Award for Corporate Excellence
 

The annual Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) recognizes U.S. firms that uphold high standards of responsible business conduct. Established in 1999, the ACE seeks to highlight ways in which U.S. companies represent American values in the way they do business, in line with international best practices such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. For 2015, the ACE was given out in three distinct categories for the first time: environmental sustainability, human rights and labor rights, and for a small or medium enterprise.

A fact sheet on the ACE, including award categories for 2016, is available here: //2009-2017.state.gov/e/eb/rls/fs/2016/257834.htm.

Nominations for the ACE are put forward by Chiefs of Mission of U.S. embassies and consulates, for the work of a U.S. company in a particular country. Finalists and winners for the ACE are chosen by a selection committee comprised of senior U.S. government officials.

Past winners include both multinational and small-to-medium size enterprises:

2015 -

- Award for Corporate Excellence in Environmental Sustainability: Weyerhaeuser Productos S.A. (Uruguay)
- Award for Corporate Excellence in Human Rights and Labor Rights: Cargill Vietnam Ltd.
- Award for Corporate Excellence for a Small or Medium Enterprise: East Bali Cashews (Indonesia)

2014 - EcoPlanet Bamboo Group, Nicaragua; Wagner Asia Equipment LLC, Mongolia; The Coca-Cola Company, Philippines.
2013 - Taylor Guitars, Cameroon; Fruit of the Loom, Honduras; Plantronics, Mexico.
2012 - Sorwathe, Rwanda; Intel Corporation, Vietnam.
2011 - Sahlman Seafoods, Incorporated, Nicaragua; Procter & Gamble, Nigeria; Procter & Gamble, Pakistan.
2010 - Cisco Systems, Israel; Mars, Inc., Ghana; Denimatrix, Guatemala.
2009 - Trilogy International Partners, Haiti; TOMS Shoes, Argentina.
2008 - Cargill, China; SURevolution, Colombia.
2007 - GE, Indonesia; Transnational Automotive Group, Cameroon.
2006 - General Motors, Colombia; Goldman Sachs, Chile; Sambazon, Brazil.
2005 - Cisco Systems, Jordan; Lapa Rios Ecolodge, Costa Rica.
2004 - Motorola, Brazil; FIJI Water, Fiji.
2003 - Chevron/Texaco, Nigeria; U.S. Steel Corporation, the Slovak Republic.
2002 - Coca-Cola, Egypt; Chindex International, China.
2001 - Ford Motor Company, South Africa; SELCO, Vietnam.
2000 - Motorola, Malaysia; Rayonier New Zealand; Land O’Frost, Uruguay.
1999 - Xerox, Brazil; F.C. Schaffer & Associates, Ethiopia.