FONA International, Geneva, Ill., was named one of Chicago's 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) for the ninth year in a row. Proudly, FONA also took home the event's top honor, being named Chicago's Best of the Best for the second time in four years.

Founded in 1987, FONA International creates and manufactures flavors for food, beverage, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. It offers flavor solutions for the confection, grain, beverage, performance nutrition, OTC and emerging markets from its 33-acre campus.

The 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For award honors local companies that recognize employees as their greatest asset. Companies are evaluated based on their competency in the areas of communication, community initiatives, compensation and benefits, diversity and multi-culturalism, employee education and development, employee engagement and commitment, recognition and retention, recruitment and selection and work-life balance. The Best of the Best award is presented to the overall winner who excels in all of these categories.

“Our wonderful people are honored to receive this prestigious award,” says Luke Slawek, president of FONA International. “This recognizes the many investments we make in our culture for our great people to serve our great customers. I am grateful to represent everyone in our organization as they create a work environment where people can thrive and be successful. This award says wonderful things about the community we've built here at FONA and the exciting energy built for our bright future."

The NABR explains that the winning companies are companies that work with imagination and conviction to create organizational value and business results through their policies and best practices in human resource management. Winners are selected by an independent market research company, which reviews an extensive amount of quantitative and qualitative data, and an independent panel of judges. As part of the process, employees at each nominated company are randomly selected to complete a confidential survey about their work environment.