Contact: Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: (908) 879-6625
Cell: (908) 310-3777
Email: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com
April 15, 2013
AMERICA'S MOST TRUSTWORTHY COMPANIES
Trust Across America™ (TAA) leaders in information, standards and data, and the “Who’s Who” of trustworthy business, today announced the results of its 3rd annual study of over 2000 public companies, naming Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) as the Most Trustworthy Public Company for 2012. Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director states: “We are pleased to see Green Mountain top this year’s list. According to a recent article in Triple Pundit - While sales have surged, GMCR has worked closer with suppliers and expanded its offerings of sustainable coffee products. And while GMCR has a strong reputation for ethics and doing good in the communities in which it works, the company is doing things right internally as well with an employee retention rate of 90 percent.”
But Kimmel cautions that, “as in years past, the most trustworthy company scored no better than an 82%, or a B- and only 24 companies scored a 70 or above. There is work to be done, even in the most trustworthy companies.” While there are several honorees across the insurance sector, the 2012 top companies represent 11 different industries and are headquartered in 11 states.”
Trust Across America’s “Top Ten” (two companies tied for 10th place) is:
#1 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers
#2 Progressive Insurance (PGR), one of the largest auto insurance groups in the country
#3 Hartford Financial (HIG), a leader in property and casualty insurance
#4 Western Digital (WDC), a long time leader in hard drive technology
#5 Teradyne Inc. (TER), a designer and manufacturer of automatic test equipment
#6 Capital One Financial (COF), a diversified bank offering financial products
#7 Nike, Inc. (NKE), a global marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment
#8 Unum Group (UNM), a leading provider of employee benefits programs
#9 McKesson Corp. (MCK), America’s oldest healthcare services company
#10 Prudential Financial (PRU), one of the world’s largest financial services institutions
#10 McGrawHill (MHP), leaders in content to the capital markets and digital education
Trust Across America shines the spotlight on companies exhibiting relatively high levels of trustworthy business behavior, while providing a roadmap for other organizations to follow. In compiling its list TAA independently analyzes dozens of data points with respect to five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business- our FACTS® drivers: Financial stability and strength, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate integrity, Transparency, and Sustainability. Companies are not nominated, nor do they participate in the analysis. The research highlights those companies with above average scores in all five drivers.
Although trust was difficult to accurately measure in the past, this is no longer the case. Many companies have touted themselves as trustworthy and have been given a free ride because corporate America has lacked a definition of trustworthiness and tools to measure it. TAA’s data sees through the smoke and mirrors.
The Framework initially conceived and developed in 2008, is “the most holistic and comprehensive “trust audit” for public companies. “We are pleased to see Nike return to our list for the second year in a row” stated Kimmel. “It’s all about corporate culture. While most CEO’s aspire to run trustworthy companies, it’s difficult to know where to start.” Trust Across America™ provides analytical tools to begin the journey.”
So while the news continues to be filled with the “scandal of the day” TAA focuses on the companies working hard to earn the public’s trust. As a result, consumers can now choose to do business with these leading companies, while investors have an added level of protection from the next corporate misstep.
We are also pleased to link here to our 2012 Top Companies by Sector in collaboration with one of our data partners, IW Financial and our 2012 Top Companies by State with our colleagues at CSRHub.
The Trust Across America program is administered by Next Decade, Inc an award-winning firm that has been unraveling and simplifying complex subjects for over 20 years. TAA provides a framework for public companies to improve trustworthy business practices through detailed individual company reports, industry and sector analyses, and an index of its data. TAA also runs the Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts, a growing group of trust experts from around the world. Trust Across America’s co-founder, Barbara Kimmel, was recognized in 2012 as One of 25 Women Who are Changing the World.
For more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Barbara Kimmel, please call (908)879-6625, email barbara@trustacrossamerica.com or visit the Trust Across America website.
