Nominations are open until June 7th, 2025, for Arizona’s Most Admired Companies (MAC), an award program recognizing leadership, positive innovation, customer satisfaction, and so much more! MAC is in partnership with AZ Big Media and BestCompaniesAZ to put on such a special event.
Amy Lindsey, Publisher at Az Business magazine, says, “The qualities recognized by Arizona’s Most Admired Companies program are the characteristics that build great companies. The companies honored with this award truly represent the best of the best in Arizona.”
This program is the most prestigious in the state. If you still aren’t sure what to expect, check out this article recapping this amazing event from this past year. And if you know of a company that checks all of our boxes, be sure to nominate them using this form. But if you don’t know what this special award entails, here are some important details:
The 5 Pillars of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies (MAC)
The Most Admired Companies is a business award program that recognizes contributions made by some of the best companies across the state of Arizona. MAC holds these key pillars in high value when considering the nominees:
- Leadership Excellence
- Workplace Culture
- Corporate and Social Responsibility
- Customer Opinion
- Innovation
These are the five categories that employers will be asked to answer open-ended questions. The more examples you include, the higher the score.
Leadership Excellence
Excelling in this category entails having a strong reputation as a leader in the community. The committee will be looking for companies that demonstrate excellence in leadership regularly and visibly within the Arizona community. For example, they want to hear about all facets of leadership: trust-building, visionary, ethical, mentoring, developing, emotional intelligence, and flexibility. Additionally, it’s important to highlight how your company’s leadership affects your community and the organization itself. The company should provide leadership development and mentoring opportunities for all levels of employees. Also, senior and other leaders should be recognized in the community through various industry and niche award programs.
Workplace Culture
The Arizona’s Most Admired Companies committee loves recognizing companies with incredible workplace cultures. For example, let them know how you celebrate employees, and create a safe space for women and minority groups in the workplace. Even more so, tell the judges how you promote wellness and get employees excited to work. Your company should have a strong employment brand and be known in the community as an “employer of choice”. You should also have programs designed to foster high engagement and an atmosphere of trust. Collaboration, diversity, career development, employer branding, employee focus, and unique or uncommon benefits must be at the forefront of your company. Weight is given to those that have received a local, national, or industry-specific employer of choice or BPTW award in the past 12-24 months that requires an employee survey, such as BPTW, Fortune 100 Best, HR Magazine, Working Mother, etc., or you can demonstrate you have have high favorable employee engagement scores (i.e, 92% of your employees say they love your company).
Corporate and Social Responsibility
Great companies give back and care about the community. The committee looks for your reputation in corporate giving, volunteerism, philanthropy, and environmental efforts. Companies should share a corporate giving and volunteer goal. For instance, A company that prioritizes corporate and social responsibility may provide lots of volunteer opportunities for employees. Furthermore, they might give incentives, recognition, and paid time off to volunteer because it’s important. We also consider whether your management supports the company’s plans that account for its economic, social, and environmental impact on the community.
Customer Opinion
The committee cares about the experience you provide for your customers. Strong companies in this category will have a solid product brand and external local, state, and/or national awards for superior service levels (e.g., JD Power, Ranking Arizona, BBB, etc.). In addition, customer feedback and testimonials are great ways to demonstrate your customers’ loyalty and satisfaction.
Innovation
In this section, the committee wants to hear about your company’s new, fresh ideas (something new, original, or improved) that generate company value. Furthermore, tell them about any new programs, products, processes, services, policies, or practices that make your company unique in your industry. Additionally, the more examples you include, the better!
Eligibility
ALL Arizona companies can apply. This includes all organizations and businesses in the metro Phoenix and Tucson areas, as well as northern, southern, and western Arizona cities.
ALL companies should have full-time or part-time employees working in Arizona. They can be for-profit, non-profit, private, public, subsidiaries, business units, charitable organizations, and government or state agencies.
For more common FAQ’s, check out this page to read more.
2024 Featured MAC Winners
Congratulations to the following featured MAC winners:
- Achieve
- Air2o
- Axon
- Desert Financial Credit Union
- Donor Network of Arizona
- Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona
- KUBRA
- Northern Trust
When is the next awards celebration?
The next Most Admired awards dinner is on October 9th, 2025, from 5:00 pm-8:30 pm MTN time. At this dinner, all winners will be announced at the Chateau Luxe venue.
Have questions about Arizona’s Most Admired Companies nomination process and scoring process? Looking for information on how to amplify your award-winning brand with BestCompaniesAZ? Contact Denise at [email protected].
We can’t wait to read your application!
