While the National Bike Challenge is now a daily joy for nearly 30,000 bicyclists nationwide, the idea came from an employee and bike commuter at the Kimberly Clark Corporation: Rob Gusky. But the enthusiasm for active transportation doesn’t end with the company’s official Bicycling Ambassador — Kimberly Clark is committed to biking as a means to improve the health and productivity of its employees and the sustainability of its business.
Last week, League COO Jakob Wolf-Barnett and League Board Chair Gail Spann traveled to Wisconsin to join more than 200 K-C employees for their annual Get Up & Ride Day. Encouraging that many folks to saddle up is certainly impressive, but that wasn’t the only cause for celebration. Wolf-Barnett and Spann also presented K-C CEO Tom Falk with two Bicycle Friendly Business designations: a bronze for the company’s Conway, Ark., location and a gold for its HQ in Neenah, Wis. Also on hand were League members and supporters, like the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and staff from Wheel and Sprocket bike shops.
“Jakob and I met some of the local ‘movers and shakers’ and enjoyed some great conversations about the National Bike Challenge, the League, the Scott product line and, of course, Kimberly Clark,” Spann says. “Rob Gusky, a long time National Bike Summit attendee was our host for the visit, and we met many of the people who came in to ride that day, most who were working at K-C. After a short warm up, we were ready to present our Gold and Bronze BFB awards to CEO Tom Falk.”
See more photos from the event in the slideshow above or on our Flickr page. And don’t forget to sign up for the National Bike Challenge to join the fun!
Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League’s blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women’s Bicycling Summit and launched the League’s newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
via Bikeleague.org Blog http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2013/05/kimberly-clark-celebrates-two-bfb-awards-on-get-up-ride-day/