GAF, a roofing and ventilation manufacturer, has been recognized by IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program as a 2011 Laureate. The annual award program honors visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change.

WAYNE, N.J. – GAF, a roofing and ventilation manufacturer, has been recognized by IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program as a 2011 Laureate. The annual award program honors visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change.

The recognized project is GAF’s Master Elite Certified Contractor Zone, a social networking website for GAF’s elite roofing contractors. Supporting one of GAF’s core missions – to help the best and most supportive roofing contractors grow their businesses, GAF launched this site to provide an easy to use collaboration tool to foster effective communication and facilitate sharing of information and best practices between contractors.

A key feature of the site is that contractors can include individual and company profiles, including photos of themselves and their completed projects, which are visible on www.gaf.com so that potential customers can make educated hiring choices. Using the site, contractors can participate in discussion forums on a variety of topics such as generating quality leads, reducing costs and increasing margins and roof maintenance or add their own forum topics. A section of the site is dedicated to vendor and services ratings that enable contractors to rate and review vendors and services they’ve used.

“The Master Elite Certified Contractor Zone was a collaborative effort between GAF Marketing and the GAF Information Technology teams,” stated Adam Noble, vice president and CIO at GAF. It took advantage of the complementary skills of both organizations and has provided an innovative solution for GAF Master Elite Contractors.”

“The number and quality of nominations this year were very inspiring and demonstrate how valuable IT is to community change,” said John Amato, publisher, Computerworld. “Computerworld is very proud to name the 2011 class of Laureates and showcase their initiatives benefiting society through innovative uses of IT.”

The Computerworld Honors awards will be presented at the Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony & Gala Awards on June 20, 2011 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. Computerworld Honors is the longest running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change.