Hononary Award: Arnold Wellman. A citizen of the United States, Arnold Wellman for many years held the post of Vice President for Corporate and Public Relations at American UPS (United Parcel Service) Corporation. Currently, he is a member of the boards of US Council for International Business, US ASEAN Business Council, the American Trucking Association, the National Center for APEC, and the National Bureau of Asian Research.

During his long-term career with UPS, his duties among others included managing the budget of corporate social responsibility programmes. It was as part of this operation that Mr Wellman supported the development of local communities by increasing children and youth’s access to education in many of the world’s poorest countries. UPS continues to build and furnished schools and to finance scholarships for children in Poland, Ukraine, India, Mexico, China, and the poorest regions of the United States. The programme that UPS developed provides thousands of children with opportunities for better future. Access to computers and the Internet becomes their “window to the world”, shows broader perspectives for the future, and encourages them to use the opportunities they had not known before. The schools were built with significant contribution of UPS volunteers, whose number included Arnold Wellman himself, representatives of the US Congress, and rank-and-file UPS personnel who worked physically on the construction of the individual sites.

In 2012, Arnold Wellman retired and established a foundation supporting the development of local communities. For his contribution to the development of education, and personal involvement in the construction of schools in Lipa and Sierakośce in Podkarpackie Region, and in Nizhankovitsi and Holovetsko in Ukraine, he was awarded the Order of the Smile in 2009.