Scott Drury, Paula Glover, Melody Birmingham-Byrd on Diversity

Scott Drury, President, San Diego Gas & Electric (Sempra)

“Diversity and inclusion are fundamental components of San Diego Gas & Electric's DNA, and our work in supplier diversity goes back decades. Our performance is among the strongest in the country, and I'll give you a little context for that.

In 2017, our company spent $703 million with diverse suppliers, and that was more than 44 percent of our total procurement… That's the highest level of spending with diverse suppliers in our company history, and it's the fifth consecutive year that we've been over forty percent… It is more than double the aspirational goal of the California Public Utilities Commission.”

Paula Glover, CEO, American Association of Blacks in Energy

“I think you can look at companies like Exelon, Southern Company and Southern Company Gas which demonstrate leadership in attracting, recruiting, and providing opportunities for its employees.

Their commitment is also reflected in their leadership teams and their boards of directors. However, these are not the only organizations where you see great examples. Duke Energy, PG&E, Sempra and ConEd are other organizations which come to mind.

The one thing that is a constant among successful companies is their commitment to diversity in doing business and the way they value diversity throughout the organization.

Melody Birmingham-Byrd, State President, Duke Energy Indiana

“Our company was also named to Fortune’s World's Most Admired Company list. Lynn Good, our president and CEO, is consistently named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women's list.

We’ve established targets to achieve and sustain, twenty-five percent female representation and twenty percent minority representation by 2025. As of December 31, 2017, females were 23.1 percent of our company and minorities represented 17.8 percent. We have a small gap which we're trying to close. Just last year we hired more than thirty percent females, over twenty-seven percent minorities, and over eight percent veterans, and this is in addition to our existing workforce…

Duke Energy also supports and leverages employee resource groups, or ERGs. Currently, we have seven ERGs, including Advocates for African Americans (A3), Business Women’s Network (BWN), disABILITY Outreach and Inclusion Team (Do-It), Latinos Energizing Diversity (LED), New 2 Duke Energy (N2D), We are One for LGBT Equality (WR1), and Together We Stand for Our Veterans (TWS). ERGs help us understand and value the differences among employees, customers and communities and foster an inclusive work environment.”

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Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly, and President, Lines Up, Inc.
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com