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The Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli to Chair Business Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster Response Task Force
The Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli to Chair Business Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster Response Task Force
Published 05-30-06
Submitted by Business Roundtable
Following last year's devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes, the U.S. private sector contributed an extraordinary $1.2 billion to recovery efforts, with more than $362 million of that support mobilized through Business Roundtable member companies. The scale of that response shows that more can be done to help those residents and communities prepare for and recover from large-scale disasters. Under Nardelli's leadership, this task force aims to ensure that response efforts address the biggest needs, mobilize the best assets and achieve maximum impact.
"The Home Depot's immediate response to Hurricane Katrina, providing critical resources with unmatched skill, was extraordinary," said Hank McKinnell, Chairman of Business Roundtable and Chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc. "Bob will help build a proactive plan for U.S. businesses as we work collaboratively - across sectors and borders - to prepare for future disasters and help save lives."
"This group of Business Roundtable member companies will define a more integrated private sector response to disasters, one that takes advantage of our diverse assets and capabilities," said Nardelli. "Our goal is to develop a model for corporate collaboration that helps communities respond, recover and rebuild following catastrophic events. This approach is unprecedented in our nation's history."
Nardelli's vision includes a four-step process that will develop plans and identify deployable resources for different phases of the disaster response life cycle, including:
1. Respond - Mitigate the impact of disasters through customer education, business continuity plans, employee assistance programs, and the mobilization of food and water supplies to impacted areas.
2. Recover - Deploy volunteers, financial support, goods and supplies, heavy equipment, technology, and other assets to accelerate the restoration of order and critical infrastructure to communities impacted by disaster.
3. Rebuild - Sustain the long-term rebuilding effort, restoring housing capacity, jobs, community assets and environmental resources damaged and destroyed by disaster events.
4. Logistics, Communications, Data Management - A separate working group will also identify opportunities to lend our capabilities and expertise in these functional areas to support communities and nonprofit organizations engaged throughout all phases of disaster response.
The Business Roundtable disaster response effort that Nardelli will now lead was first activated immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Business Roundtable member companies contributed $362 million in funding, services, supplies and equipment to support the Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts. The Roundtable urged member companies to contribute to the relief effort and facilitated communications about critical on-the-ground needs. Led by a working committee of representatives from American Electric Power, American Express, Citigroup, Dow Chemical, FedEx, General Electric, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble, the Partnership also maintained daily contact with the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Commerce and others, and helped match these organizations' needs with member companies' resources.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, The Home Depot took on the role of a first responder. The Home Depot's approach to disaster response and rebuilding, characterized by engagement with local leaders and investment in local programs, reinforces its leadership position in embedded philanthropy and offers a model for business leaders to leverage community and nonprofit partners to make a bigger difference in their communities. As an example, in Pass Christian, Miss., The Home Depot met with community leaders within days following Hurricane Katrina to identify local needs and philanthropic opportunities. In partnership with those leaders, the company has invested more than $1 million over the subsequent eight months in a variety of recovery and rebuilding programs in Pass Christian, including:
Most recently, The Home Depot and KaBOOM! partnered with more than 500 volunteers from the local community and from organizations like Hands On Network, AmeriCorps and volunteer groups from around the country to build the town's first permanent structure completed after Katrina - a 6,000 square foot playground, surrounded by dozens of newly planted trees and shrubs, picnic tables, and benches. This community-led volunteer effort restored the town's beloved War Memorial Park, giving residents hope for the future and pride in the progress they have made to restore the town they love.
The Home Depot® is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,064 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. Through its HD SupplySM businesses, The Home Depot is also one of the largest diversified wholesale distributors in the United States, with more than 900 locations in the United States and Canada offering products and services for building, improving and maintaining homes, businesses and municipal infrastructures. In fiscal 2005, The Home Depot had sales of $81.5 billion and earnings of $5.8 billion. The Company employs approximately 355,000 associates and has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as the No. 1 Most Admired Specialty Retailer and the No. 13 Most Admired Corporation in America for 2006. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.
Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with over $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock market and represent nearly a third of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Collectively, they returned more than $110 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2005.
Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $86 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the United States.
Business Roundtable
Business Roundtable
Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with more than $5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and pay nearly half of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Annually, they return $133 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy. Business Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with more than $70 billion in annual research and development spending é¢â‚¬â€œ more than a third of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.
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