LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has been named Corporation of the Year by Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council (SCMSDC) at the 36th Annual Leadership Excellence Awards. The award is bestowed on a company that consistently achieves exceptional performance in its supplier diversity and inclusion initiatives by modeling and executing bold new strategies that lead to contract opportunities for diverse businesses that drive economic growth and job creation in the communities they serve.
"At SoCalGas, we have a longstanding commitment to support the growth and development of diverse suppliers," said Scott Drury, CEO at SoCalGas. "We believe that partnering with minority business owners is key to best serve our customers and to fulfilling our mission of building the safest, cleanest and most innovative energy company in America."
"SoCalGas is committed to supplier diversity, and with each year, has continued to strengthen its programs and services to ensure inclusion of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and other diverse businesses in their supply chain," said Virginia Gomez, president and CEO at SCMSDC. "While the competition for the SCMSDC 2020 Corporation of the Year Award is always fierce, a committee composed of MBEs and diverse business community advocacy organizations unanimously selected SoCalGas as this year's Corporation of the Year Award recipient."
In addition to being recognized as Corporation of the Year, SoCalGas Principal Supplier Diversity Advisor Vaughn Millard Williams III was also recognized with the Corporate Advocate Award. This award is presented to a corporate member that brings innovative thinking to the development of unique solutions to business challenges and is committed to advocating on behalf of minority-owned businesses.
"I am honored to be recognized by the SCMSDC with the Corporate Advocate Award," said Vaughn Millard Williams III. "Working with diverse minority business owners is my passion and an integral part of SoCalGas' corporate strategy that benefits our suppliers and the local community."
This year's other honorees include Tracy Stanhoff, president of the American Indian Chamber of Commerce, who was recognized with the Progressive Leadership Award, and The Meruelo Group, who received the Spirit of Diversity Award.
"I was pleasantly surprised and greatly humbled by this recognition from such a wonderful organization as the SCMSDC. Our American Indian Chamber is celebrating our 25th year of existence and we have partnered with the SCMSDC from the start. This partnership has been great for our Native American business community as we have connected, developed and grown numbers of our people's enterprises together," said Tracy Stanhoff.
"We are extremely humbled to have been selected as this year's recipient of the Spirit of Diversity Award," said Alexis Meruelo, executive vice president of business development at The Meruelo Group. "We hope to continue championing diversity and inclusion within our organization by continuing to encourage minorities to be heard and share a seat at our table. Thank you again to SCMSDC for their continued efforts in reaching economic equality and celebrating the great success that is created when minorities are elevated in business."
SoCalGas has been championing supplier diversity for over forty years. Earlier this year, the company announced it had achieved another record year of spending with over 550 diverse business enterprises in 2019 - at $726 million, the highest in company history. SoCalGas exceeded the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) goal to contract goods and services from women, minority, service-disabled veteran, and LGBT-owned businesses for the 27th consecutive year. Nearly 42 percent of the utility's contract spending went to women, minority, service-disabled veteran, and LGBT-owned firms, almost double the CPUC's goal of 21.5 percent.
To learn more about SoCalGas' supplier diversity initiatives visit socalgas.com/SupplierDiversity.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that mission, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through 2019, the company invested nearly $7 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company
