2008 Not-for-Profit Director of the Year Winner: Sally Jewell
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A Champion of Social Responsibility
Sally Jewell
The National Association of Corporate Directors is pleased to award the title of 2008 Not-for-Profit Director of the Year to Sally Jewell, in recognition of her long-term commitment to non-profit governance.
For the last three years, Ms. Jewell's primary focus has been on leading Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) as the company's president and CEO. Her ability to work as part of the team, not just a leader, has been inspirational to both her employees and her fellow board members. With a work record in both engineering and finance, Ms. Jewell came to REI with experience in a variety of top business positions; critical experience for a future CEO. In fact, she helped REI rebound from its first annual loss in 2000 as chief operating officer.
Within REI, Ms. Jewell has done an outstanding job of re-focusing the company's environmental protection policies and business goals. It started with acknowledging that internal evaluations would be necessary. Setting a market-driven agenda, championing community outreach, and ending failing programs (most notably REI's Japan expansion program) gave the board and the company newfound motivation.
According to K&L Gates Co-Founder William H. Chapman, who has served on several boards with Ms. Jewell over the past 17 years, "she offers sound judgment consistently on the whole range of issues facing boards, whether addressing strategic plans.or simply addressing personnel decisions."
In addition to her positive changes within REI, Ms. Jewell applies her board experience to a number of other organizations. Her involvement in education is particularly noteworthy. She is on the board of the YWCA, the Alliance for Education, and is a dedicated regent on the Board of Regents for the University of Washington .
Ms. Jewell utilizes her environmental knowledge in a number of boardroom settings in addition her work at REI. She serves on the board of the National Parks and Conservation Association, the Initiative for Global Development, and is president of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. Her consciousness of business goals and dedication to strong environmental policies has given direction to many organizations seeking leadership in corporate social responsibility.
Ms. Jewell has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as a "Global Women to Watch" nominee, was voted Executive of the Year in 2006 by Puget Sound Business Journal, and her development of REI's online strategies has earned recognition as a "best practice" by Forrester Research group.
NACD will recognize Ms. Jewell at the 2008 NACD Director of the Year Awards Banquet on Oct. 20 in Washington, D.C.
