Amanda Pick Awarded Globe and Mail's "Top 12 Innovators" Title for Forward-Thinking Missing Children Search Program

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Sept. 18, 2014) - The Globe and Mail's Innovators at Work Contest recognizes talented people who not only have great ideas but also turn them into reality through their drive and their actions. Amanda Pick, Executive Director, Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC), has just been awarded one of twelve coveted "Top Innovator" titles in the contest's Public Sector and Academia category for her forward-thinking and highly effective Missing Children Search Program.

"This is such an incredible honour," says Pick. "I'm truly grateful to Globe and Mail readers and the panel of judges for recognizing the power of this program to really make a difference in people's lives and to bring children home. It's both humbling and inspiring to be part of an initiative that is changing our country and leading the world in the fight to stop child abduction."

Endorsed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the MCSC Search Program is an emergency rapid-response network that works to reunite missing or abducted children from across Canada with their families.

The Program comprises three distinct channels of engagement:

• Marketwired Alliance allows critical child search alerts to be instantly sent to thousands of media outlets across the country, harnessing the reach of traditional and digital media.
• The World's Most Valuable Social Network, created by Grey Canada, allows MCSC to notify users, who have donated their feeds via Facebook and Twitter, of missing children in their area, effectively creating the world's first online search party.
• CodeSearch™ is a rapid response app-based communications and technology platform that engages corporate partners, their employees and resources, through geo-targeted push notifications and real-time news feeds. This first-of-its-kind platform was developed by Calgary-based Strut Creative.

Partnership is fundamental to the Search Program's development and success - with law enforcement and other first responder groups, the general public, and, most uniquely, with our many corporate partners, who see both business and social success through their involvement in this initiative.

Dan Debow, Senior Vice-President of Emerging Technologies at Salesforce.com, says, "What I saw [in the Search Program] was that this project isn't just about business, but innovation in the way we deliver better community."

The Missing Children Society of Canada encourages every single Canadian CEO to get involved in this game-changing program and play an active role in keeping our children and families safe.

MCSC would also like to give special thanks to the technology partners who have made the Search Program possible: MarketWired, Grey Canada and Strut Creative.

To learn more about the Missing Children Society of Canada, please visit www.mcsc.ca.

Background

Since 1986, the Missing Children Society of Canada has been reuniting missing children with their searching families through professional investigations, public awareness and family support programs. MCSC's team of former law enforcement work closely with municipal and federal police agencies nationally and internationally while conducting frontline, hands-on investigative and search activities.