Awards for Visionary Bottom-Liners
An ice cream executive and a pharmaceutical firm were among the recipients Thursday of the first Business Enterprise Awards, which are designed to “identify and honor exemplary courage, integrity and social vision in business.”
The awards were handed out by the Business Enterprise Trust, which was established two years ago by television producer and liberal activist Norman Lear to conduct research on ethical issues facing business. Officials of the group, which is headquartered in Stanford, said the winners would serve as role models to young executives and business students.
Kirk O. Hanson, president of the trust, said in a statement that the awards “are designed to show how American business can make a difference in society, while still working toward the bottom line.”
In ceremonies in New York, the trust selected five recipients from among 400 nominations:
* Louis Krouse, founder of the National Payments Network, an electronic bill-paying system that allows people without bank accounts to make payments without purchasing money orders or traveling to utility offices.
* GE Plastics, a division of General Electric Co., which encouraged team building among employees by having them renovate YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs and a homeless shelter in San Diego.
* Gail Mayville, environment coordinator for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, which spearheaded recycling and environmental programs that reduced costs and mitigated the environmental impact of the ice cream maker’s facilities.
* Merck & Co., a pharmaceutical firm that developed and provided free of charge a drug--Mectizan--to treat river blindness.
* James W. Rouse, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award, whose real estate developments have been the cornerstone of major urban renewal projects in several cities.
