Long-Time Goodwill® Employee Honored for Excellence in Leadership

Local CEO recognized for sustainable impact in the community 
Austin, TX. – The President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, Gerald “Jerry” Davis, has been named the 2018 Goodwill Sustainability Champion Award. Davis has been with the Goodwill network for nearly 25 years, and Goodwill Industries International is pleased to present him with this award.
Davis is well-known across the Goodwill network as a strong leader of the organization’s mission and impact. Davis has put a large focus on sustainable projects and efforts both locally and nationally. In 2004, he started a partnership between Goodwill Industries of Central Texas and Dell that enables consumers to responsibly recycle any brand of unwanted computers or computer accessories at no cost.
Reconnect has since expanded to more than 2,000 Goodwill stores across the country, and has recycled more than half a billion pounds of used electronics. This is the equivalent in saving enough energy to run over 100,000 homes in the U.S. for a year. (Dell)
In addition to the sustainability portion, Reconnect has created hundreds of jobs across the country and generated millions of dollars in revenue to fund community programs.
“When the Reconnect program was established in 2004, it served as an example for Goodwill organizations across the country on how to make a true impact in sustainability”, said Mark Boyd, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey & Philadelphia. “What Jerry and his team in Austin have accomplished has been amazing. Not only does Reconnect serve communities through responsible recycling and improving environmental conditions, but it spans across the larger Goodwill mission by creating hundreds of jobs in local communities.”
In addition to Reconnect, Davis worked hard to make sustainability a part of everyday culture at Goodwill Industries of Central Texas. The local Goodwill created a Green team, which implements cross-divisional participation to keep facilities and practices the most environmentally-efficient. The organization is also focusing on the “triple bottom line”, a concept created to reinforce that a commitment to the environment will improve the financial bottom line, which will provide additional resources for the people it serves. New hires and employees go through a “use less” training program, and are tasked with reinforcing that mantra company-wide during anniversaries and milestone events.
The local Goodwill also conducts energy audits, launched a single-streaming recycling program for offices and break rooms, and currently diverts more than 70 categories of materials through recycling procedures. In 2017, the local Goodwill diverted more than 86 million pounds of materials from landfills through their reuse, resale and responsible recycling programs. Davis was an early adopter of the Goodwill Going Green Initiative which then formally became the Goodwill Sustainability Program under his direction. Davis served as the co-chair of the Goodwill Sustainability Program steering committee for over five years.
Goodwill Industries International’s Goodwill Sustainability Champion Award recognizes a Goodwill employee who has exemplified the mission of Goodwill Industries® with a focus on sustainability.
CONTACT:
Valerie Swift
Senior Director, Community Engagement
Goodwill of Central Texas
512-637-7153
[email protected]
Savanna Mickens
Public Relations Specialist
Goodwill Industries International
Phone: (240) 333-5293
[email protected]
 
ABOUT GOODWILL OF CENTRAL TEXAS
Established in Austin in 1958, Goodwill Central Texas, a private, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, has become a multi-dimensional non-profit deeply entwined with business and job growth, the environment, and the overall spirit of Central Texas. Goodwill empowers more than 13,000 people each year, helping them fulfill their potential, improve the lives of their families, and contribute to the growth of the community. Goodwill, in collaboration with an extensive network of practical, thoughtful assistance-providers, actively strives to broaden its scope of education, job training, and business services in alignment with the core mission of generating lifelong connections to work. For more information about Goodwill Central Texas, go to www.goodwillcentraltexas.org.
ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL
Goodwill Industries International (GII) is a network of 162 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 12 other countries. GII is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is recognized by GuideStar with its Platinum Seal of Approval, the organization’s highest rating for charities. GII was also ranked by Enso as the #1 brand doing the most good in the world for two consecutive years, and was the only nonprofit brand rated in Forbes’ 20 most inspiring companies for three consecutive years. Local Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that create job training programs, employment placement and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,200 stores collectively and online at shopgoodwill.com®. Local Goodwill organizations build revenues and create jobs by contracting with commercial, state, government and non-government organizations to provide a wide range of business services, including manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, packaging, assembly, food preparation, document management, groundskeeping and  administrative. Last year, local Goodwill organizations collectively placed more than 288,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 38 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills, and more than 1.7 million people received in person services. To learn more, visit goodwill.org.