GIA Awarded First Corporate Citizen Award

The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce introduced a new award called the “Corporate Citizen of the Year” and presented it to Gemological Institute of America (GIA) at the Chamber’s 85th Anniversary Celebration on March 2.

Presenting the award, Paul Thompson, chairman of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors said, “In order to be a good corporate citizen, an organization must give freely of its time, effort, and experience to make the community a better place to live, work, and play.”

The Chamber highlighted three of GIA’s corporate citizenship activities:

• Since its inception in 2000, GIA’s Community Development Department has contributed executive time and intelligence to at least 43 organizations or committees, and has participated in well over 450 community meetings, activities, and events.
• GIA employees have donated thousands of hours to community efforts such as clean-ups, community projects, fund-raising events, and the Carlsbad trails program.
• The leadership of GIA has allowed Gary Hill, GIA's director of Community Development to sit on the Chamber Board of Directors for nine years and serve as Chairman of the Board of the Chamber in 2002.  

“We’re thrilled to be the first organization to receive Carlsbad’s Corporate Citizen of the Year Award,’” Donna Baker, president of GIA. “In turn, we congratulate the Chamber on the occasion of its 85th Anniversary, and look forward to working with Chamber members on other community projects in the future.”