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Bill Daniels Being a Difference Award Program

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Since 2005, the NASBA Center for the Public Trust (CPT) has supported and promoted ethical leadership within the business community. After successfully honoring ethical business leaders for more than a decade through the Being a Difference Award, the CPT revised the program in 2017, and created the Bill Daniels Being a Difference Award program, sponsored by the Daniels Fund.

This recognition is reserved for leaders who go beyond making a difference; they establish a reputation for continuously Being a Difference by being ethical leaders who lead in their businesses and communities with honor and integrity.

The CPT will annually award up to four deserving individuals with the Bill Daniels Being a Difference Award. The criteria for this special award incorporates the eight ethical business principles Bill Daniels used to guide his actions and decisions. These principles include integrity, trust, accountability, transparency, fairness, respect, rule of law, and viability.

The award program is sponsored by the Daniels Fund, and is named in honor of its founder, the late Bill Daniels. A born entrepreneur, Bill Daniels was an early cable television pioneer and was essential to the formation and growth of the industry. He is fondly remembered for his reputation for ethics and integrity, and his sincere compassion for those in need. When Bill passed away in March of 2000, his estate transferred to the Daniels Fund, making it one of the largest foundations in the Rocky Mountain region. Through the Bill Daniels Being a Difference Award program, the CPT recognizes individuals who practice these high standards of ethical leadership.

Although individuals worthy of this award very rarely seek recognition, their commitment to ethical leadership deserves being recognized. If you know business leaders who fit this description, the CPT encourages you to honor these individuals by nominating them for this award. Nominations are accepted year-round, and the selection committee meets each year to select the next class of honorees. The first class of Bill Daniels Being a Difference Award honorees was announced in the fall of 2018.