AmCham Shanghai Announces 2014 CSR Award Winners

SHANGHAI, March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of China's outstanding corporate and individual citizens were recognized today for their contributions to the community when The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) announced the winners of the 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards in Shanghai.

This year, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) China won the Chamber's Leadership Award in recognition of its broad range of social initiatives including long-term partnerships with NGOs to support rural and migrant schools and encouragement of skill-based volunteering by its own team in community activities.

Other winners included Philips China which received the Innovation Award for creating a simple program for community self-sustainability that helped reduce malnutrition by nearly 50% in the areas where it was implemented.

This year marks the ninth time that the awards have been held by the AmCham to recognize companies and individuals that exemplify corporate social responsibility. The ceremony was held at the Swissotel Hotel Grand in Shanghai, and was attended by more than 100 guests, including senior level officials from the Shanghai government, as well as representatives of the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai.

At the ceremony, Julie Broussard, Country Program Manager for the UN Women China Office, delivered keynote remarks on "The Gender Dividend, Abundance and Shared Value: Creating Successful Businesses in The 21st Century."

The award recognized corporate and individual contributions to improving social, environmental, health, and economic conditions in China. The selection criteria placed a premium on innovative approaches to solving social challenges, as well as emphasizing effective business and social collaboration.

A complete list of the AmCham Shanghai 2014 CSR Awards winners includes:

• Leadership Award: PwC China
• Innovation Award: Philips China
• Partnership Award: Dow Chemical and Junior Achievement
• Employee Engagement Award: Johnson & Johnson
• Practitioner Award: Melinda Gao, CSR Manager, KPMG China
• Entrepreneurship Award: Hainan Yin, Program Manager, IBM China

"These corporate and individual leaders have shown us that improving society and the environment is an integral part of good business practices," noted AmCham Shanghai President Kenneth Jarrett. He added, "By finding ways to grow their companies while giving back to the community, these award winners provide inspiration for all of us."

In addition to the award winners, a number of other companies and individuals that made strong contributions to the community were recognized as runners-up. Those that won honorable mentions were Eaton Corporation, Bayer China, SanDisk Semiconductor Shanghai, Johnson & Johnson and Enactus, Honeywell China and Safe Kids China, AstraZeneca China, Shanghai United Family Hospital & Clinics, and Eric Langmans, General Manager of Atlas Copco Wuxi Compressor Co., Ltd., Brian Sun, Director of Caterpillar and Chairman of Caterpillar R&D Center China, and Jacob Huang, Workplace Diversity Project Manager of Aibai Culture & Education Center.

The 2014 winners were selected from a field of more than 50 nominees and evaluated by an international panel of five CSR experts representing both the local and global community.

"This year, we've seen a surge of interest from a range of companies with a wide variety of CSR programs and initiatives. Nearly seventy percent of the applicants are new or different from previous two years. This underscores the increased awareness among companies, especially American businesses in China, big or small, to dedicate resources to socially responsible practices throughout their business activities," said C. Y. Yeung, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Intel China Ltd. and Chair of the AmCham Shanghai Business Council for Sustainability and Responsibility (BCSR). Yeung served as a member of the judging panel for the 2014 AmCham Shanghai CSR Awards.

To encourage broad participation and a diverse list of nominees, AmCham Shanghai called for nominations not only from AmCham Shanghai member companies, but also from non-member companies and non-profit organizations with excellent CSR programs and initiatives.

About AmCham Shanghai CSR Awards

For the 9th year running, AmCham Shanghai's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards have been organized to recognize companies, their NGO partners, and individuals for their outstanding and innovative CSR programs and initiatives in China. The AmCham Shanghai CSR Awards is one of the longest running and most respected awards programs in China's CSR community.

The 2014 AmCham Shanghai CSR Awards Judging Panel consists of leading CSR experts globally and within China, as follows:

• Prof. Bradley Googins, Associate Professor, Boston College Carroll School of Management
• Mr. C Y Yeung, Director, Corporate Social Responsibility, Intel China
• Mr. Gregory Berzonsky, Vice President, United Way Worldwide
• Dr. Jian Zhong Lu, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Sateri China
• Dr. Zhiyuan Yu, Assistant Professor of Sociology, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University

About AmCham Shanghai
The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, known as the "Voice of American Business" in China, is the largest and fastest growing American Chamber in the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 1915, AmCham Shanghai was the third American Chamber established outside the United States. As a non-profit, non-partisan business organization, AmCham Shanghai is committed to the principles of free trade, open markets, private enterprise and the unrestricted flow of information.

Visit www.amcham-shanghai.org for more information about AmCham Shanghai.

SOURCE AmCham Shanghai