Announcing the 2022 Corporate Champion Award Winner!

1871 is excited to announce that Navistar, Inc. will be honored as this year’s Corporate Champion Award recipient at the 15th Annual Momentum Awards!

The Corporate Champion Award recognizes a company that consistently champions the growth of the Illinois tech industry through community-focused action. As one of the leaders in the emerging zero emissions, autonomous trucks and transportation services space, Navistar is reimagining ways to drive sustainable mobility to transform the future of transportation and logistics. 

Navistar has consistently shown a commitment to impactful innovation both internally and externally. In 2019, the company formed its first dedicated innovation that was designed to build a strong culture of entrepreneurship and ingenuity across all functions and roles. Since then, their intrapreneurs have been embedded in the 1871 community, working and learning alongside our members to fuel their next creative breakthrough.

“Through 1871, Navistar is part of a larger community of founders outside of Navistar, and the businesses within this community stretch across various industries and range in stages of maturity,” said Navistar SVP & Chief Information Officer Julie Ragland. “Exposure to so many unique ideas and individuals have helped us overcome challenges we encounter on our journey to launching new business models.”

Navistar’s investments in internal innovation have propelled them forward in the emerging tech space. Today, the company is leading the way in electric, autonomous driving and digitization technologies that deliberately disrupt their legacy business models. In doing so, Navistar is positioned to deliver solutions that will comprehensively solve today’s biggest challenges.

“Navistar embodies an entrepreneurial mindset that our entire 1871 community can take inspiration from,” said  Larry Eppley, Chairman of 1871 and Sheppard Mullin’s Chicago office founding managing partner. “Their team is both driven to innovate and motivated by their purpose. They are the definition of what a Corporate Champion Award recipient should be.” 

Headquartered in western suburban Chicago, Navistar actively advocates for our local tech community. Their win also marks the first time a company operating in hard tech manufacturing has won the Corporate Champion Award.

“We first partnered with Navistar to support their innovation efforts in 2021, and our relationship with them has quickly deepened since then,” said 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler. “We’re proud to see firsthand how their team is both investing in their internal culture and pushing the boundaries of possibility from a tech perspective. It’s an honor to celebrate their impact at this year’s Momentum Awards.”

Navistar will accept the Corporate Champion Award at the 15th Annual Momentum Awards on September 22, 2022, where we will also honor the innovators and leaders that are disrupting their industries, building up their communities, and shaping the future. Get your ticket today to join us for the celebration in-person or virtually!