Smartsheet Recognizes Inspirational High School Teachers

Bellevue, Wash. – May 31, 2013 - Smartsheet.com Inc., a fast-growing online collaboration provider today announced that it has awarded excellence in the classroom grants to five Idaho high school math and English teachers. The winners, who each received a $5,000 grant, are: Paula Uriarte, Capital High School (Boise); Greg Hoetker, Timberline High School (Boise); Barb James, Kuna High School (Kuna); Matt Elven, Grangeville High School (Grangeville); and Tate Castleton, Canyon Springs High School (Caldwell).

High school students nominated a teacher they felt most deserved the recognition, and submitted their 100-word essays into a Smartsheet web form. Community judges then reviewed, sorted and ranked the students’ responses to select the winning teachers.

“As an employer, one of the most important factors in our success is the quality of our employees, and that usually starts with a strong education,” said Brent Frei, co-founder of Smartsheet. “We especially look for excellence in communication and critical thinking skills. Having teachers who inspire and challenge students is where it all begins, and we are very excited to recognize these five teachers, selected by their students, for their outstanding efforts in the classroom.”

Working with the Boise Public School Education Foundation, Smartsheet planned and executed the awards program in under two weeks. “One of our biggest takeaways from doing this program is how many organizations – both school districts and companies – shy away from grant programs such as this simply because of the logistics,” said Frei. “How do you get the word out, how do you collect and analyze the data? Not only do we applaud the Boise Public School Education Foundation for helping us recognize these truly amazing teachers, but we also proved there’s a viable way for organizations to run philanthropy programs like this and make a difference – quickly and effortlessly.”

Today, more than 27,000 organizations in over 100 countries license Smartsheet’s online collaboration platform to organize, plan and execute a broad spectrum of projects and processes ranging from marketing campaigns to product launches, business operations, strategic planning and HR initiatives. Smartsheet is deployed in a broad range of customer environments, from large enterprises including HomeAway, DHL, Toshiba, ESPN and MetLife, to small and medium-sized companies such as Massage Envy and Cypress Grove Chevre.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company, offers businesses an intuitive online collaboration tool. The ease of use of the familiar spreadsheet-like interface, coupled with file sharing, work automation and Gantt chart features have made it a popular and highly functional online collaboration tool for teams. Organizations worldwide rely on Smartsheet to help them manage their work. Customers include construction companies, consulting firms, schools and universities, utility firms, government entities, healthcare organizations, high-tech firms, non-profits, manufacturing and law firms, among others. Smartsheet also offers pre-built templates and integrations with leading cloud apps including Google Drive, Box and Salesforce to ensure users are up and running quickly. Visit www.smartsheet.com for more details.

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