Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine
At its Breakfast for Chamber Champions event held earlier this year, the Tempe Chamber of Commerce presented Landings Credit Union and Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine with the 2014 Business Excellence awards.
“The Business Excellence Awards recognize outstanding businesses in our community,” said Mary Ann Miller, president/CEO of the Tempe Chamber. “Both Landings Credit Union and Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine are amazing companies dedicated to their customers, their staffs and the community. We are proud they’re part of the Tempe Chamber, and we celebrate their continued success.”
Recipients must demonstrate a record of business success and growth, community involvement, dedication to employees, leadership, reliability and commitment to customer service.
Landings Credit Union
Landings Credit Union has been serving the community since 1953, when it was founded as Tempe Schools Credit Union. From a humble beginning run out of a high school closet by a few volunteer teachers, it now employs 70 people and has 18,000 members.
For the last 10 years, Landings Credit Union has partnered with the Tempe Community Council’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program to provide free tax preparation and education to low-wage earners. During that time, more than $15 million has been returned to the pockets of residents, while teaching them how to financially stabilize themselves and their families.
Aside from serving its members, community and school involvement are central to its business model. Some examples include the creation of a 0%-interest education tax credit loan to support local schools and its Grade A program, which rewards students with cash deposits into their account for each “A” received on their report card.
The Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) has grown during its 20 years from a six-person nonprofit to a top-tier college with 249 full- and part-time employees and an enrollment of more than 400 students. As a school of medicine and health sciences grounded in naturopathic principles, it is dedicated to the ideal that everyone deserves high-quality health care.
SCNM trains future physicians to focus on prevention, wellness and lifestyle changes. Since its beginning in 1993, more than 1,000 doctors have graduated from the college. Along with its campus-based medical facilities, it operates nine community health centers for underserved children and families, and for domestic violence victims.
Its medical center serves nearly 14,000 patients a year and houses 27 exam rooms, six classrooms, an IV-therapy suite, an in-house laboratory, Arizona’s largest natural pharmacy and a one-of-a-kind hydrotherapy suite.
The college continues its growth with the construction of a new 47,000-square-foot building. When complete, it will include auditoriums and classrooms, an expanded library, cafe, exercise facility, teaching kitchen and a healing pain center.
The Tempe Chamber would also like to recognize the other four finalists: Caliente Construction, The Dhaba, Sun Sounds of Arizona and Tempe Mission Palms Hotel.
Achieving Excellence: Tips from Business Excellence Award Recipients
Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine
Support your employees: Create a dream team, listen to them and support their ideas! Engaged, loyal and excited staff are your best brand advocates and can accomplish just about anything.
Keep learning: Your team, customers and industry are always changing. Explore new ideas, provide opportunities for others to do so, and dedicate time and energy to staying current.
Innovate: Change is good. Always look at external and internal environments to stay ahead, continuously improve and grow your business.
Be a good neighbor: Community is key. Open your doors to local business and community members. We’re expanding our campus with the goal of bringing more people on site, and our medical center is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, providing family care, including same-day appointments.
Give back: SCNM provides free health care to those in need at 10 clinics throughout the Valley. Identify your company’s strengths and find ways to use those assets to make a positive difference in the world around you.
Landings Credit Union
Our mission is to be a community partner that provides personalized financial services. When the mission is to help people, you have a sustainable, successful business plan because our members find our products and services valuable.
Our business has to remain relevant every day. We have to find creative, innovative ways to provide our services better and with more passion than our competitors. Technology changes rapidly, and we have to be able to reach out to our members in a variety of ways.
We learn from our failures. We try something new — if it doesn’t work, we change it until it is successful. We will never do everything right for everyone, but we have to continue reinventing ourselves for the majority of our members.
We believe in creating a winning culture where hard work, integrity and commitment are at the heart of everything we do. We provide an exemplary banking experience with customer service being the highest priority. We are committed to being with our members through every step of their financial needs.
We give back to the communities in which we do business. We believe it is important to be a leader amongst leaders when it comes to community service and giving back to the people who help support us. We go above and beyond to make a positive impact and inspire success. Landings employees roll up their sleeves and volunteer hundreds of hours each year to support our local communities.
