governance
This recognition is earned, not bought. Every submission is evaluated section by section, voted on, and discussed by the independent business leaders on our Board of Governors. No editors. No rankings. Just the collective judgment of leaders who’ve built admired organizations themselves.
The Boards are made up of leaders from past winning organizations and other well-regarded leaders across the US. They are experts in knowing what makes a great culture and leading organizations that exemplify winning cultures.
The America’s Most Admired Cultures™ Boards of Governors are composed of accomplished executives and culture leaders from across the United States — CEOs, Presidents, and Chief People Officers who have led organizations recognized for outstanding performance, and who understand from experience what it takes to build a culture that sustains it.
These are not judges evaluating from a distance. They are practitioners. Leaders who have navigated the same complexity you have — building teams, driving results, and making culture a deliberate competitive advantage. When they review a submission, they bring both the rigor of the boardroom and the perspective of someone who has done the work themselves.
Waterstone Human Capital does not vote on submissions. Every nomination is evaluated and decided upon exclusively by the Board of Governors — independently, and without influence from the program organizers. That independence is intentional. It is what makes the recognition meaningful, and what ensures that every organization named an America’s Most Admired™ winner has genuinely earned it.
Board members are drawn from a cross-section of industries, geographies, and organization sizes — ensuring that submissions from Growth-stage companies, large enterprises, and nonprofit organizations alike are evaluated by people who understand the context behind the culture.
America’s Most Admired Cultures™ is built on the same governance principles that have made Canada’s Most Admired™ one of the most respected culture recognition programs in North America for over 22 years. That program’s Board of Governors has evaluated thousands of submissions, recognized hundreds of winning organizations, and helped shape what best-in-class culture looks like at every stage of organizational growth.
Now, US organizations have access to that same standard — and that same commitment to rigorous, peer-driven evaluation.
