i4cp Announces 2026 Award Winners
Scottsdale, AZ — April 2, 2026 — The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), the leading authority on next practices in human capital, today announced the winners of its 2026 i4cp Member Awards and 2026 Next Practice Awards, honoring organizations and leaders who are shaping the future of work through innovation, leadership, and measurable impact.
The awards were announced and presented at the i4cp Next Practices Now Conference , bringing together senior HR and business leaders from the world’s most forward-thinking organizations.
2026 i4cp Member Award Winners
The i4cp Member Awards recognize exceptional organizations and individuals who demonstrate outstanding engagement with the i4cp community and lead the profession through collaboration, insight-sharing, and sustained impact.
CHRO of the Year: Adam Holton, GE HealthCare
Holton, an advocate for data-driven talent practices and development alignment across GE HealthCare, was selected for his visionary leadership and advancing the role of HR as a strategic business partner.
Member of the Year: Toyota North America
Toyota was recognized for long-standing commitment to i4cp, active Board participation—CHRO Kim Cockrell is a longtime member—and consistent leadership in research, events, and peer collaboration.
New Member of the Year: RTX
RTX was honored for exceptional first-year engagement with hundreds of the company’s HR employees utilizing i4cp, strong cross-functional participation, and rapid alignment with i4cp research and communities to support its strategic initiatives. Rob Major, Director of Workforce Planning, now serves as a member of i4cp’s Workforce Planning & Readiness Exchange.
Community Member of the Year: BNSF Railway Company
Recognized for exemplary leadership within i4cp’s communities and for fostering meaningful peer mentorship and collaboration, BNSF is quintessential member, with CHRO Judy Carter serving as a champion of i4cp’s CHRO Board and Texas CHRO Forum.
Culture Renovation® Award: Northwestern Mutual
Member and i4cp Consulting Services
client Northwestern Mutual was honored for a CEO- and CHRO-led culture change aligned with leadership evolution and enterprise-wide engagement. At the i4cp Conference earlier this week, CHRO Kelly Culler and head of talent Anthony Perrone walked through how the company used i4cp’s Culture Renovation® Blueprint to support their multiyear initiative.
High-Performance Award: Trane Technologies
Honored for achieving measurable business impact through innovative people and performance practices, Trane Technologies has seen its share price increase well over 200% in the last five years—a key indicator of high performance.
Board Member of the Year: Ivory Harris, CHRO, AGCO Corporation
Recognized for outstanding contributions to the field of human capital, Harris, the CHRO of the 24,000-employee strong agriculture company, has provided steadfast leadership and shown willingness to share her insights with peers within i4cp’s executive Boards program.
Industry Legend Award: Jay Jamrog, i4cp Co-Founder
Jamrog, recently retired co-founder of i4cp, was honored for a lifetime of influence on the human capital profession and for shaping the global HR community through research, insight, and leadership. Jamrog joins a prestigious honor role of human capital luminaries that includes Dave Ulrich, Bev Kaye, Peter Cappelli, Gary Hamel, and Marshall Goldsmith.
2026 Next Practice Award Winners
Each year, i4cp’s Next Practice Awards recognize organizations that have moved beyond best practices to implement bold, evidence-based innovations that redefine what’s possible in workforce performance, talent, and leadership.
Read their winning case studies by clicking on the links below.
Next Practice Award Winners:
Lumen Technologies — Reinventing Performance through AI-Powered Goal Setting
Lumen used agentic AI to make goal setting more meaningful, actionable, and aligned across the enterprise. By streamlining and improving goal quality, the organization successfully moved away from compliance-driven routines to build a culture where setting, tracking, and meeting goals drives performance.
E.W. Scripps — Scripps’ AI Enterprise Workforce Transformation
Scripps partnered HR with its AI development team to create Engine Room, an enterprise platform that gives journalists, sales teams, and leaders real-time coaching and decision support—capabilities that once required years of newsroom experience. Built around employees’ real needs, the initiative demonstrates how HR and technology can work together to strengthen the craft of local journalism while accelerating workforce capability.
Mondelēz International — Next-Generation Talent Acquisition Metrics & Recruiting Dashboard: Predicting and Optimizing Hiring with Data-Driven Insights & Governance
Mondelēz implemented a groundbreaking approach to recruitment, blending real-time insights with predictive power and rigorous data governance. By equipping teams with a full-spectrum view of hiring needs, the solution has transformed TA from reactive to proactive, empowering leaders to make data-driven, strategic hiring decisions that align with business objectives for sustained success.
Greif — Greif University: Building a Unified Global Culture of Leadership & Learning
Greif transformed its 148-year-old manufacturing legacy into a modern, people-powered learning culture through Greif University, its global development ecosystem. The initiative unites 15,000 colleagues across 40 countries through consistent leadership behaviors, shared language, and accessible learning; driving engagement and measurable improvements in performance and culture across the enterprise.
These winners were selected from a group of prestigious finalists that also included 8x8, BorgWarner, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cincinnati Children’s, Citizen’s Financial Group, Cox, Dolby, Trane Technologies, veeam, and Zachry Corporation.
About i4cp
The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) is the leading human capital research and advisory firm, focused on identifying and validating next practices that drive superior organizational performance. i4cp’s network includes senior HR leaders from the world’s most admired organizations.
For more information about the i4cp Awards or the Next Practices Now Conference, visit www.i4cp.com.
