Capital One 2009 Annual Report Download - page 9

Beyond supporting our associates’ community involvement with donations, we offer flexible work
schedules so that they can maximize the effectiveness of their volunteer work. In 2009, Capital One’s
associates volunteered more than 84,000 hours, teaching personal finance, building homes,
mentoring at-risk youth, and providing leadership guidance to nonprofits. They also contributed
substantial pro bono professional services to help nonprofits with everything from marketing and
information technology to finance and
legal affairs. Our senior managers serve
on more than 300 nonprofit boards.
The President of the United States
appointed me to the President’s Council
on Service and Civic Participation, which
is a salute to the huge impact that our
associates have had on their communities.
From the company’s earliest days, our
people have been working to make a
meaningful difference in the lives of the
people they touch. For its innovations
in volunteerism, Capital One was one
of only five recipients of the 2009 Points of Light Corporate Engagement Award of Excellence,
which honors outstanding employee volunteer programs. We also received the Washington
Business Journal’s Community Impact Business Philanthropy Award, along with two dozen other
local community service awards across our banking footprint.
The Challenges Of 2009 Gave Our Great People
The Chance To Show Capital One At Its Best
The dedication and selflessness of the people of Capital One cannot be overstated. It took great
people and a very special culture to pull off our transformational journey. Our Board of Directors
remained focused on the long-term strategy and positioning of the company, supporting key
strategic initiatives that were many years in the making. Our executive team continued to provide
strong leadership, transcending silos to collaborate across departments and living the open culture
essential to great risk management. They avoided the lure of immediate gratification to build a
company that would prosper in good times and bad. And for years, all of our associates have driven
extraordinary change across the enterprise with a sense of urgency despite significant uncertainty
and challenges. It is especially rewarding for me to see their years of transformational work pay
off during the financial crisis. Their collective efforts have spared us the worst of the recession.
All of us remain committed to positioning Capital One to compete and win in each of our markets
Our associates help students learn to manage their money at
Finance Park, a Capital One/Junior Achievement program with a
mobile classroom that has served tens of thousands of students
across the country.
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