Appeal of Conscience Foundation Honors Prime Minister David Cameron With World Statesman Award, Laurence Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock and Alex Gorsky, Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson Receive Appeal of Conscience Awards

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an interfaith organization, and its president and founder Rabbi Arthur Schneier, honored the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, with the 2015 World Statesman Award.

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock and Alex Gorsky, the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson, received the 2015 Appeal of Conscience Awards.

The Appeal of Conscience Foundation's fiftieth anniversary dinner was held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Prime Minister Cameron delivered remarks via video message, and Matthew Rycroft, the United Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the United Nations accepted the award on behalf of Prime Minister Cameron. The Prime Minister will be presented his award in person at a ceremony next week.

"Prime Minister Cameron was recognized for his steadfast leadership, commitment to economic and social development, dedication to peace, international and inter-cultural cooperation, and championship of human rights, freedom, and tolerance," said Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.

The World Statesman Award honors leaders who support peace, prosperity and freedom by promoting tolerance, human dignity and human rights by championing these causes in their homeland and working with other world leaders to build a better future for all.

Past recipients of the World Statesman Award include: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2014), Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2013), Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper (2012), South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (2011), Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh (2010), British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2009), French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2008), Chancellor Angela Merkel (2007) and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2006). Other recipients include former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, Romano Prodi, John Howard and King Juan Carlos I., President Mikhail Gorbachev and President Vaclav Havel.

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, and Alex Gorsky, the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson, were named recipients of the 2015 Appeal of Conscience Award.

"It's a privilege to receive this award and to be honored alongside Alex Gorsky and Prime Minister Cameron," said Mr. Fink. "With the world undergoing great upheavals, the foundation's work remains critical and reminds us that we all have a profound responsibility to each other."

"I am proud to accept this award on behalf of my colleagues at Johnson & Johnson," said Alex Gorsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "We are 128,000 people in over 60 countries with one common purpose -- to help people everywhere live longer, healthier and happier lives."

"The Appeal of Conscience Foundation is proud to honor Laurence Fink for his leadership and ongoing philanthropy," said Rabbi Arthur Schneier. "Under his direction, BlackRock has become one of the world's most admired companies, respected for its achievements as well as its social responsibility and commitment to use its resources and vast reach to create a positive impact in the global community."

Rabbi Schneier said, "The Appeal of Conscience Foundation is proud to honor Alex Gorsky, an advocate of change and a corporate leader with a sense of social responsibility, who by deed and action has advanced human dignity and social justice by encouraging a standard in which corporate America and global corporations accept responsibility to further international cooperation and cross cultural understanding."

About Prime Minister David Cameron:

David Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010, when he led a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. He continued as Prime Minister from May 2015, leading a Conservative government. He was elected the Conservative MP for Witney in West Oxfordshire in 2001.

Prime Minister Cameron studied at Eton College before graduating from Oxford University with a first class degree in politics, philosophy and economics. Before being elected as an MP, David worked for the Conservative Party Research Department. He then worked as a special adviser in government, first to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and then to the Home Secretary. In Parliament, he held a number of positions on the Opposition Front Bench, including:

• Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
• Front Bench Spokesman for Local Government Finance
• Head of Policy Coordination in the run-up to the 2005 General Election

He was also a member of the influential House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Cameron was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills after the 2005 General Election and, on a mandate to change and modernize the Party, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005. In 2010, the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government. David became Prime Minister, making him the youngest Prime Minister in 198 years.

Prime Minister Cameron spent seven years at Carlton Communications where he served on the management board. David is married to Samantha. They have three children and live in London and West Oxfordshire.

About Laurence Fink

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, also leads the Global Executive Committee.

Mr. Fink has led the firm since its founding in 1988, keeping client centric solutions and innovation at the forefront of his leadership. He was named "CEO of the Decade" by Financial News in 2011 and has been named one of the "World's Best CEO's" by Barron's for nine consecutive years.

Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Mr. Fink was a member of the Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation. Mr. Fink joined First Boston in 1976 and quickly became one of the first mortgage-backed securities traders on Wall Street. During his tenure at First Boston, Mr. Fink was co-head of the Taxable Fixed Income Division, which was responsible for trading and distribution of all government, mortgage and corporate securities. Mr. Fink also started the Financial Futures and Options Department and headed the Mortgage and Real Estate Products Group.

Mr. Fink serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of New York University and is Co-Chairman of the NYU Langone Medical Center Board of Trustees.  Mr. Fink also serves on the Boards of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Council on Foreign Relations and Robin Hood, the New York City charitable organization. He is also Co-Chairman of The Partnership for New York City, which works to engage the business community in efforts to advance the City's economy and maintain its position as the center of world commerce, finance and innovation.

Mr. Fink earned an MBA degree with a concentration in real estate from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA degree in political science from UCLA in 1974.

About Alex Gorsky

Alex Gorsky is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson and Chairman of the Executive Committee, the Company's senior leadership team.  Alex is the seventh person to serve as Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since it became a publicly traded company in 1944.

Alex began his Johnson & Johnson career as a sales representative with Janssen Pharmaceutical in 1988. Over the next 20 years, he advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and management. In 2009, Alex was appointed Worldwide Chairman of the Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment and in January of 2011, he became Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson's Executive Committee. Alex became Chief Executive Officer on April 26, 2012 and Chairman of the Board on December 28, 2013.

A longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion, Alex has been named one of the "100 Most Inspiring Leaders" by Pharma Voice and he was recently nominated by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 most influential people in healthcare. He is the Executive Sponsor of two Johnson & Johnson employee resource groups, the Women's Leadership Initiative and the Veteran's Leadership Council. Alex is also a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable.

Alex is a member of the Board of Directors of IBM, the Congressional Medal of Honor Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors of the National Academy Foundation. In 2014 Alex was given the Joseph Wharton Leadership Award and the CADCA Humanitarian of the Year Award, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Johnson & Johnson and Alex Gorsky received the Corporate Leadership Award for 2014 by the Thomas Manion Foundation. Most recently, the Company received the Corporate Humanitarian Award from Operation Smile.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and spent six years in the U.S. Army, finishing his military career with the rank of Captain. Alex earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1996.

About the Appeal of Conscience Foundation:

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of its founding, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, under the leadership of Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has worked worldwide on behalf of religious freedom, human rights, peace and tolerance since 1965. To uphold the principle "live and let live" is the Appeal of Conscience Foundation's continuing goal. An interfaith coalition of business, religious and foreign policy leaders, this international organization promotes mutual understanding, peace and interreligious cooperation and provides a voice of conscience to protect minorities.  The Appeal of Conscience Foundation believes that freedom, democracy and human rights are fundamental values that give nations of the world their best hope for peace, security and shared prosperity. www.appealofconscience.org

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SOURCE Appeal of Conscience Foundation

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