The W. Howard Chase Award

The W. Howard Chase Award was created by the Issue Management Council to recognize organizational excellence in issue management. Presented for the first time in 1988, and annually thereafter, the award represents the highest distinction in the field. It is named after Howard Chase, who coined the term "issue management" in 1976 and founded the field's early disciplines.

Recipients of the Chase Award demonstrate a commitment to a systems resolution of an issue that directly relates to the organization's performance. Senior management support and involvement in the process is evident and cross-functional participation occurs at many levels throughout the organization. Additionally, the resolution of the issue has a social responsibility component, with benefits accruing to the winning organization, its stakeholder groups and society at large.

Award winners are selected by the Issue Management Council's board of directors, with winners announced and honored at the IMC Annual Conference. For more information, contact the Issue Management Council, 207 Loudoun Street, S.E., Leesburg, Virginia 20175, U.S.A.

Organizational Award

Previous winners of the Chase Award include:

• Dow Chemical Company (1988) - Product Stewardship
• Pacific Bell Telephone Company (1989) - Building a Public-Interest Vision
• Society for Human Resource Management (1990) - Implementing Issue Management to Achieve Association Goals
• Northern States Power Company (1991) - Acid Rain and Environmental Protection
• NYNEX Corporation (1992) - Customer Privacy
• Equifax Inc. (1993) - Privacy
• Baxter International, Inc. (1994) - Packaging Reduction
• Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (1995) - Building Cross-Cultural Bridges for Community Solaridity
• Weyerhaeuser Company (1996) - Northern Spotted Owl
• The Prudential Insurance Company of America (1997) - Declining Community Involvement in the US
• Shell International Limited (1999) - Corporate Social Responsibilities: Living up to values
• British Columbia Medical Association (2000) - Combining Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking and Issues Management Principles to Deal with the Crisis in British Columbia Health Care
• McDonald's Corporation (2001) - McDonald's Animal Welfare Program (MAWP)
• DaimlerChrysler Corporation (2001) - "Fit for a Kid" Initiative on Child Passenger Safety
• Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center (2002) - The Open Door Initiative
• Washington Mutual (2005) - Financial Services for Those Who Serve
• Swiss Re (2006) - Swiss Re’s Group Issue Management (GIM)
• Colorado Springs Utilities (2008) - Construction of a Hydroelectric Facility

Click here to nominate an organization for the Chase Award

In 1993, the Issue Management Council added an awards category to recognize individual contributions to the evolution of issue management.  Winners of individual awards include:

• W. Howard Chase, president, Howard Chase Enterprises (1993)
• Bruce Smart, Public Policy Committee of the Board, Chevron (1993)
• John F. Mahon, DBA, professor of management, Boston University (1993)
• Raymond P. Ewing, senior consultant, issues management (1994)
• Philip Cochran, director, Center for the Study of Business & Public Issues, Pennsylvania State University (1994)
• Kerry D. Tucker, president, Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, Inc. (1995)
• William C. Ashley, president, Ashley & Associates (1996)
• Janet César de Pozarnik, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (1997)
• Tony Jaques, Dow Chemical Australia (2004)
• Robert L. Heath, University of Houston (2007)

The following individuals have received leadership awards for extraordinary service to the Issue Management Council:

• Ben Woodhouse, vice president, industry issues and affairs, The Dow Chemical Company (1994)
• James R. Vaseff, Georgia Power (1999)
• Gary O'Malley, Weyerhaeuser Company (2001)
• Amy Dirks Stevens, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center (2003)

In 2004, the Issue Management Council Board of Directors added recognition for special merit in broader categories of issue management achievement.  Awards presented thus far include:

• Colorado Springs Utilities - for designing and launching an in-house issue management process (2004)
• Intel Corporation - for extraordinary innovation in creating issue management tools, processes and teaming (2004)

Click here to nominate an individual for the Chase Award