The inaugural North Coast Ethics in Business competition
In case you missed it, District 5130 held the awards ceremony for the inaugural North Coast Ethics in Business competition Friday. Unfortunately, thanks to a virus interrupting our reality, it wasn’t the fancy banquet at a District Conference PDG Doug Johnson had envisioned when he had the germ (no pun intended) of the idea over a year ago. However, the Zoom ceremony was remarkably well organized, entertaining, inspiring, very well attended and meaningful. 70 exceptional firms were nominated by Rotarians from District 5130, 14 by Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary alone (thanks everyone who participated!). The hour and a half presentation mixed three-minute video clips by the three finalists in each of four categories, $500 to $1,000 scholarship were awarded and short introductions made by three Interactors active in the field of business ethics and a fascinating talk given by Dr. Ken Shotts, a Stanford professor of Business Ethics. His talk was enjoyably informal and full of ethic situations and case studies, from Enron to HealthSouth to Wells Fargo. The winners in each category were announced as follows:
Small Business (<15 employees) Lunchette, Petaluma
Medium Business (15 to 50 employees) Thanksgiving Coffee, Ft. Bragg
Large Business (50+ employees) Oliver’s Markets, Santa Rosa
Non-Profit Coast Central Credit Union, Eureka
Thanks to Mark Campbell for nominating and interfacing with the Large Business winner Oliver’s Markets! All 70 nominations were quality businesses deserving recognition and our business, and no doubt next year’s Ethics in Business competition will raise up the good works and values of more North Coast businesses.
