company. They strive to be not only creative but thorough. They provide several options as well as implementation examples and reasons why those options were chosen as well as timelines and costs.
They keep everyone informed and up to date throughout the entire process, including following up on anything that happens that could potentially cause a shipping delay.
The Vernon Company is also willing to jump in and do the pre-work so that everything is ready to go, if and when needed. Whether that be due to a concern about a shipment being damaged or a delay in project funding being released, the Vernon Company was ready to ensure that all the items needed for the event would be there on time.
- Dawn A. Humburg CPA, PLLC– 2024 Small Business Award Winner
Through the Small Business Development Center, Dawn has provided innovative and flexible consulting/counseling services in order to assist small businesses in a variety of industries on a variety of accounting topics, including establishing a chart of accounts, generating financial reports, sales tax, and QuickBooks.
Dawn A. Humburg CPA, PLLC exemplifies the impact small businesses can make in advancing the work of Iowa State University.
- Ames 2 Hy-Vee – 2023 Supplier of the Year Award Winner
Ames 2 Hy-Vee is not only very responsive, on time, and professional, but thorough and accurate, especially when they can work with clients ahead of time to pre-plan all of the details of an event!
This past summer they further demonstrated their extraordinary customer service and ability to collaborate as well as pivot when the Memorial Union had a kitchen fire and was unable to fulfill catering orders for scheduled events.
Ames 2 Hy-Vee’s quick response and willingness to assist allowed the 8:30 AM event to go on as planned with little to no disruption!
- RefurbUPS.com Inc. – 2024 Environmental Excellence Award Winner
RefurbUPS.com takes the time to quote not only what is requested, but to propose additional options to consider that could meet the University’s needs better, even if those options are less expensive.
They share Iowa State University’s commitment to sustainable business practices by recycling any lead acid or sealed lead acid batteries and putting the components of the batteries back into the battery manufacturing process, including reclaiming hazardous lead and chemicals to be safely reused.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific – 2024 cyBUY Supplier of the Year Award Winner
Thermo Fisher Scientific assures that their catalog is easy to use, searchable, and reliable, but it’s when an Iowa State Employee is looking for something with exact requirements or uncertain of what exactly they need that Thermo Fisher Scientific’s high-level and responsive customer service can truly be seen!
When Iowa State Employees need extra assistance to find the right instrument or item to meet their needs (no matter how big or small that item may be), our University Research Sales Representative, Ryan Pint has been there with both professionalism and expertise to assist!
- Baker Group – 2024 Strategic Partnership Award Winner
In addition to being responsive to Iowa State University’s needs and being clearly invested in the security of our faculty, staff, students, and facilities, Baker Group has demonstrated extraordinary collaboration and innovation by working to find and implement solutions that meet the specific requirements of both the users and the spaces.
Baker Group worked with all hardware vendors to set up test units in order to figure out a way to configure the units to work in a new way that will directly benefit Iowa State University.
- Caldwell & Gregory Laundry – 2024 Strategic Partnership Award Winner
In addition to being responsive to Iowa State University’s needs, Caldwell & Gregory Laundry has clearly demonstrated that they understand the impact their services have on the Iowa State student experience.
Caldwell & Gregory Laundry demonstrated extraordinary collaboration and innovation when they not only found but expertly resolved the problem with the existing card readers that enabled Iowa State University to continue to use the card readers that were already in place.
When a washing machine broke down in an on-campus student apartment, the Caldwell & Gregory technician, after determining what parts would need to be ordered to make the repair, reached out to the Department of Residence to see if there were any empty apartments from which they could swap machines while waiting for the part.
This proactive and thoughtful approach to providing an alternate solution resulted in instant student satisfaction and a positively impacted Student Experience!
2024 Suppliers Receiving an Honorable Mention
- Magellan Promotions
Magellan Promotions was recognized for their outstanding performance and unwavering commitment to excellence in every aspect of their service, and their collaborative approach!
- Martin Bros. Distributing Company, Inc.
Martin Bros. was recognized for exceeding expectations by assisting our chefs with recipes, providing alternate options when items are out of stock, having backup plans in place if they are not able to get a product in, and their willingness to stock a product Iowa State would like to try!
- NCI, A Thomas Scientific, LLC Company
NCI was recognized for their responsiveness and our University Sales Representative, Ben Reed’s willingness to demo and tailor systems, provide training, follow up and check in on their microscopes routinely, and to troubleshoot and help fix an issue, even if that results in replacing the piece of equipment.
- Percival Scientific, Inc.
Percival Scientific was recognized for their responsiveness, excellent repair support for existing equipment, willingness to retrofit existing equipment, and willingness to collaborate with researchers.
Congratulations to the 2024 Iowa State University Supplier Award Winners and those receiving an Honorable Mention!