(Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire)CLEVELAND, May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Commission on Economic Inclusion, a coalition of Northeast Ohio employers committed to making the region's diversity a source of economic strength, announced its 2008 "Best in Class" member organizations for their progress in building and maintaining diverse and inclusive organizations at its Annual Meeting held earlier this month at Corporate College East in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

   Other highlights of the Annual Meeting include:   --  Results of the 2008 Greater Cleveland Employers Survey on       Diversity(TM), which showed progress in all four areas measured:       board, senior management, workforce and supplier diversity   --  Keynote address by Alexander M. (Sandy) Cutler, chairman and CEO of       Eaton Corporation and a founding co-chair of the Commission   --  Review of 2008 accomplishments   --  Announcement of the newly named Commission co-chairs    --  Proposal for a new "Collaborative for Inclusion"    Best-in-Class winners  

The employers honored were selected based on results of the 2008 Greater Cleveland Employers Survey on Diversity(TM), and follow-up interviews by the Commission staff. Two organizations -- one nonprofit/government organization and one for-profit company -- were selected in each of four categories. The winners are:

Board Diversity: Kaiser Permanente and KeyCorp; Senior Management Diversity: Cuyahoga Community College and Eaton Corporation; Workforce Diversity: The MetroHealth System and Time Warner Cable of Northeast Ohio; and Supplier Diversity: Cleveland Clinic and KeyCorp.

"We're pleased that all Commission winners are working to improve diversity and inclusion within their own organizations," said Commission Co-chair Christopher M. Connor, chairman and CEO of The Sherwin-Williams Co. "Our Best-in-Class winners are the pacesetters whom we recognize for the exemplary progress they have made. They have successfully developed and implemented policies and practices that can be replicated by other organizations."

Survey highlights

Northeast Ohio is the only region in the country to accumulate and report economic inclusion data through an annual survey. For 2008, 96 employers (55 percent for profit, 34 percent nonprofit and 11 percent government organizations) representing about 173,500 employees in the region and nearly 1.9 million employees nationwide, completed the Employers Survey on Diversity(TM), now in its eighth year.