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The Right Thing: 12th Annual Ethics in Business & Community Awards

Enjoying record attendance, the 12th Annual Ethics in Business & Community Award luncheon was a hit!  In the name of recognizing ethical business, the AT&T Conference Center was at times seemingly filled to the brim with award alumni, award finalists, and supporters from all sectors of Austin’s business community.  Jerry Davis, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, and Nancy Blaich, CEO of the Samaritan Counseling Center, stepped in as emcees for this year’s award luncheon and did a masterful job of keeping the event lively and informative, as the audience learned more about each award finalist, the vetting process overseen by Dr. Lynette Gillis and her Concordia University College of Business students, and the amazing work done by the Samaritan Counseling Center.

Unlike other awards, the Ethics in Business & Community program does not set out to identify winners and losers – to be nominated by a community member is itself recognition of a commitment to exemplary ethical practices.  Each finalist was genuinely deserving, and award winners in five categories accepted with both humility and dignity – perhaps proving that the real winner on this day was our community.  Click here to check out photos from the event.

Winners in each category are marked with *

The SabeRex Group, Ltd. Individual Award

*Sara Pantin

Curtis Page

Martha Smiley

The RecognizeGood Nonprofit Award

*Sustainable Food Center

Breakthrough Austin

R.O.C.K., Ride On Center for Kids

The TyRex Group, Ltd. Small Business Award

*Atchley & Associates, LLP

Brown & Brown of Austin

The Bommarito Group

The ABC Home & Commercial Services Large Business Award

*Community Impact Newspaper

IBM

BuildASign.com

The Anita & Earl Maxwell Lifetime Achievement Award

Matt Kouri, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success

The Ethics in Business & Community awards program provides a forum for acknowledging exceptional organizations and individuals, and encourages a dialogue surrounding business ethics in our community.  By recognizing exemplary behavior, others learn that “doing the right thing” is good business.  Business ethics are the moral norms that a community establishes and institutionalizes as the way in which it does business.  The Ethics in Business & Community program focuses on identifying examples of behavior that illustrate how individuals and organizations are acting above and beyond the legal norms.  The criteria represent a set of values for framing a dialogue with award nominees and selected candidates.  These principles address the broad spectrum of an organization’s and individual’s business practices.

Award criteria are as follows:

BE RESPECTFUL, BE FAIR, BE HONEST, STRIVE FOR JUSTICE, EMBRACE SUSTAINABILITY

To read more about the history of the Ethics in Business & Community program, visit https://recognizegood.org/

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