Finalists Announced for the 2014 ETHIE Award
The Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation and its sponsoring institutions and partners announce the finalists for the 2014 ETHIE Award (originally known as The Rochester Business Ethics Award), now in its second decade. Further, 2014 represents the second year that non-profit organizations are eligible to enter; Rochester is one of just a handful of cities accepting entries from non-profits.
As decided by an independent panel of judges, of the entries submitted by area organizations, seven have been judged to be outstanding in their documentation of their commitment to ethical business practices, earning places as finalists.
The ETHIE awards are organized around company or organization size, as follows: small (1-50 employees), midsized (51-150 employees) and large (151+ employees).
The finalists are:
Small
Rainbow Restoration, 22 Flint St., Rochester, NY 14608, http://www.rainbowintl.com/monroecounty
· Organization Contact: Bob Cobb, (585) 370-6619, [email protected]
· CEO: Bob Cobb
· Primary Products or Services Provided: Rainbow Restoration is a disaster restoration company, cleaning up and drying out properties that have experienced a loss from fire, water or mold.
Rochester Rotary Club 180 Linden Oaks Rochester, New York 14625, www.rochesterrotary.org
· Organization Contact: John White (585) 377-0433 [email protected]
· CEO: Tracey Dreisbach (585) 5467435
· Primary Products or Services Provided: Affiliated with Rotary International and owners and operators of The Sunshine Campus, a world-class camping experience hosting over 2,500 local children and young adults annually with disabilities and special needs.
Mid-sized
Genesee Valley Motors, 1695 Interstate Drive, Avon, NY 14414, www.GeneseeValley.com
· Organization Contact: Dom Genova, (585) 226-6000, [email protected]
· CEO: Dom Genova, 585-226-6000
· Primary Products or Services Provided: Automobile dealership. New, Used, Service and Parts. Franchised for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ford.
Harbec Inc., 369 State Route 104, Ontario, NY 14519, www.harbec.com
· Organization Contact: Kate Chamberlain (585) 265-0010, [email protected]
· CEO: Robert Bechtold, 585-265-0010
· Primary Products or Services Provided: Harbec provides tightly toleranced prototypes, tooling, machined components and quality injection molded parts for the consumer product, sporting goods, defense/aerospace, transportation, medical, marine, and energy industries.
Large
Iberdrola USA Networks-RG&E, 89 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14649 www.iberdrolausanetworks.com
· Organization Contact: Dan Hucko, (585) 724-8825, [email protected]
· CEO: Robert Kump, 207.688.7303
· Primary Products or Services Provided: electric and natural gas distribution and other utility services.
Optimation Technology, Inc. 50 High Tech Drive, Rush, NY 14543 www.optimation.us
· Organization Contact: Jennifer Palumbo (585) 321-2713 [email protected]
· CEO: William Pollock, PE (585) 321-2300
· Primary Products or Services Provided: Optimation provides engineering, design, fabrication and assembly, and construction and maintenance services for industrial clients.
Heritage Christian Services, 349 W. Commercial Street, Suite 2795, East Rochester, NY 14445 www.heritagechristianservices.org
· Organization Contact: Marketta Bakke, (585) 340-2012 [email protected]
· CEO: Marisa Geitner, (585) 340-2000
· Primary Products or Services Provided: HCS is a thriving human services agency that offers residential support, service coordination, respite, community habilitation and employment supports.
The Process
Area companies and organizations are nominated to enter the awards competition by clients, vendors, consultants, colleagues, employees and others. Nominated organizations can then submit a comprehensive entry with detailed documentation and evidence of their policies and processes that address ethics issues, challenges and opportunities. The judges choose the finalists, and ultimately the award recipients, based on these entries.
“Now in our twelfth year of conducting this competition, we continue to be impressed by the interest in the ETHIE award by area businesses and non-profits, “said Twyla Cummings, board chair of the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation. “We believe this interest is representative of the high ethics standards found throughout Rochester’s business community.”
The organizations selected to receive ETHIE awards will be announced at an evening event on Monday, September 22, 2014 at Geva Theatre. Subsequently, the award recipients from competitions in Rochester and across the nation can enter a national competition known as the American Business Ethics Awards. Over the past few years, four Rochester companies have received national honors: Midnight Janitorial, PAETEC, QED Technologies and Toddler’s Workshop Daycare.
Judging and Criteria
The 2014 judges are:
· James Bourdeau, Esq. Partner at Nixon Peabody
· Andy Hislop, CEO of LECESSE Construction, Inc.
· Angella Luyk, CEO, Midnight Janitorial, Inc.
· Linda MacCammon, Ph.D., Program Director in Ethics, St. John Fisher College
· Carolyn Portanova, Past President and CEO of Catholic Family Center
· Ann Seigler, Senior Recruiter, Kelly Services
· Mario Urso, CPA, Partner at The Bonadio Group.
The judges rate each organization’s entry against a published judging criteria organized along the following lines:
• Executive Commitment to Business Ethics
• Company Ethics Program
• Conflict Resolution Procedures
• Demonstration of Sound Ethical Business Practices
• Demonstration of Good Corporate Citizenship
Award Sponsors
The ETHIE Awards is a program of the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation. Organizational sponsors are the Rochester Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, the Rochester Business Alliance, and St. John Fisher College.
Diamond Sponsor of the Foundation is Sage Rutty & Company. The awards program was established in 1994 by the National Society of Financial Service Professionals. The Rochester awards were initiated in 2003.
Individual and group tickets to the 2014 ETHIE Awards, to be held on Monday, September 22 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at Geva Theatre, are available by calling (585) 383-1060 or via the RABEF website.
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Media Contact:
Bob Loeb, Robert Loeb Communications
585.586.8840