Illycaffé named as a 2014 world's most ethical company by the ethisphere institute.

Worldwide Leader in Sustainable Coffee Earns Honor for Second Consecutive Year

NEW YORK, NY – Illycaffé SpA (“illy”), the worldwide leader in sustainable coffee, announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company®. 

This is the second consecutive year that illy has been honored with this award, which recognizes organizations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. World’s Most Ethical Company honorees understand the correlation between ethics, reputation and daily interactions with their brand and that the award belongs as much to their associates as it does to them. Illy is one of only one of two companies in the coffee industry honored this year.

“Truly, this award belongs to the people who comprise our organization across many countries, who hold themselves to the highest standards, every day,” said Andrea Illy, Chairman and CEO, illycaffé SpA. “Our company has understood since its founding by my grandfather how ethics and profits can, and should, walk hand-in-hand. It is gratifying to see illy’s longtime commitment to the highest ethical behavior recognized by vital organizations such as The Ethisphere Institute.”

“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “Illy joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at Illy for this extraordinary achievement.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. The Ethics Quotient framework has been developed over years of effort to provide
a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. 

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and
culture of ethics (20%). The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at ethisphere.com.


About illycaffé:
Based in Trieste, Italy, illycaffé produces and markets a unique blend of coffee under a single brand. Illy buys green Arabica coffee of the highest quality directly from the growers through partnerships based on the mutual creation of value. Illy considers respect for the environment and people that nurture coffee a fundamental part of doing business -- in evidence every day for 20 years across Central America, South America, India and Africa. It is expressed through Università del Caffè (&quotUniversity of Coffee&quot), which provides hands-on instruction at no cost to coffee growers who meet its quality standards. And it is recognized by independent arbiters like DNV (Det Norske Veritas), which in 2011 conferred its first-ever global Responsible Supply Chain Process Certification to illy in recognition of sustainability in every aspect of its coffee sourcing, particularly the ethical, long-term direct relationships with coffee growers. More than six million cups of illy coffee are enjoyed every day in more than140 countries. Visit www.illy.com to learn more.


About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and governance and enables organizations to improve compliance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at ethisphere.com.

Media Contacts
John Doe Communications
Meena.Khera@johndoehub.com
646 491 6089

John Doe Communications
Sarah.Hazen@johndoehub.com
901 493 1882

Ethisphere Media Contact
Clea Nabozny
Clea.Nabozny@ethisphere.com
480.397.2658