On behalf of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs is soliciting public input for recommendations for this year’s Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE).  Now in its 23rd year, the ACE honors U.S. companies that exemplify American values, the American brand, and the positive impact U.S. enterprises can have on local communities worldwide.  Recommendations are due to U.S. embassies and consulates by April 15, 2023.

The 2023 ACE categories are:

• Award for Corporate Excellence in Innovation

• This category honors a company pioneering ideas, solutions, and products to meet today’s current challenges of climate change and food insecurity, and/or a company advancing responsible technological and infrastructure development to help transform the communities where they operate. Candidate companies excelling in this field enhance American efforts abroad by engaging with their communities to develop and proliferate new technologies to address contemporary challenges.  

• Award for Corporate Excellence in Women’s Economic Security 

• This category honors a company’s commitment to supporting women’s economic security through its values, strategies, policies and procedures, and operational practices. Candidate companies excelling in this field enact organizational strategies that promote the economic competitiveness of women, advance care infrastructure, promote women’s entrepreneurship, and dismantle systemic barriers that stand in the way of a level playing field.

• Award for Corporate Excellence in Sustainable Supply Chains

• This category honors a company’s commitment to improve the environmental, social, and nutritional impact of their operations and supply chains. Candidate companies excelling in this field champion corporate responsibility by integrating social and environmental considerations across their supply chain.  

Details on Submitting a Recommendation

ACE nominations are focused on the exemplary operations of a company in a specific country, and nominations are officially submitted by Chiefs of Mission from U.S. embassies and consulates.  As such, recommendations should be directed to a specific U.S. embassy or consulate, for the operations of a U.S. firm in that country.

Stakeholders should contact the embassy or consulate switchboard during normal business hours and ask to speak with the economic section regarding the ACE.  Contact information can be obtained on the website of the respective embassy or consulate.  Chiefs of Mission will ultimately decide which recommendations to send forward as nominations to the Secretary of State, and they retain final decision-making on such matters.  Stakeholders are asked to put forward recommendations to embassies and consulates for their consideration and should refrain from lobbying for a particular recommendation once submitted.

Compelling recommendations will include proof of positive impact, particularly with metrics when available; show alignment of core business operations with the category for which the company is being nominated; and demonstrate commitment to the communities where a company does business.  Nominations of small- and medium-sized firms are encouraged.

For more information visit www.state.gov/ace and on Twitter @EconAtState.

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