ORC Peter Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions
ORC Worldwide is pleased to honor an extraordinary member of our Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Global EDI) community with a special award. Introduced in 2008, the ORC Peter Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions, named for a pioneer in equality and diversity work, recognizes an exceptional individual from one of ORC’s Global EDI Networks who exhibits the qualities and accomplishments that ORC and its member companies strive to develop in their organizations and as a model for all employers.
About the Award
Diversity practitioners often must labor in relative obscurity—unknown by the outside world and sometimes underappreciated in their own organizations. Yet it is their ardor, ingenuity, and persistence that have brought about much of the progress employers have made in recognizing the value of diversity and changing our culture and organizational systems for the better. The ORC Peter Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions recognizes and increasse awareness and appreciation of the contributions of the honoree, as well as all the dedicated people championing diversity in their organizations.
About Peter Robinson
Peter Clendenin Robertson dedicated his life to furthering diversity in organizations and championing the rights of all employees to contribute fully. Before his career was cut off by his untimely and unexpected death in 1997, Peter chaired ORC’s Equal Opportunity Group (one of the predecessors to today’s Workforce Opportunity Network) and, at the time of his death, was deeply involved in ORC’s reorganization of the practice area to more tightly integrate equality and diversity efforts. Peter was in the forefront of the global diversity movement. He was instrumental in starting the Vanguard Group, ORC’s first Global EDI network in Europe, and a similar network in Canada, and was a trusted advisor to equality officials in the Canadian government. Before joining ORC, during his 12 year tenure with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Peter made an enduring contribution to equality in the U.S. He played a key role in preparing the Uniform Selection Guidelines that regulate how employers might test and select employees, as well as guidelines on affirmative action, sex/pregnancy discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination.
Peter is remembered fondly by many in the business, government, and advocacy communities—and especially by those of us who worked with him—as a singular personality and a man of passion and commitment to the principles of equality and inclusion.
