Knights of Columbus Named a 2016 World’s Most Ethical Company

The Knights of Columbus has been recognized as a 2016 World’s Most Ethical Company® by the Ethisphere® Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Ethisphere and its World’s Most Ethical Companies® designation, which recognizes companies that align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust a part of their corporate DNA, and help shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow’s best practices today.

The Knights of Columbus has been recognized among the world’s most ethical companies since 2014 and is one of only two in the life insurance category, underscoring the Knights’ commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.

“The Knights of Columbus was founded on providing financial security to our members and their families in keeping with Catholic values,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “Those principles continued to guide our company as we grew into a top-rated insurer with the same ethical commitment in every aspect of our business, our corporate governance, our professional agency force, our investments and our day-to-day business operations. It is this commitment to our Catholic principles that is the key to our ethical, sustainable and successful business model.”

Companies rely on Ethisphere to continually raise and measure the standards of corporate behavior, said Ethisphere’s CEO Timothy Erblich.

“Those that demonstrate leadership in areas like citizenship, integrity and transparency create more value for their investors, communities, customers and employees, thus solidifying a sustainable business advantage," said Erblich. “Congratulations to everyone at the Knights of Columbus for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company.”

The World's Most Ethical Company® assessment is based on 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 for specific core competencies, generating scores in five key categories: a company’s ethics and compliance program (35 percent); corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent); culture of ethics (20 percent); governance (15 percent); and leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent).

The Ethisphere® Institute has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data­-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. 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.