For the fifth consecutive year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation presented custom sculpture awards created by Bennett Awards to the 2015 recipients of the 5th Annual Hiring Our Heroes Awards. The Hiring Our Heroes Awards recognize employers and individuals who have gone above and beyond to hire, retain, and honor our country’s military talent. The award recipients were chosen in six categories for their demonstrated leadership in addressing the challenges faced by veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses, and military caregivers in their search for meaningful employment.
The deserving recipients in each of these award categories were:
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) received the Lee Anderson Veteran and Military Spouse Employment Award for overall excellence in hiring and retaining veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.
Starbucks received the Steve Robinson Post-9/11 Veteran Employment Award for effective and sustained efforts to enhance the ability of post-9/11 veterans and transitioning service members to find meaningful employment in the private sector.
APi Group Inc. received the Don Weber Wounded Veteran and Military Caregiver Employment Award for demonstrated leadership in addressing the unique challenges and demands for wounded warriors, spouses, and caregivers in their search for meaningful employment.
Prudential Financial received the Military Spouse Employment and Mentoring Award for demonstrated hiring and support of military spouses in their search for meaningful employment in the private sector.
Camo2Commerce received the Capital One Award for Small Business Veteran and Military Spouse Employment for demonstrated leadership by a small business or organization (less than 500 employees) in hiring veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.
Keith Nattrass, GM Military & Veteran Affairs, Global Diversity, General Motors received the Colonel Michael Endres Leadership Award for Individual Excellence in Veteran Employment, which recognizes an individual who has gone above and beyond to make a difference in employment opportunities for veterans, transitioning service members, and spouses.
In 2011, the first year of the program, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce commissioned Bennett Awards to create a new, unique custom award design to present to award winners. This design is a figurative sculpture in the form of a combat serviceman on patrol. These sculptures are cast in bronze, and feature a gold/brown patina finish. The sculptures are mounted on hand-made wood bases that include personalized engraved plates with the U.S. Chamber’s logo, the award name, the recipient name, and a brief explanation of the award’s purpose.
Hiring Our Heroes is a nationwide initiative to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment. Working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vast network of state and local chambers and other strategic partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, Hiring Our Heroes has helped hundreds of thousands of veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment through more than 950 job fairs in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and on military installations overseas; a suite of free online career-based resources; and the Hiring 500,000 Heroes campaign. More information on Hiring Our Heroes can be found at https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/hiring-our-heroes.