Avnet's commitment to integrity in business validated by ethical company award
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a leading global technology distributor, announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, as a 2014 World's Most Ethical Company®.
This is Avnet's first year being honored with this award, which recognizes organizations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. World's Most Ethical Company honorees understand the correlation between ethics, reputation and daily interactions with their brand and that the award belongs as much to their employees as it does to them. Avnet is one of only five companies in the electronics industry honored this year.
"As a global organization entrusted by the world's leading technology companies to service a broad base of customers around the world, ethics and integrity are core to Avnet's success," said Rick Hamada, chief executive officer of Avnet, Inc. "Integrity is not just included in Avnet's core values, it is our number one core value. This recognition from the Ethisphere Institute validates what our employees around the world demonstrate every day—that integrity matters and is a critical part of what makes Avnet a truly premier global business partner, employer and industry leader."
Avnet continues to invest in many initiatives to enhance and expand its compliance, ethics, governance, sustainability, and community outreach programs. The company was recognized in part due to the effectiveness and influence of its compliance and ethics functions throughout the organization.
"We have one compliance standard for the company—full legal compliance and uncompromised business ethics," said Harvey Woodford, chief ethics and compliance officer, Avnet, Inc. "Avnet's inclusion on the list of the World's Most Ethical Companies reflects our global team's commitment to ethical business practices around the world."
"The entire community of World's Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it," said Ethisphere's chief executive officer, Timothy Erblich. "Avnet joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at Avnet for this extraordinary achievement."
The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient™ framework. The Ethics Quotient framework has been developed over years of effort to provide a means to assess an organization's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere's network of thought leaders and from the World's Most Ethical CompanyMethodology Advisory Panel.
Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and culture of ethics (20%).
The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees/.
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About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and governance and enables organizations to improve compliance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: www.ethisphere.com.
About Avnet
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology serving customers globally. Avnet accelerates its partners' success by connecting the world's leading technology suppliers with a broad base of customers by providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended June 29, 2013, Avnet generated revenue of $25.5 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.
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Brodeur Partners for Avnet, Inc.
Sonia Bovio, +1 480-308-0281
sbovio@brodeur.com
or
Avnet, Inc.
Joal Redmond, +1 480-643-5528
Vice President, Public Relations,
joal.redmond@avnet.com
or
Ethisphere Media Contact
Clea Nabozny, 480-397-2658
Clea.Nabozny@ethisphere.com
Source: Avnet, Inc.
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