ARLINGTON, Va. - Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense office, announced 30 employers as finalists for the 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.
The Freedom Award is the DoD's highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve. A review board comprised of military and civilian leaders selected the top 30 employers from a pool of 2,899 nominations submitted earlier this year by National Guard and Reserve Service members.
Freedom Award finalists distinguish themselves by implementing both formal policies and informal initiatives that go above and beyond in assisting and encouraging National Guard and Reserve service. The 2013 finalists offered such gestures of support as creating veteran mentoring programs for service members transitioning to civilian life, offering flexible scheduling to allow Guardsmen and Reservists to attend to military tasks during business hours, and hosting an internal website accessible to deployed employees and their families so they could more easily keep in touch and see messages of support from their co-workers.
"The 2013 Freedom Award finalists demonstrate the type of outstanding support our National Guard and Reserve Service members count on when answering the nation's call to serve," said ESGR National Chair James G. Rebholz. "These employers recognize the valuable role they play in the lives of our citizen warriors; and in supporting these men and women, the finalists have made a critical contribution to our national security. On behalf of ESGR and the DoD, I want to thank each of the 2013 finalists for their extraordinary support."
A national selection board of senior DoD officials, business leaders and prior awardees will select 15 Freedom Award recipients, which will be announced early this summer. The 2013 recipients will be honored at the 18th annual Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 26, 2013. Past recipients of the Freedom Award have met privately with the President and Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The finalists for the 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award are:
| Employer |
Location |
| Albuquerque Fire Department |
Albuquerque, N.M |
| ASAS/Tysol, Inc. |
Woodbury, Minn. |
| Bank of America |
Charlotte, N.C. |
| C.W. Driver |
Pasadena, Calif. |
| Cardinal Health |
Dublin, Ohio |
| Centerline Mechanical |
LLC Cave Creek, Ariz. |
| Charles Crafts, Attorney At Law |
Boise, Idaho |
| City of Columbus |
Columbus, Ohio |
| City of Prescott |
Prescott, Arizona |
| City of Shawnee |
Shawnee, Kan. |
| Colorado Springs Utilities |
Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Compuware Corp. |
Detroit, Mich. |
| Cranston Public Schools |
Cranston, R.I. |
| DaVita, Inc |
Denver, Colo. |
| Eastman Chemical |
Kingsport, Tenn. |
| Express Scripts |
St. Louis, Mo. |
| Family Allergy & Asthma |
Louisville, Ky. |
| Hubcap Express |
Fort Wayne, Ind. |
| Humana |
Louisville, Ky. |
| JG Management Systems, Inc. |
Grand Junction, Colo. |
| Los Angeles Fire Department |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Pape-Dawson Engineers |
San Antonio, Texas |
| Prairie Grove Consolidated School District 46 |
Crystal Lake, Ill. |
| Richland County Sheriff's Department |
Columbia, S.C. |
| Safeway, Inc. |
Bay Point, Calif. |
| Steel Plate Fabricators |
Knoxville, Tenn. |
| U.S. Bank |
Minneapolis, Minn. |
| U.S. Marshals Service, Eastern District of Louisiana |
New Orleans, La. |
| Waste Management |
Houston, Texas |
| Zions Bank |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of ESGR to recognize exceptional support from the employer community. In the years since, 175 employers have been honored with the award. ESGR develops and maintains employer support for Guard and Reserve service. ESGR advocates relevant initiatives, recognizes outstanding support, increases awareness of applicable laws, and resolves conflict between service members and employers. Paramount to ESGR's mission is encouraging employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian workforce.