In advance of its annual Workplace Summit, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates has announced the final candidates for the 2017 Outie Awards. The annual Outie Awards honor individuals and organizations doing outstanding work to advance equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in workplaces globally. This year, winners will be chosen in the following categories: Workplace Excellence, the Champion Award, and LGBT Employee Resource Group (ERG) of the Year.

“I am blown away by the caliber of this year’s Outie Award finalists,” said Selisse Berry, founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Each of these organizations and individuals has demonstrated their commitment to making the workplace a better place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, often at great risk. What’s more is that they continue to raise the bar for others to follow. Seeing their dedication and accomplishments makes me feel more confident than ever that global LGBT workplace equality is within reach.”

Finalists for the Workplace Excellence award, which recognizes an employer that continues to go above and beyond in pursuing and executing equality for their LGBT employees:

• Bank of America
• BlackRock
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Comcast NBCUniversal
• Deloitte
• First Data
• McDonald’s Corporation
• Wells Fargo

The Champion Award recognizes any LGBT person or ally who has made a significant contribution to advancing equality in their workplace. Finalists:

• Jose Berenguer, CEO of Brazil and Senior Country Officer of J.P. Morgan Chase
• Mitchell Harris, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management
• Debbie Lang, HR Employee Relations Manager II at AT&T
• Jayzen Patria, Executive Director, Talent Development at NBCUniversal
• Rebecca Powers, Social Work Spinal Cord Injury Program Coordinator/Chair, LGBTQA at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
• Ramkrishna Sinha, Graphics Hardware Engineer at Intel Corporation
• Suzanne Theden, Senior Director, Quality at UTC Aerospace Systems.
• Antonio Zappulla, Chief Operating Officer at Thomson Reuters Foundation

Finalists for LGBT Employee Resource Group of the Year, which recognizes an ERG with a proven track record of success in advocating for LGBT equal rights in its own workplace:

• dbPride Americas – Deutsche Bank
• GLOBE & Allies – Deloitte
• GLOBE of Verizon – Verizon
• IC Pride – US Intelligence Community
• League at AT&T – AT&T
• OUT – Comcast NBC Universal
• Spectrum – GlaxoSmithKline
• Walmart PRIDE – Walmart

Winners are voted on by an independent panel of business and community leaders and will be announced at the 2017 Workplace Summit in Philadelphia in October.