Leonie Industries Responds to Allegations

Leonie Industries' formal response:

An April 21 USA Today article describes a “misinformation campaign” against two of the newspaper’s reporters who have recently covered Leonie. Although Leonie was not named in the story (or contacted by the reporter who wrote it), the article implies that the company was somehow involved in the activities described therein. Other media outlets have subsequently repeated the essence of the story, but have gone further by explicitly naming Leonie as being responsible for the campaign.

To be clear, Leonie condemns the activities described in the article. While Leonie has no reason to believe that any employee was involved in this activity, an internal investigation is being conducted to determine whether any employee was so involved. If that investigation determines that there was such involvement, appropriate action will be taken.

Leonie Industries Employees Win USAID/DEVEX Development Essay Contest

In December of 2011, USAID and DEVEX launched an essay contest, putting out a call for innovative and insightful ideas on the future of development. They received hundreds of submissions from development professionals on topics including the role of democracy, using technology to improve service delivery, and environmental pressures on the planet. Two of Leonie Industries ’ employees, Glen Scott Allen and Michael Joseph, submitted an essay entitled “Global Tech + Local Trust: A Formula for Sustainable Development” which was chosen as one of only six winners.

Their essay will be published in the May issue of USAID’s Frontiers in Development, to coincide with the high-profile USAID Frontiers in Development conference at Georgetown University in June, 2012. The conference and publication aim to strengthen the analysis, design, and implementation of programs and policies aimed at fostering development and reducing poverty in developing countries.

Other contributors to the publication will include Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation); Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberian President); Paul Collier (Oxford University professor, economist and author of “The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It”); Admiral James Stavridis (NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander and Head of U.S. European Command); and Indra Nooyi (Chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo Inc).

We congratulate Scott and Michael, and are pleased with the ever-increasing recognition of Leonie's capabilities in this area.

Wounded Warrior Project 2012

At the end of March the Board President of the Wounded Warrior Project, Dawn Halfaker, a Wounded Warrior himself, testified before the joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees about WWP's 2012 legislative priorities.

You can read the full testimony here.

It is well worth a read. The Wounded Warrior Project exists to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members. They also help injured service members aid and assist each other, and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members. You can read more about their programs here. For example, there are programs to keep wounded vets connected with each other through peer mentoring. They have programs to support body and mind, was well as those directed towards economic engagement which help wounded warriors who are looking for opportunities to pursue a meaningful career or own their own business.

In 2012, the WWP is advocating for policy and legislative improvements that:

• Close gaps and eliminate barriers to improved mental health of warriors, their families, and caregivers;
• Foster the economic empowerment of Wounded Warriors through policy initiatives to eliminate educational and employment barriers;
• Help ensure access to optimal, long-term rehabilitative care for severely Wounded Warriors, and needed supports for their caregivers;
• Improve the effectiveness of programs that were established to help Wounded Warriors and their families transition from active duty to successful community reintegration.

Here at Leonie Industries we wish them all the best with the wonderful work that they are doing. As they say, "The greatest casualty is being forgotten." We will not forget them. Click here if you would like to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project.