ESD Announces Winners for Foreign Investment Award

ESD Announces Winners for Foreign Investment Award

		Commissioner Daniel C. Gundersen with Margaret McGovern, VP, Government Relations of HSBC Bank USA, N.A. (winner of large company category) (PRNewsFoto/Empire State Development) ALBANY, NY UNITED STATES

Winners from NYC and Buffalo contribute to local communities ALBANY, N.Y., May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Empire State Economic Development announced the winners of the inaugural New York State Foreign Investment Award during an awards luncheon at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City on May 7. The awards recognize foreign-owned New York firms for their economic, civic and philanthropic contributions to the local community in New York State. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080509/21720-a ) The winners in each category include: Large firm: HSBC Bank, NYC, UK - 14,000 employees Mid-size firm: Bureau Veritas, Buffalo, France -- 300 employees Small firm: Impact Learning & Development, Inc., NYC, UK - 8 employees "I want to express our appreciation to these three companies for their exemplary commitment to creating value, providing employment and contributing to our communities," said Upstate Empire State Development Chairman Daniel C. Gundersen. "Success in bolstering our global competitiveness is critical to our state's future, upstate and down. This award appropriately recognizes foreign investors for the positive contributions they make in our state." "We commend these three companies for understanding, in this increasingly global economy, the importance of giving as well as taking to cement relationships with the communities where they do business and with the New York employees who contribute so greatly to their continued success," said Downstate Empire State Development President Avi Schick. "As these companies and others like them have discovered, upstate and down, New York has much to offer foreign investors and we look forward to working with them and sharing economic growth." Headquartered in the United Kingdom, HSBC Bank has more than 460 bank branches throughout the United States, with about 380 in New York State. It is one of the nation's 10 largest bank holding companies by assets. Bureau Veritas, headquartered in Paris, France with a New York State location in Buffalo, is an international group and one of the world's leaders in conformity assessment and certification services, helping clients to manage risk and enhance their performance in the fields of quality, health and safety, environment and social responsibility. Impact Learning and Development is a global people development company headquartered in the United Kingdom with a New York City location. It designs and delivers learning journeys for individuals, teams and organizations, integrating the very best in interactive learning, leading edge theory and facilitated reviews. The additional finalists for the award included Canon and Siemens in the large firm category, Icon Central Laboratories and Koike Aronson Inc. in the mid-size firm category and Hailo LLC and PR Newswire Association LLC in the small firm category. Eligibility required that the company be owned by a non-U.S. entity (at least 51 percent or greater ownership) and be located in New York State. Nominations came from the companies themselves and other organizations and individuals with first-hand knowledge of the company's community contributions. Empire State Development is New York's chief economic development agency, encompassing business, workforce and community development. ESD also oversees the marketing of "I LOVE NY," the State's iconic tourism brand. For more information, visit http://www.nylovesbiz.com.