What are the BPI Best Practice Awards?

The BPI Best Practice Awards recognize outstanding achievements by CEOs, thought leaders, company founders, and practitioners in fields like leadership, change management, and organizational development.

Who has won the Best Practices CEO Award?

Past winners include Sir Andrew Witty of GSK, A.G. Lafley of P&G, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, all recognized for their resilient leadership and commitment to talent.

What kind of work is recognized by the Thought Leader Awards?

The Thought Leader awards honor individuals like Warner Burke, creator of the Burke-Litwin model of organization change, for their significant and foundational contributions to the field of organizational development.

Can you give an example of a Practitioner Award winner?

Shannon Banks of Microsoft won a Best Practices Practitioner Award for creating 'Front Lines,' a global leadership program that sends high-potential leaders on an immersive, action-learning experience in a developing country.

Best Practice Awards for Leadership & OD

We have received the best CEO award for creating a history of performance management. Get an immediate call to answer your questions about the award with us!

Honoring Excellence in Leadership and Organizational Development

The Best Practice Institute celebrates exceptional leaders, thinkers, and organizations who are shaping the future of the workplace. Our Best Practice Awards recognize significant contributions to leadership development, organizational change, and innovative management practices across several categories.

Award Categories

BPI bestows awards in four main categories, honoring individuals and organizations for their demonstrated excellence:

CEO Awards
Thought Leader Awards
Company Founders Awards
Organization/Practitioner Awards

Best Practices CEO Awards

This award recognizes chief executives who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, resolve, and a commitment to talent, often while navigating challenging business environments.

Featured Winner: Sir Andrew Witty, GlaxoSmithKline

Sir Andrew Witty, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, was honored with the Best Practices CEO Award for his impressive leadership since taking the helm in 2008. Starting as a management trainee in 1985, his career culminated in leading the company with great resolve through turbulent times. He was knighted in 2012 for his services to the UK economy and the pharmaceutical industry.

Past CEO Award Winners

BPI has honored a distinguished list of CEOs from the world's most influential companies, including:

A.G. Lafley (The Proctor & Gamble Company)
Ajay Banga (MasterCard)
Andrea Jung (Avon Products, Inc.)
Anne Mulcahy (Xerox Corporation)
Fred Smith (FedEx Corporation)
Howard Schultz (Starbucks Corporation)
Jeffrey Bezos (Amazon.com)
Meg Whitman (eBay, Inc.)
Virginia Rometty (IBM)
Yang Yuanqing (Lenovo)

Best Practices Thought Leader Awards

This award is given to pioneers whose ideas, research, and advocacy have had a foundational impact on the fields of organizational development and leadership.

Featured Winner: Warner Burke

A key founder of the field of organization development, Warner Burke received the Best Practices Thought Leader award. He is the creator of the renowned Burke-Litwin model of organization change and has led the social/organizational psychology program at Columbia, influencing students of OD worldwide.

Featured Winner: Frances Hesselbein

Frances Hesselbein received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her embodiment of inspirational leadership. Her passion, perseverance, and focus on mission, vision, and purpose serve as a model for thought leaders who aim to achieve the greater good, even in the face of adversity.

Best Practices Company Founders Awards

This award celebrates founders who have developed innovative and unique methods for business and leadership development.

Featured Winner: Richard Olivier, Olivier MythoDrama

Richard Olivier, Artistic Director of Olivier MythoDrama, was recognized as a Best Practices Company Founder. He is a pioneer in the field of leadership development, using his innovative methods based on work at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to foster deep connections and enhance communication and storytelling skills in leaders.

Best Practices Organization/Practitioner Awards

This award honors HR and OD practitioners who have created and implemented ground-breaking programs that drive leadership and organizational effectiveness.

Featured Winner: Shannon Banks, Microsoft

Shannon Banks, a former HR Director at Microsoft, was awarded for creating "Front Lines," a global leadership development program. This initiative sends high-potential leaders on an action-learning experience to developing countries like Kenya, Peru, and The Philippines, where they partner with non-profits to address real-world community issues.

Past Organization/Practitioner Winners

Leslie Joyce, Novelis
Brian Bules, GSK
Diane Anderson, Agilent Technologies
Melany Peacock, Corning
John Bader, Allstate
David Krieg, Internal Revenue Service
Margaret Turner, Kaiser Permanente
James Intagliata, McDonald’s
Kristen Weirick, Whirlpool

Best Practice Institute

Best Practice Institute is the research organization behind Most Loved Workplace® certification, the SPARK Model, the Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI™), and The Workplace Report.

The Workplace Report

The Workplace Report is BPI's original workplace culture research and editorial briefing series for CEOs, CHROs, people leaders, talent leaders, and employer-brand teams. It turns BPI's 25 years of research, Most Loved Workplace® certification data, SPARK findings, and current workforce signals into practical analysis leaders can use.

The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.

Best Practice Awards