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The Dallas Regional Chamber proudly announces the winners of the 2025 Best Place for Working Parents® Dallas Innovator Awards, recognizing three local employers for setting a higher standard for supporting working families.
This year’s honorees represent organizations of all sizes that are leading with innovative, family-friendly workplace practices:
- Micro/Small Business (under 200 employees): Bestow
- Medium Business (between 201 and 999 employees): Elevate
- Large Business (more than 1,000 employees): Children’s Health
The Best Place for Working Parents® Dallas program is a regional extension of the national Best Place for Working Parents® initiative, spotlighting employers that prioritize family-friendly benefits and policies proven to support both employees and business outcomes.
Participating companies complete a proprietary self-assessment evaluating their offerings across 10 research-backed policies, including paid parental leave, child care support and flexible work options. In 2025, more than 120 employers across the Dallas Region earned the designation.
The Best Place for Working Parents® Dallas Innovator Awards recognize companies whose family-friendly offerings go above and beyond the designation criteria, setting new benchmarks for supporting working families.
A panel of anonymous judges evaluated applications based on creativity, comprehensiveness and real-world impact. Only companies holding a Best Place for Working Parents® designation were eligible to apply.
“Supporting working parents isn’t just good policy — it’s a workforce strategy,” said DRC President & CEO Brad Cheves. “These Innovator Award winners demonstrate how thoughtful, people-centered benefits strengthen teams, improve retention and position the Dallas Region for long-term economic success.”
Bestow
Bestow, a technology insurance company that helps modernize and digitize insurance providers, earned the Micro/Small Business Innovator Award. Despite its size, Bestow sets a high standard in offering 12 weeks of fully paid maternal and paternal leave with no tenure requirements, along with a “waterfall” return-to-work program that supports working parents as they transition back into the office. These policies have resulted in a 90% parental leave retention rate. Bestow also provides employees with pre-tax child care accounts and offers a 100% health care premium-paid option for employees and their families.
“Being family-friendly isn’t a perk. It’s how we build a strong team and company. When people have the flexibility to show up for their families, they show up better for our customers and each other,” said Melbourne O’Banion, Co-Founder & CEO of Bestow.
Elevate
Elevate, a financial technology company providing tech-enabled online credit solutions, earned the Medium Business Innovator Award for its partnership with Carrot Family Forming Support, a comprehensive program that supports every path to parenthood, from fertility education and preservation to gestational carrier services and adoption. This benefit is offered at no cost to employees and includes up to $10,000 in reimbursement for family-forming services.
“Elevate continuously focuses on creating benefits that reflect the lives our employees lead, inside and outside of work. Offering benefits that support our growing, diverse workforce is an important part of our values.” said Jason Harvison, CEO of Elevate.
Children’s Health℠
Children’s Health, a nationally ranked pediatric health system in Dallas, earned the distinction as the Large Business Innovator. Children’s Health offers highly impactful benefits to its prospective and current team members, providing up to $10,000 in reimbursement for adoption or surrogacy expenses and subsidizing $1,000 in a dependent care flexible spending account for its employees, plus up to 100 hours of subsidized back-up care and discounts at local child care centers through their partnership with Bright Horizons.
“Supporting working parents isn’t a single benefit or program at Children’s Health — it is a commitment that grows with our team members through every stage of life and career,” said Analisa Eaton, Vice President of Total Rewards at Children’s Health. “This recognition reflects our belief that when we thoughtfully support our people, they are better able to focus on what matters most — at home and in delivering exceptional care to fulfill our mission to make life better for children.”
This marks the second time Children’s Health has earned this distinction. In 2022, the inaugural year of the Best Place for Working Parents Dallas® Innovator Awards, Children’s Health was recognized as a Large Business Innovator for its leadership in offering adoption and surrogacy reimbursement benefits, as well as dependent care flexible spending accounts.
Championing family-friendly
The DRC proudly recognizes these three companies for their leadership in supporting working parents. Their commitments highlight the vital role employers play in building a sustainable workforce, especially as access to affordable, high-quality child care remains a top priority for families and businesses alike.
The DRC encourages employers across the Dallas Region to follow the examples set by Bestow, Elevate and Children’s Health by adopting innovative, family-friendly policies that support employees and strengthen the region’s workforce.
To learn more about the Best Place for Working Parents® Dallas initiative — or to pursue the 2026 designation — visit the DRC’s website.