Ethical business practices have become a concern for many Americans and a point of distinction for businesses and those in professional communities. With that in mind, the non-profit Passkeys Foundation and Vanguard University will honor three Orange County companies and two health care systems with Ethical Edge Awards at the 10th Annual Ethics in America Awards Program, Tuesday, Sept. 20.

The dinner and awards ceremony will take place at the Grove of Anaheim. CWS Capital Partners of Newport Beach will be recognized in the National Privately Held Company category. Irvine’s Option One Mortgage will be acknowledged in the National Public Company category. Mission Controls Automation Inc. will be honored as an Emerging Privately Held Company. St. Joseph Health System will be recognized in the Regional (Multi-State) non-profit organization category. And, Pacificare will be acknowledged as a (National-International) Public Company. Each organization will receive a $1,000 gift made in the name of each honoree to a charity, program, project or organization pre-selected by the honoree. Additionally, legendary basketball coach, John Wooden will be honored for his lifelong work and commitment to helping people of all ages develop a life guided by a strong set of personal ethics.

"With the 10th annual Ethics In America awards recognition program we want to let the public know that organizational ethical integrity can be found and measured in organizations of all sizes," says Russell Williams of the Passkeys Foundation, which provides outstanding local and national character education programs for children, youth and adults and is recognized for its S.T.A.R. Responsibility Skills character education curricula for grades K-8. "Individual and group behavior should be based upon four principles: Leadership, Basic Ethical Principles, Ethical Culture and a mechanism for blowing the ethical whistle when and if necessary."

Tickets for the 10th Annual Ethics in America Awards Program are priced at $75 per person. Table sponsorships are also available. To purchase tickets and for additional information visit www.passkeys.org or call 949-770-7602. Below, please find quotes from the honored organizations’ CEO’s describing their ethical approach to business.

Pacificare
"Pacificare has an enterprise-wide Ethics and Integrity Program that has multiple components, ranging from standards of conduct, auditing and monitoring, compliance officer and committees to effective lines of communication. The concept of ethics and integrity are woven into every component of the program and the application of those concepts is documented in Pacificare's standards for workplace behavior, including our Code of Ethics. "Howard G. Phanstiel, CEO.

CWS Capital Partners LLC
"Unethical behavior is incompatible with long-term business success, Companies, like people, need a powerful purpose and vision to guide their decision-making. Without feeling the power force of this gravitational pull, each can be prone to disorganization, rand and reactive behavior and crisis management" Gary Carmell, CEO

St. Joseph Health System
Catholic ethical teaching emphasizes moral responsibilities to both protect and promote human dignity. Protecting against ethical breeches is important, but sometimes a "good offense is the best defense.” Several years ago, it became obvious that some entry-level workers, many recent immigrants, were struggling to support their families in dignity. In response, St. Joseph Health System enacted the Living Wage Policy to ensure that compensation for the lowest paid employees was adequate to live with dignity in their communities. This program is administered through Human Resources; it is based upon regional cost of living analyses. All employees learn its specifics through orientation and ongoing payroll/benefits communications. This groundbreaking initiative catalyzed similar efforts among other Catholic healthcare systems." Deborah Proctor, CEO

Mission Controls Automation, Inc.
The Mission Controls Statement of Core Values is not a product of Management at Mission Controls, but of the employees' own convictions. Without coercion, and without known precedent, the ownership of Mission Controls gave up a significant portion of their sole ownership of the company so that employees could become stockholders, represented by a Board of Directors elected by shareholders other than the principal owners. That Statement of Core Values, and the fact of its development by the employees themselves, is testimony of our individual and personal commitment to ethical standards."
Craig Nelson, CEO