Every year, the SAMA Excellence Awards shine a spotlight on organizations that advance strategic customer management from a function into a transformational business discipline. These awards honor companies that not only commit to deep customer partnership, but also deliver measurable business impact through disciplined process, cross-functional collaboration, and a relentless focus on creating value.
The awards serve as both recognition and roadmap. Winning organizations demonstrate what is possible when strategic account management becomes a catalyst for growth, innovation, and enduring customer trust. Their stories inspire the global SAM community and provide proof points that excellence is achievable at any stage of program maturity.
Submissions are open for the 2026 SAMA Excellence Awards™, and we invite organizations across industries, geographies, and SAM program maturities to share how they are advancing strategic customer value. The submission deadline is January 19, 2026.
Impact of the SAMA Excellence Awards
The SAMA Excellence Awards celebrate organizations that achieve standout results by strengthening their strategic customer relationships and solving mission-critical business challenges. Award recipients are recognized for mobilizing their organizations around customer value by aligning executive leadership, developing high-impact SAM talent, and embedding systems, processes, and tools that enable long-term success.
Winning a SAMA Excellence Award has meaningful internal impact as well. It raises visibility for strategic account management, reinforces organizational commitment, and validates the investments companies make in customer collaboration, digital innovation, and talent development. Externally, it signals to customers that they are engaged with a partner who is serious about creating meaningful, measurable outcomes.
Award Categories for 2026
SAMA will honor excellence across five categories:
- Systematic Enablement of the SAM Program: Learning & Development
Recognizes organizations that build high-performing SAM talent through innovative and scalable learning programs. These organizations equip account teams and leaders with the capabilities to collaborate, co-create, and deliver customer value at scale.
- Innovative Value Co-Creation
Celebrates organizations that go beyond meeting customer needs to anticipate them by co-developing solutions, identifying new growth opportunities, and fostering partnerships that deliver measurable business outcomes.
- Best Use of AI & Digital Innovation in SAM
Highlights companies transforming account management with AI, analytics, automation, and digital collaboration ecosystems. This includes predictive insights, digital co-innovation, and tools that free SAMs to focus on strategic priorities.
- Outstanding Young Program of the Year (less than 5 years)
Recognizes emerging SAM programs demonstrating rapid momentum, strong foundational elements, and early business impact.
- Outstanding Mature Program of the Year (5+ years)
Honors long-standing SAM programs that evolve continuously, sustain executive sponsorship, and deliver growth through disciplined methods, agility, and cross-functional alignment.
Lessons in Excellence: Highlights from Recent Winners
The 2025 fall issue of Velocity magazine featured powerful stories from organizations honored in the 2025 SAMA Excellence Awards. These stories illustrate the impact of strategic account management when it becomes an enterprise priority.
TÜV SÜD — Outstanding Mature Program of the Year
TÜV SÜD, a global leader in testing, inspection, and certification services, earned recognition for a mature SAM program that has evolved steadily since its launch in 2012. Their approach reflects disciplined program architecture, executive sponsorship, and continuous improvement.
As profiled in “A Blueprint for Excellence,” TÜV SÜD built a dual-layered account management structure supported by a centralized SAM Excellence Support Team. Over time, they introduced global standards, expanded account coverage, integrated AI-driven tools, and cultivated industry communities for knowledge sharing.
The results speak for themselves: strategic and key accounts consistently outperform organic company growth, revenue outside Germany has more than doubled, and internal alignment has strengthened across geographies and divisions. TÜV SÜD’s story underscores the power of long-term commitment, structured processes, and executive advocacy.
UL Solutions — Outstanding Young Program of the Year
In contrast, UL Solutions demonstrated how a program less than five years old can deliver remarkable impact. As detailed in “From Vision to Impact,” UL Solutions launched its Account Management program in 2022 to strengthen strategic engagement across 35 industries experiencing rapid technological and regulatory change.
With top-level sponsorship — including active involvement from the CEO and executive sponsors for every key account — the company built its program around key SAMA frameworks. A partnership with Valkre helped digitalize account planning, creating a single source of truth that enabled real-time collaboration and insight-driven action.
The program quickly became a cultural force inside UL Solutions, setting a new standard for cross-functional collaboration, customer co-discovery, and executive alignment. Their rapid progress demonstrates what’s possible when leadership, process, and technology align around customer-centered growth.
Explore Past Stories of Excellence
For additional inspiration, explore previous Velocity issue that showcase SAMA Excellence Award™ winners:
These archives offer insights into how organizations across industries build the capabilities, structures, and cultures that enable high-performing strategic account management.
Submit Your Program for the 2026 Awards
If your organization is advancing strategic customer value in meaningful ways — whether through talent development, innovative co-creation, digital transformation, or program excellence — consider submitting your story.
Submission deadline: January 19, 2026.
The SAMA Excellence Awards offer a platform to showcase your achievements, celebrate your teams, and share your insights with the broader SAM community. We look forward to recognizing the organizations that continue to push the boundaries of strategic customer collaboration in 2026 and beyond.
