Karina Degan off to the World Service Championships
By Sonia Isaacs
Beerwah Shell Team Leader, Karina Degan has won the Australian Service Champion of the year for all Shell fuel distributors Australia. This is an outstanding achievement for Ms Degan, and notable national recognition for the Beerwah Shell service station.
Ms Degan was awarded the prestigious title at a recent gala industry event in Brisbane, which acknowledged her customer service excellence as the best in Australia from over 1300 Shell and Liberty station operators across the country.
Ms Degan said she was thrilled and honoured to receive the award.
“We have a really strong team here and we value everyone who comes into our store. We place a big emphasis on providing good old fashioned customer service,” she said.
This is the second time in five years that a national winner has been placed from Beerwah.
General manager Steve Williams said the win was an incredibly well-deserved achievement.
“Karina consistently goes above and beyond for our customers, and we are absolutely stoked for her recognition and win,” he said.
Mr Williams said he was extraordinarily proud of the team and said it was also significant that this was the second time the national title had been won by the Beerwah leadership team, with previous Shell Team Leader Frances Ross taking out the same title back in 2018.
“This just highlights the incredibly strong local customer service focus we have in our Shell business, and the strength of our women in the workplace. Our Shell servo has also won many other awards and nominations over recent years to back our great business up, so this is not a one-hit-wonder award.
“This win reflects well for the business but also reflects well for our town, with the service provided at Beerwah recognised as the best in Australia,” he said.
Operations manager Frances Ross said she felt like a ‘proud mum’ after the announcement of Ms Degan win.
She said people didn’t realise the depth of the achievement and the extensive criteria involved to even nominate for the award.
“We had to submit over 20 pages of supporting criteria to nominate for this award. I really feel like a proud mum, which highlights how we all feel like a family here, and I’m just so proud of Karina.
It’s been wonderful to see her grow and flourish as a team leader and witness her confidence in her ability improve, and have her success recognised by Viva Energy and Shell,” Ms Ross said.
Ms Degan will now go on to represent Australia in the World Service Championships, to be held in Singapore later this year.
sonia@gcnews.com.au
