AT&T Wins 2006 Page Principles Award for Role in Reuniting Families After Hurricane Katrina
Oct 02, 2006
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The Arthur W. Page Society has named AT&T Inc. as the winner of the prestigious 2006 Page Principles Award for the company's massive communications response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The annual award recognizes an outstanding demonstration of effective corporate communications and the application of the Page Principles, which are the seven communications management concepts upheld by the Page Society. The award will be formally presented to AT&T during the Arthur W. Page Society's 23rd Annual Conference in October.
Anticipating the Needs -- Delivering the Services AT&T's initiative during Hurricane Katrina illustrates the importance that telecommunications and the Internet play in our daily lives, especially during a disaster. As the hurricane ravaged much of the Gulf Coast and left thousands homeless due to storm damage and rising floodwaters, the corporate communications professionals from SBC Communications, which was in the process of acquiring AT&T Corp. to become AT&T Inc., closely tracked the plans of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to evacuate victims to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other cities in AT&T's 13-state local service territory.
Anticipating the communications needs, San Antonio-based AT&T quickly organized and provided free-of-charge key technology services to evacuees and relief agencies including additional phone lines, telephones, wireless phones, voice mail services, computers and high-speed Internet service. The company also deployed 50 onsite personnel to assist at the shelters, coordinated daily media activities at the shelters, and developed a donations program that raised $10 million for relief agencies.
Enabling Families to Communicate and Reunite
The Corporate Communications team was instrumental in driving and coordinating the company's response to the relief effort on the ground and generating awareness and support from around the globe. The following statistics illustrate the critical role that the company played in the reunification of thousands of lost children and family members at other shelters and helping thousands more connect with loved ones in safe areas:
- 25,400 evacuees relied upon AT&T's telecommunications technology to make 364,000 long-distance calls from the AT&T telephone banks at the three main Texas shelters to find family members or alert them as to their shelter locations.
- More than 2,000 evacuees searched online and found their spouses, their children, and other family members as a direct result of AT&T's broadband and Internet technologies.
- 22,560 evacuees logged onto AT&T's high-speed Internet from inside the make-shift computer centers at the main shelters to "register" their locationsand/or "search" the Internet for loved ones.
Roger Bolton, president of the Arthur W. Page Society, said the competition's panel of judges was most impressed by the AT&T entry. "I salute AT&T and everyone who was involved in the unprecedented relief effort to reunite families after Hurricane Katrina. The company demonstrated that its operating principles, which are very much aligned with the Page Principles, are more than just words -- the company acted on its values and delivered on its promise to do the right thing for the communities it services. The Page Society congratulates AT&T for the technology, leadership and compassion demonstrated in the wake of the storm."
According to Selim Bingol, senior vice president, Corporate Communications, AT&T, "Our mission at AT&T is to keep people connected in good times and bad. Given the unprecedented scale of the disaster, helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina was especially gratifying and humbling work. We are guided by the Page Principles so this recognition from the Page Society means a great deal to AT&T."
About the Arthur W. Page Society
The Arthur W. Page Society is a professional association composed primarily of the chief communications officers (CCOs) of the world's top multinational corporations, and the CEOs of the world's largest public relations agencies. The organization's members also include academics from the leading business and communications schools.
The Page Society is dedicated to strengthening the management policy role of chief communications officers. The Page Society is upheld by management concepts, known as the Page Principles, which have been tested for more than half a century and have earned the support and respect of chief executive officers throughout the country. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Arthur W. Page Society.
Additional information about the Page Society is available at http://www.awpagesociety.com.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the leading U.S. wireless services provider with 57.3 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at http://www.att.com.
For more information
Arthur W. Page Society:
Dawn Hanson
216-932-8641
dhanson@awpagesociety.com
AT&T:
Ed Presberg
314.982.8688
ed.presberg@fleishman.com
