2012 Pillar Awards – Great companies and great employees working for the greater good of Greater Cleveland

Rick Chiricosta, President and CEO, Medical Mutual.

Medical Mutual, along with our co-founding Pillar Award partner SBN, proudly presents the 15th annual Pillar Awards.

In this issue, we honor 31 finalists representing a diverse group of companies and organizations of varying sizes. While they may be different in many ways, one thing that they all have in common is their commitment to strengthening the bond between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds.
There is also a new Pillar Award category for 2012. We will present our first Youth Philanthropy awards, which demonstrate how philanthropy reaches well beyond the traditional corporate sector.
It occurred to us many years ago that few things are more meaningful and important than investing time and resources in supporting our community, and we felt the need to honor companies and their employees who have gone above and beyond the call. While support and direction come from management, companies are only as great as their employees.
For that reason, we are quite proud to present the Medical Mutual SHARE Award. This unique award was founded to recognize companies whose employees best exemplify the ideals of Medical Mutual’s own employee SHARE Committee. SHARE stands for serve, help, aid, reach and educate, and it is the heart and soul of Medical Mutual’s charitable giving effort.
The SHARE Committee, made up of Medical Mutual employee volunteers, helps coordinate more than two-dozen community events involving nearly half of the company’s 2,500 employees.
On behalf of Medical Mutual and SBN, we hope you enjoy reading about these great companies and we offer congratulations to all of our Pillar Award recipients.
Rick Chiricosta is president and CEO of Medical Mutual.