Phil Cooper Wins Corporate Citizen of the Year Award

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.  -  Phil Cooper, owner of both Cooper Pest Solutions and BedBug Central in Lawrenceville, NJ was awarded Corporate Citizen of the Year from NJBIZ, New Jersey’s only weekly business journal covering the entire state. Cooper was among 15 nominees in the Corporate Citizen of the Year category, which was then narrowed down to six finalists before declaring him the winner of this year’s award.

“As corporate leaders there comes great responsibility to be great corporate citizens; tirelessly promoting diversity, helping those in need and raising awareness for civic, charitable and health causes,” says Cooper.

Since an early age Cooper was always taught about the importance of charitable giving by his parents. As he began to develop in his CEO roll, his desire to support a multitude of charities grew as well. Having been an avid supporter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for years Cooper decided to trade his CEO chair for his bicycle in the summer of 2012.  Cooper would cycle across the country with the Bike the US for MS team from Yorktown, VA to San Francisco, CA, a total of 3,780 miles through nine states, raising $50,000 for MS.

The unique part of this journey began when Cooper decided to enlist the support of his fellow pest control buddies and others from the industry. Cooper developed PhilAcrossAmerica.com, which served as an additional fundraising outlet, a place to engage supporters, a channel to blog about his journey and much more! He was amazed at the support he received and welcomed many a guest rider from the industry along the way. He was also greeted by many friendly faces from pest control companies near and far as they would pull into various towns across the country. It was the continued support of his peers that helped keep Cooper peddling that summer.

“I always knew how wonderful of an industry I was in, but I was even more in awe after the outpouring of support I received in 2012,” says Cooper.  “Companies from near and far reached out to show their support, encourage me to keep going and engaged with me throughout my travels.”