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Loyola University Chicago Launches Annual Innovator in Social Business Awards

Loyola’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility today announced the awardees of its inaugural Innovator in Social Business Awards.

The awards are presented to extraordinary companies committed to doing well and doing good across three categories: Social Impact, Environmental Stewardship, and Purpose and Profit. A ceremony will be held during the Baumhart Center’s annual Leading for Good conference, which convenes business leaders to provide the needed skills, knowledge, and networks to accelerate social value creation in their respective companies.

“The Baumhart Center extends Loyola’s pioneering work in business ethics, social responsibility, and education for social justice,” said Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, president of Loyola. “The Financial Times recently cited Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business as one of only four pre-eminent business schools in the world advancing ethics, sustainability, and social purpose. The conference and these inaugural awards leverage Loyola’s expertise in moving today’s business leaders toward greater purpose and action in solving today’s most urgent social issues.”

The 2020 award recipients are:

  • Social Impact Award: Chobani, based in Norwich, New York, for its commitment to diversity and inclusion, its extraordinary benefits for workers, and its innovative Chobani Shares initiative, which gives every full-time member of the company the opportunity to share in its growth.

    “We’re honored to receive this recognition from Loyola’s Baumhart Center. Making good food and doing good deeds is what motivates Chobani. Humanity first and making a difference in people’s lives – that’s what we do at Chobani.” - Peter McGuinness, president, Chobani.
  • Environmental Stewardship Award: Indigo Ag, based in Boston, for its Terraton Initiative, a global effort to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it within agricultural soils.

    “Indigo is honored by Loyola’s recognition of our efforts to accelerate the most immediate, affordable, and scalable means to address climate change: farmers. We’re grateful to The Baumhart Center for its continued leadership in promoting the pivotal role that business can play in solving our most pressing global challenges and to be counted among a group of organizations driving toward a more sustainable future of business.”– David Perry, CEO, Indigo Ag.
  • Robert L. Parkinson Jr. Award for Purpose and Profit: Bain Capital Double Impact, headquartered in Boston, for its innovative partnership with the nonprofit B Lab and for its commitment to measuring and improving the social impact of portfolio companies.

    “Accurate and comprehensive measurement of impact is fundamental to our approach, and we could not have established early success without our fantastic partners at B Lab. Thanks to them and to the Baumhart Center for all they are doing to advance the field and inspire future leaders to embrace impact as a guiding tenet across all business sectors.” - Greg Shell, managing director, Bain Capital Double Impact.

Nominations for the awards were invited from a group of more than 70 executives and academics who serve on one of the Baumhart Center’s advisory committees. Nominated companies were then evaluated on four criteria: quality of innovation, depth of impact, scalability of innovation, and commitment of leadership.

“Our aim with these awards is to speed the adoption of social innovation in business,” said Seth Green, founding director of Loyola’s Baumhart Center. “We are impressed by the array of recent announcements from the Business Roundtable, BlackRock, and beyond on the importance of purpose in business. Through our awards, we seek to offer explicit role models and best practices that set the standard for what it truly means to do well and do good, together.”

The awardees were selected by a judging committee that included eight business and civic leaders:

  • Vicki Escarra, Senior Advisor, BCG; former CEO, Feeding America; former CMO, Delta
  • Janet Froetscher, President, Pritzker Foundation; former CEO, Special Olympics International
  • Jennifer J. Griffin, Baumhart Professor of Business Ethics, Quinlan School of Business, Loyola University Chicago
  • The late Robert Parkinson, Chairman Emeritus, Baxter International; former Chairman, Loyola University Chicago
  • Sunil Sanghvi, Senior Advisor and Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Co.
  • Kevin Stevens, Dean, Quinlan School of Business, Loyola University Chicago
  • Kevin Washington, CEO, YMCA of the USA
  • Greg Wasson, President, Wasson Enterprise; former CEO, Walgreens

The Innovator in Social Business Awards will be presented annually. Click here to access more information on the awards and to access the Innovations in Social Business 2020 Annual Report.

About the Baumhart Center

The Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility is an interdisciplinary center at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business that equips leaders with the business tools to accelerate social impact. The center is home to an array of research and educational initiatives, including the highly selective MBA that exclusively prepares working professionals to marry profit and purpose in their careers. Learn more at LUC.edu/BaumhartCenter or find us on Instagram at @BaumhartCenter.

About the Quinlan School of Business

The Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago educates responsible leaders who strengthen the local and global business system. Quinlan draws on the resources of a world-class location in the heart of Chicago and on industry-leading faculty to offer leading undergraduate, graduate, and executive education. Quinlan’s highly respected degrees include the Baumhart Scholars MBA for purpose-driven professionals and the one-of-a-kind Next Generation MBA. The school is named for Michael R. Quinlan, a double Loyola alumnus, and former president and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation. Learn more at LUC.edu/Quinlan or find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LoyolaQuinlan.

About Loyola University Chicago

Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with more than 17,000 students. Nearly 11,500 undergraduates call Loyola home. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as course locations in Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens); and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University’s 14 schools, colleges, and institutes include: the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Quinlan School of Business, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Stritch School of Medicine, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communication, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, School of Education, School of Law, School of Social Work, Graduate School, Institute of Pastoral Studies, Institute of Environmental Sustainability, and Arrupe College. Ranked a top national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by national organizations like the Carnegie Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Learn more about Loyola, like us at Facebook.com/LoyolaChicago, or follow us on Twitter @LoyolaChicago.

–Loyola–

Note: Photos from the awards ceremony can be accessed here.

Contacts:

Media Contact
Anna Rozenich, Director of Communications
312.915.6164
arozenich@LUC.edu

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