BERNER Group donates three raised beds and a herb snail to Waldenburg's Kleeblatt kindergarten
German CSR Award 2019 for Albert Berner: Big award night in Stuttgart
Albert Berner received the German CSR Award for his lifetime achievement yesterday evening at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. The German CSR Forum presents the award to forward-looking entrepreneurs who combine sustainable ideas with innovative solutions and outstanding organisational effectiveness. Albert Berner was also nominated for the German Engagement Award. Around 200 invited guests listened to a laudatory speech delivered by Prof. Erwin Teufel, former Minister-president of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The event formed part of the 15th German CSR Forum, which focused on “The Economy and Sustainable Financial Systems”.
“I am delighted by the German CSR Forum’s prize and thank the jury for the award. It is important to me to give something back to people and to society from the success that I have had. I am certain that prizes such as the CSR award help to establish more social responsibility in our lives,” said Albert Berner in the course of the celebratory evening. According to the jury of the German CSR Forum, Albert Berner was selected for the award because he has for 60 years been demonstrating that success in business and corporate social responsibility are not mutually exclusive.
In 1957, at the age of 21, Albert Berner laid the foundations for what are now the Europe-wide activities of the Berner Group. He paid attention to social responsibility right from the start. For example, he included people with disabilities at the French site and in 1995 he set up the charitable Albert Berner Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of children and adults in the social and cultural field and in sports and education in the Hohenlohe region.
Christian Berner, who represents the second generation of the family to head up the company group, stresses that social responsibility and sustainable business practices are still a priority sixty years after the founding of the business. “My parents modelled for me a solid set of values that to this day is deeply embedded in me and in the Berner Group. I am proud of my father’s courage and achievements. As a family entrepreneur I want to continue living out these values. And that is why I and many of our employees have for many years been active in social projects.”
Among those hosting the award evening was Prof. Wolfgang Schuster (chairman of the board of trustees of the German CSR Forum, former mayor of Stuttgart and a member of the German government’s Council for Sustainable Development). Former state secretary Prof. Matthias Kleinert (honorary chairman of the board of trustees) also presented Albert Berner with the nomination certificate for the German Engagement Award. The top award recognises people’s voluntary engagement and the work of everyone who supports this engagement through the presentation of awards. Only winners of regional and trans-regional engagement awards and citizens’ awards can be nominated for the German Engagement Award.
The award ceremony for the German Volunteering Award will take place on 5 December 2019, International Volunteer Day. The award was initiated by the Bündnis für Gemeinnützigkeit, an alliance of third-sector organisations, and it is funded partly by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
The Berner Group
The Berner Group is a family-run European commercial enterprise. Our vision is: “We keep the world together and moving.” This means we are the central B2B trading partner for all materials in the maintenance, repair, and production segments for our customers in the building, mobility, and industry sectors. With more than four channels we create an integrated omni-channel purchasing experience for our customers. In the steel and C materials as well as chemicals segments we are also an innovative manufacturer. We are represented in over 25 countries for our customers with more than 200,000 items and 8,200 employees.