The Association for Talent Development honored 30 organizations from Canada, China, Denmark, India, Korea, Turkey, and the United States as winners in the 2015 BEST Awards. Cerner Corporation, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, won the first place ranking. TELUS, the Canadian telecommunications company, received ATD’s first ever Best of the BEST award, recognizing their 10 years of BEST Award wins.

Companies were recognized during a ceremony held at the Ronald Regan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

“These 30 companies set a high standard for the talent development profession. They are solving real business challenges through talent development practices, and they are doing it in innovative ways,” said Tony Bingham, ATD President and CEO. “Leaders in these organizations understand the strategic role learning has, and they are committed to investing in the growth and development of their people.”

Bingham also noted the accomplishments of TELUS. “Winning the BEST Award is a significant achievement. It is a difficult award to win and to do so 10 times is remarkable. We commend the team at TELUS for their sustained commitment to developing talent, and their drive to constantly innovate and set a high bar for excellence.”

ATD’s BEST Award is the talent development industry’s most rigorous and coveted recognition. The program recognizes organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success through talent development.

The 2015 BEST Award winners shared their best practices at the Learn from the BEST conference preceding the ceremony and are recognized in a special section of the November issue of TD, ATD’s flagship magazine.

ATD received entries from nearly 80 organizations in nine countries. These organizations submitted quantitative and qualitative information to ATD about their talent development practices and programs. Applications were assessed in a rigorous blind review by members of the BEST Awards advisory committee, a group of experts in the field.

 The 2015 BEST Award winners and rankings:

1.    Cerner Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri    

2.    BNSF Railway, Fort Worth, Texas

3.    Samsung Electronics, Seoul, Korea

4.    Maersk Line – A.P. Moller Maersk, Copenhagen, Denmark

5.    MillerCoors, Chicago, Illinois  6.    Wipro Ltd., Bangalore, India 

7.    Verizon, New York, New York 8.    TEB, Istanbul, Turkey

9.    Mindtree Limited, Bangalore, India

10.    Cathay United Bank Co., Ltd., Taipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

11.    Deloitte, New York, New York

12.    New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Westbury, New York

13.    Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, India

14.    Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., Istanbul, Turkey

15.    University Health System, San Antonio, Texas

16.    FM Global, Johnston, Rhode Island

17.    Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan, Jacksonville, Florida

18.    TELUS, Vancouver, Canada

19.    Genpact, New York, New York

20.    Yapı ve Kredi Bankası A.Ş., Istanbul, Turkey

21.    U.S. Security Associates, Atlanta, Georgia

22.    Resource Residential, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

23.    WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Raleigh, North Carolina

24.    Signature HealthCARE, LLC, Louisville, Kentucky

25.    IBM, Armonk, New York

26.    Haworth, Inc. Holland, Michigan

27.    The Western Union Company, Englewood, Colorado

28.    Colorado Springs Utilities, Colorado Springs, Colorado

29.    Hilton Worldwide, McLean, Virginia

30.    USAA, San Antonio, Texas

In addition, 14 companies on this list have been BEST Award winners for three years or more. They are:  Cerner Corporation, Deloitte, Hilton Worldwide, IBM, Mindtree Limited, New York Community Bancorp Inc., Tata Consultancy Services, TELUS, University Health System, U.S. Security Associates, USAA, Verizon, WakeMed Health & Hospitals, and Wipro Ltd.

More information about the 2015 BEST Award winners may be found in the November 2015 issue of TD magazine. Details about the 2016 program will be available in January 2016.

ATD thanks program sponsor Grovo for supporting excellence in talent development.