Brightest Stars
Four companies take the spotlight among Most Admired Companies in Arizona
On Sept. 5, AZ Business magazine and BestCompaniesAZ honored 40 of the most innovative and exceptional companies in Arizona at the third annual Most Admired Companies Awards at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix.
In addition to being honored with MAC Awards, four companies were singled out as spotlight winners in the categories of leadership excellence, social responsibility, customer opinion and workplace culture.
Workplace Culture: St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance
St. Mary’s Food Bank — which distributed more than 69,000,000 pounds of food in 2011 — promotes a worker-friendly workplace through company values, employee involvement, recognition, and employee growth. The food bank’s strategic plan emphasizes career development as part of its succession planning program. Career development plans, personality assessments, and 360-degree evaluations by supervisors, peers, and direct reports are used to ensure that the right people are in the right jobs at the right time. Employee recognition takes many forms, including quarterly meetings where employees receive service anniversary awards and awards recognizing work that goes above and beyond, such as Peer Recognition Awards, Safe Driver Awards, Spot Bonus Awards, Key Contributor Awards, and an annual John van Hengel Achievement Award. In April of 2012, St. Mary’s held its first annual Forklift & Driver Safety Rodeo to help promote worker pride and safety. The event was a family-friendly and allowed workers to compete on obstacle courses for cash and trophies.
Video by Cory Bergquist
St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance
Arizona base: Phoenix
Arizona leadership: Beverly Damore, president and CEO
Years in Arizona: 45
Employees in Arizona: 160
Fast fact: Organization has a prestigious Arizona heritage as the birthplace of the world’s first food bank.
Web: firstfoodbank.org
2012 Most Admired Companies Award Winners & Photos
