President Bill Clinton , along with prominent business leaders , established the award in 1997 following Ron Brown 's death in a plane crash in 1996 . The award was originally referred to as Ron Brown Corporate Citizenship Award . The Conference Board , a non-profit organization , was chosen to manage the award 's administration . Ron Brown was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1993 – 1996 ; he was the first African-American to hold that position . This award and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award are the two presidential awards to corporations
plane crash in 1996
1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash
Ron Brown Award