H&R Block Honors its 2023 “Best of Block” Associates During Town Hall Event

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) today announced its 2023 Best of Block award winners at the company’s Town Hall meeting held near the company’s Kansas City, Mo. headquarters. This award is presented annually to the top 25 H&R Block associates who have gone above and beyond to positively impact business performance.

The Best of Block awards program is a key milestone of H&R Block’s recognition culture which is grounded in celebrating the outstanding achievements of associates and franchisees. Other internal award programs include the Henry W. Bloch Excellence in Client Service Awards and franchise recognition programs, including the Top 100, Elite 25, and Featured Franchisee of the Year.

"The Best of Block honorees are being celebrated for taking risks, acting boldly and solving tough problems in the spirit of bringing to life H&R Block’s purpose: to provide help and inspire confidence in our clients and communities everywhere,” said Tiffany Monroe, Chief People and Culture Officer at H&R Block. "These 25 leaders are amazing examples of our Connected Culture, and we are honored to recognize and thank them for all they’ve done to help make Block better – for each other, our clients and communities.”

Each year, H&R Block associates nominate other full-time regular associates, corporate seasonal associates and international for the Best of Block award. Finalists are then chosen by H&R Block’s senior leadership team.

Best of Block Award winners led projects or initiatives that support the company growth and transformation strategy, Block Horizons 2025.

Meet two of the honorees here:

Brian Bustos, Director, Experience Strategy
Brian created and led a cross-functional multiple-sprint effort to identify opportunities and solutions, test concepts with customers and tax pros, and prioritize the right work to make the biggest impact. Thanks to this brand-new process, teams are quickly identifying opportunities, continually evolving the client experience and driving real value and change for the upcoming tax season.

"My work over the last year has been focused on bringing people together to take bold swings at problems that impact our customers and tax pros. The success I’ve had at Block is merely a reflection of incredible teammates working together to elevate the experience. I’m grateful for all the support I’ve received from my leaders, teammates and family through it all.”

Carrie Carpenter, Program Manager, Talent Acquisition
Carrie creatively attracted and hired tax office associates in a highly competitive job market by rolling out centralized live interactive recruiting events, marketing videos, programmatic social media and more. She also added recruiting “office hours” to help answer questions from talent in real time and built training content to ensure the best onboarding experience possible for new associates.

“This award holds great significance to me because it represents recognition of my efforts and achievements here at Block. It serves as a reminder that I’m valued and appreciated, which fuels my commitment to what I do.”

The full list of 2023 Best of Block award winners are:

• Kelly Adrian, Senior Product Manager, Global Consumer Tax
• Nancy Arnold, Head of Sales, Strategy and Small Business
• Carl Breedlove, Lead Tax Research Analyst, Legal
• Lindsey Bromberg, Program Manager, Information Technology
• Brian Bustos, Director, Experience Strategy, Marketing and Experience
• Gina Carothers, Senior Paralegal, Legal
• Carrie Carpenter, Program Manager, Talent Acquistion, People and Culture
• Andrew Clark, Director, Product Design, Marketing and Experience
• Jay Duke, Block Advisors District General Manager, Global Consumer Tax
• Tim Gillissen, User Experience Design Manager, Marketing and Experience
• Aubrey Holden, Director, Corporate Tax, Finance
• Matt Horton, Director, Corporate Tax, Finance
• Jeremy Isaacson, Manager - Technology, Information Technology
• Tebu Jacob, Manager - Technology, Information Technology – India
• Vin Kamat, Principal Architect, Information Technology
• Varnit Karumuri, Senior Product Manager, Global Consumer Tax – Canada
• Dann Michelson, Lead Software Engineer, Information Technology
• Katherine Nelson, District Operations Coordinator, Global Consumer Tax
• Shilpi Pathak, Vice President, Go-to-Market Strategy, Marketing and Experience
• Vicky Roberts, Program Manager, Information Technology
• Nicole Marie Rosencrantz, Director, Financial Services
• Kelsey Ryan, Manager, Finance
• JJ Shepherd, Senior Data Visualization Developer, Finance
• Chrissy Thomas, Franchise Regional Director, Global Consumer Tax
• Garrett Zwolenski, Manager, P&C Systems, People and Culture
  

About H&R Block
H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) provides help and inspires confidence in its clients and communities everywhere through global tax preparation services, financial products, and small-business solutions. The company blends digital innovation with human expertise and care as it helps people get the best outcome at tax time and also be better with money using its mobile banking app, Spruce. Through Block Advisors and Wave, the company helps small-business owners thrive with year-round bookkeeping, payroll, advisory, and payment processing solutions. For more information, visit H&R Block News.

For Further Information

Media Relations:	Teri Daley, (816) 854-3787, teri.daley@hrblock.com
	Heather Woodard, (816) 379-2568, heather.woodard@hrblock.com
Investor Relations:	Michaella Gallina, (816) 854-3022, michaella.gallina@hrblock.com
	Jordyn Eskijian, (816) 854-5674, jordyn.eskijian@hrblock.com