Ron Brown Award Winners Announced at White House Ceremony January 5, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez today presented the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership to Bayer Corporation, Johnson & Johnson and S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. at a White House ceremony.
Fully funded by the private sector, the Ron Brown Award is the only Presidential Award recognizing companies for outstanding achievement in employee and community relations. Sponsored and managed by The Conference Board, a global research and business membership organization, the Award was established by President Clinton in honor of the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
“Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, and SC Johnson are all very deserving of this award,” Gutierrez said. “These companies are helping the future leaders of our country develop the skills and talents necessary to compete and succeed in the 21st century. With their leadership, we will continue to create and sustain high paying jobs to maintain a prosperous economy, a safe environment, and successful U.S. businesses.”
Winners were selected by a blue-ribbon panel of independent judges. Bayer Corporation, based in Germany, is being honored for a program building the next generation of scientists and educating parents and students of everyday science. Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was chosen as a Ron Brown Award recipient for its national campaign to increase the diminishing nursing population. SC Johnson, based in Racine, Wisconsin, is being recognized for its commitment to environmentally responsible products.
Bayer Corporation’s “Making Science Make Sense(R)”
Media Contact: Rebecca Lucore, Bayer Corporation: (412) 777-5725, rebecca.lucore.b@bayer.com
Bayer Corporation, part of the worldwide Bayer Group, an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group, is honored for its program, “Making Science Make Sense” - an award-winning initiative that advances science literacy through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, employee volunteerism and public education.
As a science and research-based company, Bayer Corporation has a solid stake in helping to ensure that today’s students are well prepared for tomorrow’s workplace, regardless of the careers they choose. Bayer’s commitment stems from the fact that new technologies and concepts and increasing global market competition will continue to demand a workforce that is flexible, scientifically literate and equipped with the critical thinking, problem solving and team working skills fostered by a quality science education.
Through this program, more than 1,000 Bayer volunteers are reaching out to thousands of students and teachers in classrooms and extra-curricular programs every year; systemic science education reform programs are permanently changing the way science is taught and learned in grades K-8; public opinion surveys are conducted each year to identify current issues and concerns with U.S. science education; former astronaut and Bayer spokesperson Dr. Mae C. Jemison speaks on behalf of the importance of science literacy; everyday science is explained through experiments with students and parents via brochures and interactive CDs; and, www.BayerUS.com/MSMS shares results of surveys and additional information about the program.
“We are extremely honored to receive the Ron Brown Award. This recognition highlights our commitment to communities nationwide. I am especially proud of our employee volunteers who have taken a leadership role in advancing science literacy by sharing their insights and experience with scores of teachers and students around the country,” said Dr. Attila Molnar, Bayer Corporation president and CEO.
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is part of the worldwide Bayer Group, an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, as of April 2005, Bayer employed about 16,000 and had net sales in 2004 of 8.3 billion euros. Bayer’s three operating companies - Bayer HealthCare LLC, Bayer CropScience LP and Bayer MaterialScience LLC - improve people’s lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose and treat diseases, protect crops and advance automobile safety and durability.
Johnson & Johnson’s “The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future” Media Contact: Kristen Smith, Johnson & Johnson: (732) 562-3527, ksmith33@hcsus.jnj.com
With the nursing population at an all-time low, Johnson & Johnson is working with health care leaders and nursing organizations like the National Student Nurses Association, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the National League for Nursing, the American Nurses Association, the American Organization of Nurse Executives and Sigma Theta Tau International to rebuild a diminishing nursing population.
In 2002, Johnson & Johnson developed a multi-year, national campaign in support of the nursing profession entitled, “The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future.” This program is designed to bring more people into nursing, develop more nurse educators, and retain the talent already in the profession by providing one location (www.discovernursing.com) to learn about nursing programs, scholarships, jobs and ways to recruit and hire nurses.
The Campaign promotes opportunities in nursing and increases awareness of the value of the nursing profession, by utilizing television, print and interactive advertising, recruitment materials, a Web site, outreach to children and a network to help raise money for regional nursing communities. Since the Campaign’s inception, the nursing community has seen double-digit increases in nursing school enrollment.
“All of us at Johnson & Johnson are honored to receive the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership,” said Curt M. Selquist, Company Group Chairman, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc. “Throughout our history, we have worked directly with nursing professionals and we understand how critical they are to quality health care. Our efforts to help address the nursing shortage through The Campaign for Nursing’s Future, and our overall commitment to the nursing profession, continue to be high priorities for Johnson & Johnson.”
Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostic markets. The more than 200 Johnson & Johnson operating companies employ approximately 115,000 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world.
S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.'s “Greenlist(TM): Informed Choices for the Environment”
Media Contact: Kelly M. Semrau, S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.: (262) 260-2102, kmsemrau@scj.com
For more than a century, as a family-owned and -managed company, SC Johnson has been guided by the belief that the product decisions made today must be made for the next generation - not the next quarter.
“On behalf of everyone at SC Johnson, we are honored to receive the Ron Brown Award and salute the other recipients of this award who are making a difference,” said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. “This recognition of our Greenlist(TM) process is testament to SC Johnson’s ongoing commitment to doing what is right for the environment. If businesses work to make responsible raw material choices we can have a tremendous impact in protecting resources and the planet for future generations.”
In 2001, SC Johnson devised the environmental classification system Greenlist(TM) to transform the way the company measures, tracks and continues to advance its products to further the company’s longstanding commitment to environmentally responsible products. Through Greenlist(TM), SC Johnson continues to lead the way with responsible raw material choices.
Greenlist(TM) is a reflection of SC Johnson’s steadfast commitment to the environment and spirit of innovation. From being a pioneer in the introduction of water-based aerosols in 1955 to its leadership as the first company to remove chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from all aerosol products three years ahead of the 1978 U.S. mandate, Greenlist(TM) is the company’s most recent voluntary innovation to safeguard our shared environment. Greenlist(TM) goes beyond regulatory requirements to meet SC Johnson’s own high standards for product formulation.
As a patented system, Greenlist(TM) (US Patent No. 6,973,362) formalizes the classification of raw materials used in SC Johnson’s products according to their impact on the environment and human health. To that end, Greenlist(TM) has helped SC Johnson continue to phase out certain raw materials, and use more materials considered to be environmentally “better” and “best.” The result is a process that gives SC Johnson scientists around the globe ready access to a rating of ingredients in any new product or reformulation and enables them to continuously improve the environmental profile of the company’s products. Additionally, consumers get a more environmentally responsible product along with the performance excellence they trust and expect from SC Johnson.
SC Johnson believes knowledge is power - especially when it comes to protecting the environment. By sharing its Greenlist(TM) process with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada, the Chinese EPA, the U.K.'s Forum for the Future, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, industry associations, universities, corporations and others, the company has increased its impact. In addition, the company has partnered with suppliers to use insights from Greenlist(TM) to develop ingredients that are more environmentally sustainable. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, personal care and insect control. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE(R), WINDEX(R), PLEDGE(R), SCRUBBING BUBBLES(R), SHOUT(R), OFF! (R), RAID(R), ZIPLOC(R) and EDGE(R) in the U.S. and beyond. The 120-year old company, with more than $6.5 billion in sales, employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells products in more than 110 countries.
WINNERS JOIN SELECT GROUP OF PACE-SETTING ORGANIZATIONS
Bayer Corporation, Johnson & Johnson and SC Johnson join more than a dozen other organizations as distinguished winners of the Ron Brown Award. Past winners include: Alcoa Inc., Anheuser-Busch, BankBoston, Cascade Engineering, Cisco Systems, Fannie Mae, General Mills, GTE, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, KeySpan Corporation, Levi Strauss & Co., Luxottica Retail, Merck & Co., Inc., SBC Communications, Seafirst/Bank of America, Timberland, United Parcel Service, U S West (Qwest Communications) and Wal-Mart, among others.
“Once again, the winners of this intense competition prove that companies really can do well by doing good,” notes Richard E. Cavanagh, President and CEO of The Conference Board. “Bayer Corporation, Johnson & Johnson and SC Johnson are paving the way for a brighter tomorrow.”
The Conference Board’s Mission
The Conference Board creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society. Working as a global independent membership organization in the public interest, The Conference Board conducts conferences, makes economic forecasts and assesses trends, publishes information and analysis, and brings executives together to learn from one another. The Conference Board is a not- for-profit organization and holds 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. Visit The Conference Board’s website - www.conference-board.org
RON BROWN BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman Dana G. Mead Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retired Chairman and CEO Tenneco Inc. Curtis H. Barnette Chairman Emeritus Bethlehem Steel Corporation Alain J.P. Belda Chairman and CEO Alcoa Inc. Alma Arrington Brown (ex officio) Senior Vice President Chevy Chase Bank Carlos M. Gutierrez (ex officio) Secretary U.S. Department of Commerce C. Robert Henrikson President and Chief Operating Officer MetLife, Inc. Fred P. Keller Chairman and CEO Cascade Engineering Henry A. McKinnell Chairman and CEO Pfizer Inc. Daniel Mudd President and CEO Fannie Mae Stephen W. Sanger Chairman and CEO General Mills AWARD JUDGES Curtis H. Barnette Chairman Emeritus Bethlehem Steel Corporation Melissa A. Berman President and CEO Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Alma Arrington Brown Senior Vice President Chevy Chase Bank Rosabeth Moss Kanter Professor of Business Administration Harvard University School of Business Dana G. Mead Chairman of The Corporation Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retired Chairman Tenneco Inc. Paul Newman Founder and Chairman Newman’s Own Pat Noonan Chairman The Conservation Fund Franklin Thomas Retired President The Ford Foundation Raul Yzaguirre Arizona State University Retired President National Council of La Raza
The Conference Board
CONTACT: Keith Blackman, +1-202-530-4585, keith_blackman@was.bm.com; FrankTortorici, The Conference Board +1-212-339-0231,f.tortorici@conference-board.org
Web site: http://www.conference-board.org/
