WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel today presented Zions Bank with the 2014 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award during a ceremony at the Pentagon. The bank was one of 15 recipients of the award, which is presented by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Department of Defense office.
The Freedom Award is the Department's highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of Guard and Reserve employees. This year's recipients were selected from 2,864 nominations received from Guardsmen and Reservists for going far beyond what the federal law requires to support their military employees.
"More employers need to follow the example of Zions First National Bank, whose president and CEO personally calls everyone who is called up for active duty," Hagel told an audience of several hundred during his keynote address introducing the honorees at the ceremony on Sept. 26.
Zions Bank was nominated by Army National Guard 1st Lt. Helaman Hurtado from the 145th Field Artillery and Senior Airman Alison Putnam of the Air Force Reserves 419th Fighter Wing. Zions pioneered a professional development program offering internships and training specifically to service members and veterans, which has launched civilian careers throughout the Intermountain West.
The Zions Bank Military Relations Group maintains contact with deployed employees and their families, providing home repairs, lawn maintenance, holiday gifts, and financial assistance. The bank also launched a military employee forum to facilitate networking opportunities for service members.
"It's an honor to be nominated by our employees," said Brian Garrett, who manages Zions Bank's Military Relations Program. "We're proud to have our program recognized at the national level for the support that we provide for our service members and their families."
Zions Bank, a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION), operates 126 full-service financial centers throughout Utah and Idaho. In addition to offering a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions Bank is also a leader in small business lending and has consistently ranked as the No. 1 lender of U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) loans in Utah for the past 20 years and Idaho's Boise District for the past 12 years. Founded in 1873, Zions Bank has been serving the communities of the Intermountain West for 140 years. Additional information is available at www.zionsbank.com.
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