The Association for Talent Development honored 36 organizations from Canada, Denmark, India, Scotland, Taiwan, and the United States as winners in the 2016 BEST Awards. Maersk Line – AP Møller Maersk, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, won the first place ranking. TELUS and Wipro, received ATD’s Best of the BEST award. The Best of the BEST award goes to organizations who win the BEST award 10 or more times. Companies were recognized during a ceremony held at the Ronald Regan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

“These 36 companies set a high standard for the talent development profession. They are solving 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.”

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 2016 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 October issue of TD, ATD’s flagship magazine.

ATD received entries from nearly 150 organizations in 13 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 2016 BEST Award rankings: 

1. Maersk Line – AP Møller Maersk, Copenhagen, Denmark

2. Hilton Worldwide, McLean, Virginia

3. MillerCoors, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

4. Cathay Life Insurance, Taipei, Taiwan

5. Mindtree Limited, Bangalore, India

6. ITU AbsorbTech, New Berlin, Wisconsin

7. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd., Mumbai, India

8. Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, India

9. Consumers Energy, Jackson, Michigan

10. Cerner Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri

11. Resource Residential, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

12. The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California

13. Florida Blue, Jacksonville, Florida

14. Enterprise Holdings, St. Louis, Missouri

15. UL LLC, Northbrook, Illinois

16. BNSF Railway Co., Fort Worth, Texas

17. Verizon, New York, New York

18. JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd., New Delhi, India

19. Saunders Construction, Inc., Centennial, Colorado

20. IBM, Armonk, New York

21. UST Global, Aliso Viejo, California

22. Persistent Systems Ltd., Pune, India

23. Wipro Limited, Bangalore, India

24. University Health System, San Antonio, Texas

25. Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Lexington, Kentucky

26. Western Union, Englewood, Colorado

27. CA Technologies, New York, New York

28. Freese and Nichols, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas

29. MWH Global, now part of Stantec, Broomfield, Colorado

30. Asurion, Nashville, Tennessee

31. Bridgepoint Education, San Diego, California

32. Kimberly Clark Professional, Roswell, Georgia

33. Lupin Limited, Mumbai, India

34. Hitachi Data Systems, Santa Clara, California

35. Insights Learning & Development, Dundee, Scotland

Best of the BEST - second year: TELUS

In addition, 11 companies on this list have been BEST Award winners for three years or more. They are:  Cerner Corporation, Hilton Worldwide, IBM, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Mindtree Limited, Tata Consultancy Services, TELUS, University Health System, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Verizon, and Wipro Ltd.

More information about the 2016 BEST Award winners may be found in the October 2016 issue of TD magazine. Details about the 2017 program will be available in January 2017.

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

About ATD

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Originally established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports talent development professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led U.S. chapters and international member networks, and with international strategic partners. For more information, visit www.td.org.