WASHINGTON — Vitamix®, a world leader in high performance blending equipment for home and commercial use, was presented with the President’s “E Star” Award for Exports by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The President’s “E” Awards for Excellence in Exporting are the highest recognition that any U.S. company may receive for making a significant and multi-year contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. A total of 65 companies were presented with awards this year. Companies must first earn an “E” Award, which Vitamix received in 2010, in order to be eligible for an “E Star” Award. Vitamix is one of only four companies in the country to receive an “E Star” Award for Exports in 2014. There were also four “E Star” Award for Export Service winners.
“Vitamix exports have increased 218 percent in the four years since winning the ‘E’ Award, and we are truly honored to be recognized with an ‘E Star’ Award for being able to sustain this international growth over time,” said Jodi Berg, president and CEO of Vitamix. “The Vitamix mission is to develop and produce the world’s best performing and most reliable blending equipment, and together with our trusted distributors and key retail partners around the world, we are improving the vitality of people’s lives and changing the way people think about food.”
“Vitamix has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion,” said Secretary Pritzker in her congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection as an award recipient. “The ‘E’ Awards Committee was very impressed with the company’s participation in an extensive number of trade shows and events. Its increases in employment in the United States as a result of export growth were also particularly impressive. The achievements of Vitamix have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs.”
U.S. exports of goods and services hit an all-time record of $2.3 trillion in 2013. Nationally, jobs supported by exports reached more than 11 million last year, up 1.6 million since 2009.
The “E” Award Program was established in 1961. Four years of successive export growth and an applicant’s demonstration of an innovative international marketing plan that led to the increase in exports are significant factors in being chosen for the award.
U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Award for Exports through the Department of Commerce’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service office network, located within the Department’s International Trade Administration, which has offices in 108 U.S. cities and more than 70 countries to help U.S. exporters.