Success Stories

If at First you Don’t Succeed:

Caroline Rasmussen and
Stephen Finn of Sodexo.

The Commission of Persons with Disabilities awarded Sodexo the Large Employer of the Year Award for 2008. Sodexo is a business with more than 200 employees that has shown a positive attitude and philosophy toward recruiting, accommodating, employing and advancing persons with disabilities.

Sodexo is the leading provider of integrated food and facilities management services in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Each year, Diversity Inc. Magazine names the top 50 companies for diversity in their workforce. In 2008, Sodexo ranked No. 12 overall in all aspects of Diversity and No. 6 on the list of Top 10 Companies for People with Disabilities.

Sodexo employee Caroline Rasmussen nominated her long-time employer. Caroline has worked for Sodexo at their St. Ambrose University location in Davenport since 1989 and throughout her employment has seen Sodexo partner with Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, the Handicapped Development Center, the local Transition Alliance Program and Central High School’s Co-Op Program. She notes that employees hired from these programs have been with the team for as long as ten years and are a vital part of the food service they provide to the student population.

In 2005, Caroline experienced Sodexo’s commitment to the employment of individuals with disabilities in a whole new light. In February of that year she was paralyzed while skiing in Colorado. The Family Medical Leave Act only protected her job for 12 weeks, but after being off for 13 months Caroline had a job waiting for her when she was ready to return.