GLAAACC's 29th Annual Economic Awards Dinner recognized SoCalGas for longstanding support of African American-owned Businesses
LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC) presented "Utility of the Year" to SoCalGas Chief Executive Officer Scott Drury at their 29th Annual Economic Awards Dinner last night. SoCalGas' Supplier Diversity Team received additional honors, with SoCalGas Vice President of Supply Chain and Operations Support Sandra Hrna receiving the "Small Business Advocate" Award and Lily Otieno, Director of Supply Chain Management and DBE, being honored with GLAAACC's "Member of the Year" Award. GLAAACC's annual economic awards ceremony recognizes individuals and businesses that have contributed to the economic growth of the African American business community within the Greater Los Angeles area. Los Angeles City Mayor Karen Bass was the event's keynote speaker, and other honorees included Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson.
"Diversity and inclusion are central to SoCalGas' long term sustainability strategy, and our success in creating economic opportunities for diverse businesses is thanks to lasting partnerships with organizations like GLAAACC," said Scott Drury, SoCalGas Chief Executive Officer. "Over the past two years, SoCalGas increased its supplier spend with African American-owned businesses by more than 50%, and we are committed to creating a more inclusive economy through a broad portfolio of activity managed by our supplier diversity team."
"Each year we gather to recognize those that have made a difference in the success of Black businesses in greater Los Angeles," Gene Hale, GLAAACC Chairman said. "We are proud to recognize these exceptional individuals who have gone above and beyond in providing resources, assistance, and a pathway to prosperity for thousands of Black-owned businesses."
In 2022 SoCalGas spent $134 million with 71 African American-owned firms, like Vobecky Enterprises, which provides parts to protect gas infrastructure facilities, GDM, a materials and construction sub-contractor and SNEI, a biological consulting firm that has supported hundreds of SoCalGas projects for over 15 years. SoCalGas has supported GLAAACC's business development and technical assistance programs to help grow and cultivate new businesses since 2008.
Through a robust portfolio of programs, SoCalGas is working to increase diverse business participation especially among African American, Native American, LGBT, and veteran businesses—categories in which certified DBEs are historically underrepresented. SoCalGas' Aspire 2045 strategy includes a goal to achieve 45% spending with diverse businesses by 2025.
SoCalGas recently announced a record spend with diverse businesses of over $1 billion or nearly 43% of all goods and services with 578 minority, women, service-disabled veteran, and LGBT-owned businesses, exceeding the California Public Utilities Commission's goals for the 30th consecutive year. The company is also on track to meet its goals to increase African American vendor participation over the next five years. Over the last six years, SoCalGas spent nearly $5 billion with diverse business enterprises.
Last year, SoCalGas's total charitable giving was over $8 million, of which $6.7 million went to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
More information about SoCalGas' commitment to supplier diversity can be found in its 2022 Supplier Diversity Annual Report. SoCalGas invites diverse businesses to engage and learn more about the Supplier Diversity Program at socalgas.com/for-your-business/supplier-diversity.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "contemplates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," " construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) the U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein in which we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining the consent or approval of partners or other third parties, including governmental and regulatory bodies; litigation, arbitrations and other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events, such as the war in Ukraine; our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our debt service obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or to place those ratings on negative outlook or (ii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to current and future customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices, and (ii) the cost of the clean energy transition in California; the impact of climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, disclosures, and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies and the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets; our ability to incorporate new technologies into our business, including those designed to support governmental and private party energy and climate goals; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms, may be disputed or not covered by insurers, or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those that have been imposed and that may be imposed in the future in connection with the war in Ukraine, which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company
