Fortune Media and Great Place To Work Name Forward Networks to 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Forward Networks as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. This marks back-to-back years of Forward Networks being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 16 in 2025. Earning a spot means that Forward Networks has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces in the San Francisco Bay region.

To determine the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ List, Great Place To Work collected nearly 85,000 confidential survey responses from employees at eligible companies via its proprietary platform. Companies were ranked based on their ability to offer consistently positive experiences, building trust with leaders, colleagues, and the overall organization.

"Great cultures don't happen by accident—they're built every day by teams who care deeply about one another and the mission," said David Erickson, Co-founder and CEO, Forward Networks. "This award validates something we've always believed: when you invest in people, great things happen. We're not just building world-class technology—we're building a workplace where people are respected, challenged, and inspired every day."

The Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list is highly competitive. Survey responses reflect a comprehensive picture of the workplace experience. Honorees were rewarded based on their ability to deliver positive outcomes for employees regardless of role or status within the organization.

To be eligible for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work Certified™, have at least 10 U.S. employees, and be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Congratulations to the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area," says Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place To Work. "These companies prove that prioritizing people leads to better performance, and that leaders who invest in their people are rewarded with more sustainable and profitable businesses." 

In addition to being named to the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list, Forward Networks was recently recognized as the "Trailblazer Compliance" Award winner in Cyber Defense Magazine's 13th annual Global InfoSec Awards, and CEO and Co-Founder David Erickson was named a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Bay Area Award.

About Forward Networks
Forward Networks is revolutionizing the way large networks are managed. Forward's advanced software delivers a digital twin of the network, enabling network operators to ensure the network is secure, reliable, and agile. The platform supports devices from all major networking vendors and cloud operators, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Forward Networks was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D. graduates and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Investors include MSD Partners, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Threshold Ventures, Section 32, Omega Venture Partners, and A. Capital. For more information, visit www.forwardnetworks.com.

About the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area

Great Place To Work selected the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area List by surveying 1.3 million employees in the U.S., representing companies that collectively employ more than 8.4 million U.S. workers. Of those responses, nearly 85,000 were received from employees at companies that were eligible for the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area List and these rankings are based on their feedback. Companies earn eligibility by being Great Place To Work Certified™, having at least 10 U.S. employees, and having headquarters in the Bay Area. Read the full methodology.

To get on this list next year, start here. 

About Great Place To Work

As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings more than three decades of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and Great Place To Work Model™ help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified and receiving recognition on its coveted Best Workplaces™ lists. 

Follow Great Place To Work on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram or visit greatplacetowork.com and sign up for the newsletter to learn more.

About Fortune

Fortune upholds a legacy of award-winning writing and trusted reporting for executives who want to make business better. Independently owned, with a global perspective and digital agility, Fortune tells the stories of a new generation of innovators, builders, and risk-takers. Online and in print, Fortune measures corporate performance through rigorous benchmarks and holds companies accountable. Fortune creates communities by convening true thought leaders and iconoclasts — those who shape industry, commerce, and society — through powerful and prestigious lists, events, and conferences, such as the iconic Fortune 500, the CEO Initiative and Most Powerful Women. For more information, visit fortune.com.

Forward Networks Contacts:
Dustin Rausa, Guyer Group
[email protected]

Dawn Slusher, Forward Networks
[email protected]

SOURCE Forward Networks, Inc.