Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has announced the winners of its first company-wide diversity and inclusion idea competition.
The competition ran through Southern Glazer’s Idea Distillery program, which uses an online platform to crowdsource ideas from employees to solve business challenges. This latest competition centered on enhancing and sustaining a more diverse, inclusive and equitable culture at Southern Glazer’s, the company says, as well as promoting business growth in a diverse marketplace and positively impacting the diverse communities where the company operates.
More than 7,000 employees joined live webinar sessions promoting the contest, and over 2,500 employees actively engaged in the idea submission process, with 519 ideas submitted.
Ideas were categorized by the following themes: Leadership Accountability, Our People, Marketplace Impact, Community Partnerships, and Learning & Awareness. Eleven idea finalists were selected through a vetting process and awarded the opportunity to present at an event on Nov. 5 and 6 in front of a diverse panel of Southern Glazer’s executive leaders.
The company has recognized the following winners, whose ideas covered internal initiatives, as well as external and community partnerships:
- 1st Place
- Alejandro Colindres
- 2nd Place
- Daniel Celestin & Luke Aubrey
- Maria Hernandez & Cedric Keeton
- 3rd Place
- Bailey Gins
- Shelly Lungstrum
- Tonya Knox
In addition, the company recognizes the remaining finalists and category-award winners:
- Innovation Award
- Stu Ratner
- Market Impact Award
- Allison Campbell
- People Development Award
- Jamila Tate & Kimberly Erceg
- Supplier Partnership Awards
- Alexis Fore
- Tara Jones & Candace Stroud
All winners and finalists will receive cash prizes.
In addition to these prizes, Southern Glazer’s used the initiative as opportunity to provide a charitable donation to the Equal Justice Initiative — $25 was donated for every idea generated through the effort — leading to a total donation of $12,975.
“This Idea Distillery initiative, engaging all employees, solidifies the importance of diversity and inclusion at Southern Glazer’s,” says Wayne E. Chaplin, Chief Executive Officer of Southern Glazer’s. “We have changed the landscape of how we identify, prioritize and pursue diversity and inclusion opportunities by listening to our frontline employees, who are best positioned to shape and benefit from this enhanced culture at the company.”
