Ethisphere Announces the 2016 World’s Most Ethical Companies®, Celebrating 10 Years of Measuring Corporate Integrity and Recognizing Those That Excel

Honorees raise the bar for corporate behavior, represent the new
standard for sustainable businesses and long-term success.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the
standards of ethical business practices, announced the 131 companies
spanning 21 countries who have been named to the 2016
World’s Most Ethical Companies^® list marking the tenth
anniversary of the designation.

Since Ethisphere’s launch in 2007, the world has undergone a dramatic
expansion in political and regulatory complexity, and a perceived and
real ‘shrinking’ across markets. Companies and their executives are
taking the leadership role around standards of behavior, and issues like
corporate citizenship, transparency, diversity, governance, and
measurable values-based-leadership have become the foundation of the
sustainable enterprise. Companies will be increasingly rewarded
financially for their efforts to attract and retain the best employees,
and to operate with integrity and clarity of purpose. Ethisphere will
continue to focus on creating the standards that correlate business
integrity with performance.

“In each of the last ten years, the Ethisphere Institute has measured
companies who demonstrate leadership in areas like citizenship,
integrity and transparency as the World’s Most Ethical Companies,”
announced Ethisphere CEO, Timothy Erblich. “It is both thrilling and
humbling to see the results of our joint efforts to advance the
standards of corporate behavior, and the ways that this behavior
influences and improves the human condition. Congratulations.”

“Transparency and sustainability are no longer mere buzzwords for
corporations. As a Board member, my role is not only one of oversight,
but one of stewardship, that is, ensuring that these corporations are
both valuable and worth preserving,” said Sherry Barrat, board member, NextEra
Energy, Inc., a four-time World’s Most Ethical Company, Arthur
J. Gallagher & Co., a six-time honoree, and Prudential Insurance
Funds, an operating division of Prudential Financial, Inc., a
two-time honoree. “Companies that understand that corporate integrity is
a key driver and provides a performance advantage are those that will
continually lead their industries and be considered both trustworthy and
successful.”

“PepsiCo’s longstanding commitment to transparency, engagement and the
highest ethical conduct has always propelled our business forward. These
qualities are embodied by Performance with Purpose, our belief that
profitable companies of the 21st century will be those that align the
needs of their business with the needs of the world around them,” said PepsiCo
Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi. “This honor reflects the hard work of men
and women across PepsiCo whose integrity enables our success, and I want
to thank Ethisphere for once again recognizing their achievements.”

“We are honored that holding ourselves and our partners to the highest
standards of integrity has resulted in Intel being recognized as a
World’s Most Ethical Company for the sixth time,” said Intel CEO,
Brian Krzanich.

“We are honored to be recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical
Companies,” said USAA CEO, Stuart Parker. “Everything we do at
USAA is driven by our core values of Honesty, Integrity, Loyalty and
Service. USAA employees come to work every day with a passion to do the
right thing to facilitate the financial security of our members, their
families and each other. This award reflects that commitment.”

“We are pleased to be named as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies
for the seventh time in recognition of our long-standing initiatives,”
said Ricoh Company, Ltd President and CEO, Zenji Miura. “All of
our employees commit to act with integrity and honesty in all
situations, in accordance with the principles of the RICOH Way. We will
continue driving sustainability and striving to satisfy our stakeholders
such as our customers and society, creating unique value beyond their
expectations.”

“With accelerating momentum, all stakeholder groups – customers,
employees, investors, legislators, etc. – are increasingly making
decisions that are critical to businesses based on how they view those
businesses from an ethical perspective,” said Voya Financial
Chairman and CEO, Rodney O. Martin, Jr. “With 13 million Voya customers
across the country, we know that each day, Americans are placing their
trust in Voya to help them plan, invest and protect their savings. We
are honored to earn that trust – to help Americans get ready to retire
better – and we are proud to foster a corporate culture that has enabled
Voya to be selected as a World’s Most Ethical Company for the third
consecutive year.”

“Oshkosh Corporation is honored to be recognized as one of the World’s
Most Ethical Companies,” said Oshkosh Corporation President and
CEO, Wilson R. Jones. “Our employees around the world are the ones who
have made this possible; with ethical business practices and a
commitment to our core values of citizenship, honesty, accountability,
integrity and respect. At Oshkosh, doing things the right way isn’t just
part of our culture, it’s the only way we do business.”

“Investors and financial markets are proving that companies that operate
with transparency and integrity are better performing over the long
term,” Mr. Erblich added. “We fully expect the ‘integrity premium’ to
grow with import as investors, employees, customers and even regulators
value companies through the lens of enhanced standards of behavior.”

Honorees

The full list of the 2016 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

Methodology & Scoring

The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere
Institute’s Ethics
Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted
and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical
Company Methodology
Advisory Panel. The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a
company’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.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance
program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture
of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and
reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the
process.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing
the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate
character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep
expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using
data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character.
Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical
Companies^® recognition program, provides a community of
industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and
showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere
magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

Contacts

The Ethisphere Institute
Media
Clea Nabozny,
480-397-2658
Clea.Nabozny@ethisphere.com