Photo Credit: U.S. State Department.
For the fourth time in five years, a USCIB member has won the U.S. State Department’s Award for Corporate Excellence, an honor bestowed on U.S. companies that undertake responsible business activities to improve lives and advance the needs of local communities around the world.
The Coca-Cola Company received the 2014 Corporate Excellence Award for providing disaster relief services to areas in the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Coca-Cola improved water quality through its efforts to support watersheds, increase access to safe water, and educate communities on water conservation.
The company also partnered with the Philippines Department of Education to increase access to primary education for more than 60,000 disadvantaged children.
This year’s other awardees included Wagner Asia Equipment for its commitment to public-private partnerships in Mongolia to protect the environment, and EcoPlanet Bamboo Group for its sustainable development work regenerating degraded pasturelands in Nicaragua. Wagner is one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in the western United States, and Caterpillar is a longtime USCIB member.
Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, reflected that the awardees’ efforts were “perfect examples of the way the private sector can minimize its impacts on the environment and society and also proactively partner with the public sector to respect and promote basic human rights where they operate, which is key to securing and preserving their social license to operate.”
Shaun Donnelly, USCIB’s vice president for investment and financial services, and Eva Hampl, director for investment trade and financial services, attended the Corporate Excellence Award ceremony at the State Department, officiated Cathy Novelli, undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, and Ambassador Charles Rivkin, assistant secretary in the bureau of economic and business affairs at the State Department. Novelli presented the Corporate Excellence Award to Ahmet Bozer, Coca-Cola’s executive vice president and president of Coca-Cola International.
Coca-Cola also won the Corporate Excellence Award in 2002 for its work in Egypt. Recent USCIB member winners have included Intel in 2012, Proctor and Gamble in 2011, and Cisco in 2010. Two other USCIB members, General Electric and Chevron were among the other finalists for this year’s award.
Read Ambassador Rivkin’s remarks at the 16th Annual Awards for Corporate Excellence.
For more information on State’s Corporate Excellence Award, please visit: http://www.state.gov/e/eb/ace
Staff contacts: Shaun Donnelly and Eva Hampl
