Member Spotlight
Team SCA and
the Volvo Ocean
Race
member spotlight
“It is not just being great at what you do,
but it is also about being a great team
member” – Amy Bellcourt
SACC-PHILADELPHIA
12
Team SCA after arriving in Gothenburg, Sweden
Defying the rainy weather that welcomed
the competing boats as they crossed the
finish line of the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean
Race, a happy and cheerful crowd
greeted the eight sailboats as they sailed
into Gothenburg, Sweden on June 22nd.
SACC-Philadelphia’s Two Crown member SCA and their all-female Team SCA
crossed the finish line as in 6th place and
the first all-female team competing in over
10 years. SACC-Philadelphia spoke to Amy
Bellcourt, Vice President of Communications at SCA Americas, about the decision
to support an all-female team and how
the initiative connects to the company’s
CSR program.
Many people might not realize it, but they see
and use SCA products on a daily basis; at your local Dunkin’ Donuts, at stores like CVS, or in your office. SCA is a leading producer of global hygiene
and forest products, and has set trends in sustainable production since its establishment in Sweden
in 1929 with product lines such as TORK, hygiene
products including paper towels, napkins and toilet
tissues; and TENA, a line of adult incontinence products. The company’s innovations in biodegradable
and sustainable fibers stems from a strong history
of preservation, an ethical production process and
adapting to the times.
When SCA Americas moved their headquarters to
Philadelphia in 2006, the offices were the first in the
city to receive the Gold LEED (Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design) certification for sustainable and green office design. Amy points out
that this was an important commitment to make
and a step in continuing the sustainable development within SCA. Since then the trend has taken
of and many offices in Philadelphia, including the
Comcast Center, are now striving to become LEED
certified.
SCA is a corporation with sales in about 100 countries and constantly looking for possibilities to help
people understand who SCA is, and recognize
their brand as ethical and responsible. The search
for innovative promotional opportunities resulted
in a decision to participate with a team in the
2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race. The prospect to
promote the SCA values throughout a nine-month
period on a global platform became an apparent
next step. SCA announced their official participation in the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race three years
ago, and was the first corporation to do so, and the
decision to recruit an all-female team was made at
the start. Hundreds of applicants from around the
world were narrowed down to a team of 13. SCA
then set up a training camp in Lanzarote for the
final team to train and sail together with the goal to
create a team of the best people from around the
globe that would work effectively together.
This idea of collective success is something that resonates with the organizational culture of SCA, and
sponsoring an all-female team gave the company
an opportunity to realize those values on an international platform.
SCA’s extensive CSR program showcase a unique
involvement on issues of sustainability and social
development projects, and empowering women
is definitely a natural part of that. Women are one
of the largest target audiences for the SCA products, and this increases the value of focusing on
gender equality projects. To realize aspects of the
CSR program, SCA hosted multiple events at many
of the stopovers throughout the 2014/2015 Volvo
Ocean Race. During the US stopover in Newport,
RI, in the beginning of May this year, SCA hosted a
tree-planting event with local girl scouts as a part