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NEW YORK, November 25, 2013 – The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) honored David M. Cote, chairman and CEO of Honeywell; David T. Seaton, chairman and CEO of Fluor; and Stephen F. Angel, chairman and CEO of Praxair, Inc., for excellence in ethics at the organization’s awards gala in New York City last Thursday. Centered on the theme, “Recognizing Excellence in Engineering Ethics,” the event was chaired by Raj Gupta, senior advisor to New Mountain Capital and executive chairman of Avantor Performance Materials.
Gupta commended the honorees and their companies for “proactive approaches to ethics as a core value, for promulgating codes of conduct considered best practices, and for tangibly demonstrating a commitment to integrity, honesty and fairness.”
The gala was designed to strengthen awareness of ethics in engineering education and practice. The event raised $400,000 to support the expansion of ethics training for chemical engineering undergraduates, as well as to support life-long learning opportunities for professional chemical engineers.
In honoring Cote, Gupta mentioned that the executive was recently named “CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive magazine and that he is a member of the steering committee of the bi-partisan Campaign to Fix the Debt. This follows Cote’s earlier appointment by President Obama to the Simpson-Bowles Commission.
Under Cote’s leadership, “Honeywell has stood out for its business success, and also as a leader in advancing ethical engineering and business practices,” Gupta said. For four years, Honeywell has been named one of “The World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere. As a company whose growth is “driven by technologies that address some of the world’s toughest challenges: safety, security, clean energy and energy efficiency,” Gupta explained, it is not surprising that Cote has received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Foreign Policy Association.
Gupta said that Seaton and Fluor also stand out as leaders in advancing ethical engineering and business practices. He mentioned that Fluor was “the only engineering and construction firm cited for excellence by Transparency International,” and that it has appeared on Ethisphere’s list of The World’s Most Ethical Companies for six years in a row. Gupta traced Fluor’s global leadership on ethics and anti-corruption to 2002, when the company chaired the Engineering and Construction sector of the World Economic Forum. Together with the Forum, Fluor helped create the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative principles. Seaton was personally instrumental in “building consensus …to make a step-change improvement in the engineering and construction industry’s ethical conduct,” Gupta said, “pushing ethical performance, quality and a fair basis for competitiveness.”
Gupta also saluted Praxair’s Angel for his leadership in ethical business practices. Gupta singled out Praxair as “a leader in advancing ethical engineering and business practices through an aggressive, innovative and robust ‘Standards of Business Integrity’ program.” Each year, employees worldwide re-certify their commitment to the company’s integrity standards. “Praxair’s leadership on this issue demonstrates the company’s deepest values and is a key component of the company’s continued success,” Gupta explained. For several years, Institutional Investor magazine has recognized Praxair for the accessibility of top management and its transparency and governance. The company also recently received the Connecticut Law Tribune’s Legal Department of the Year Award for Corporate Compliance.
Download Press ReleaseAIChE is a professional society of 45,000 chemical engineers in 100 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontiers of chemical engineering research in such areas as energy, sustainability, biological engineering, nanotechnology, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.