Forward Named 2026 Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area for Third Consecutive Year

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Forward (formerly Forward Networks) as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area, coming in at No. 18 on the 2026 list. This marks the third consecutive year Forward has earned a spot on this prestigious ranking, a testament to the company's enduring commitment to building a workplace where people are respected, challenged, and inspired.

"Building Forward Predict, a first-of-its-kind capability that takes the risk out of network changes, is exactly the kind of hard, consequential work that demands a culture people want to be part of," said David Erickson, CEO and Co-Founder Forward. "Being recognized as a Fortune Great Place to Work in Technology validates what we already know: our team brings extraordinary talent to work that matters, and that combination is what makes it possible for us to redefine how networks are operated."

To determine the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ List, Great Place To Work collected more than 70,000 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.

The Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list is highly competitive. Survey responses reflect a comprehensive picture of the workplace experience, with honorees recognized for delivering 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 of Great Place To Work. "By focusing on people, these companies are more resilient and effective in a business environment that demands speed, innovation, and agility."

To join Forward, visit our careers page.

About Forward
Forward makes safe autonomous networking possible. The company's mathematically accurate network digital twin delivers deterministic proof of how any change will affect the production network before it is made, giving organizations the behavioral insight they need to move fast, operate securely, and scale with confidence across multi-vendor environments and every major cloud, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM.

The world's largest and fastest-growing brands, including Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, Dell, and other Global 2000 companies, along with government agencies, rely on Forward to ensure network behavior matches intent. According to a recent IDC report, the average Forward customer experiences $14.2M in annual benefits through improved efficiency and security.

Backed by A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, Forward is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. 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 7.3 million U.S. workers. Of those responses, more than 70,000 were received from employees at companies that were eligible for the 2026 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, a UKG company, brings 30 years 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 a coveted Best Workplaces list.

Follow Great Place To Work on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram, and sign up for the Great Place To Work LinkedIn newsletter, Culture Edge, to get the latest research on what drives business success.

About Fortune

Fortune is a global multi-platform media company built on a legacy of trusted, award-winning reporting and information for those who want to make business better. Independently owned, Fortune tells the stories of the world's biggest companies and their leaders, as well as a new generation of innovators who are moving business forward. Digitally and in print, Fortune measures corporate performance through rigorous benchmarks and holds companies accountable in regions around the world. Its iconic rankings include Fortune 500, Fortune Global 500, Most Powerful Women, and World's Most Admired Companies. Fortune builds world-class communities by convening industry thought leaders for exclusive summits and conferences, including the Fortune Global Forum, Fortune Brainstorm Tech, and Fortune Most Powerful Women. For more information, visit fortune.com.

Media Contacts:
Dustin Rausa
dustin.rausa@guyergroup.com 

Dawn Slusher
dawnslusher@forwardnetworks.com